Empty But Not Dead

Chapters

Realms Colliding
In The Middle of Nowhere
First Encounter of the Strange Kind

Realms Colliding

Somewhere deep in the Maker Verse – Dimension 3071; Knightan

In a world of kingdoms, on a continent called Vestai, is a land known to those who reside in this part of the world as the Kingdom of the Damned; it is ruled by a being known to all far and wide, as the Soulless King. Here he commands over armies of undead creatures – ghouls, zombies, skeletons, and much more – and is followed by a powerful elite group known, as the Circle of the Corpse.

The Kingdom of the Damned is separated into several areas each controlled by the members of the Circle of the Corpse; from the south are murky swamps called the Swamps of Rot which are where the leader of the Army of Rot – Old One Maolces. Here resides the majority of ghouls and other rotting creatures; the ghouls are the blood-hounds or hunters of the kingdom and are also responsible with a majority of the construction that is done in the kingdom to build various structures or siege machines.

In the west is a vast open plain known as the Dead Plains, here one of the Circle of the Corpse dubbed – The Mind of Corruption – oversees a large portion of the army; zombies and undead creatures. These are the fodder of the military might of the army, but they also are important for swarming tactics or transporting materials and such.

By the north-west are two areas; one of these areas are called the Ancient Tombs were a city of tombs and crypts that hold numerous skeletal beings from simple skeleton footsoldiers to skeletal dragons, all under the rule of Skeleton King Geb. Also part of the military might of the kingdom, they are responsible as scouts and can infiltrate enemy territories and specially trained skeletal archers.

In the same area but further north within the surrounding mountainous area that curves around the kingdom, the Mountains of Decay; here various beasts that the kingdom use and train reside, as it is guarded by the king’s faithful stead, Decay.

Over by the rest of the eastern area where some of the three major cities of the kingdom resides – starting with the Temple of the Cursed, where Spirit Priestess Veano watches the ghostly entities that reside over the crashing waves of the ocean. The next city is the Dark Necropolis; here not only do every known being of the kingdom lives, it is where any non-undead may live, as the kingdom has gained varying occupants over the couple of months of the kingdom’s return. Those who live here wish a new life away from the other kingdoms who give their loyalty to the ruler of the Kingdom of the Damned; the one who represents the city is Dread Lord Scres – an abomination made of varying pieces of other creatures.

Finally, the last city is where the Phantom Horde and Hellfire Armada reside, two of the largest forces of the kingdom; Hell Spires of Vestai – also known as Port Voalur. The port city is responsible for trade and sending in forces by sea with the Hellfire Armada, or prepare an invasion force with the Phantom Horde, with their two leaders; “The Helm of Madness” and “The Armor of Annihilation”.

Within south-west of the kingdom is the only possible entrance to reach through the kingdom semi-safely… well, if you manage to gain entrance through the mysterious mist that shrouds both the forest and kingdom… it is as if something is watching you from the mist…

With all these territories, in the center of them all is a mountain that is larger and taller than any mountain known in the world; Mt. Scyeal. The mountain itself has a maze-like tunnel system that is impossible to traverse, were within the core of the mountain is a cavern called the Soul Cavern, a highway of sorts to travel to any of the several areas with ease. At the north-side of the mountain is a place of training for elite members or skilled warriors of the kingdom called the Trial of Souls; and finally, at the mountain’s peak, is a castle that is thrice larger than any known castle – as it reaches beyond the clouds, and covers every inch of the mountain’s peak; the Castle of Souls.

Within the castle, at its very center is a structure that’s surrounded by a garden that has been slowly regrowing, though at a very steady pace. Inside the structure is a throne with windows large and wide as moonlight slips through. The structure and castle itself has been going through repairs and refurnishing after the kingdom has returned; sitting on the throne with both his head adviser and right-hand follower, as they watched the castle being fixed after centuries of desecration.

The Soulless King, Xarcain sits with one armored gauntlet keeping his helmet up, as he gazes with two red glowing orbs where his eye slots are with a bored look. To his left is his lead adviser, Dark Mage Kaalgao; he was looking through a tome with information about what’s been happening around the kingdom. To his right was his apprentice and the newest member of the Circle of the Corpse; Corpse Knight Liliah; she sat on a large cushion with her legs crossed as she was sleeping drowsily as her head would dip down before rising back up.

Liliah was a recently resurrected body that Xarcain found interest in, and would hope become a successful Corpse Paladin. Liliah had stitches covering her body, one across her neck, one that covered her body and three scars on her back, as one part of her torso had a piece missing while one of her legs was just bone. She was snoring adorably before snorted loudly as she woke with a sleepy gaze before yawning as she stared up at Xarcain.

“Master Xarcain? Is there anything we can do today; we’ve done nothing but sit here for hours… I want to do some training,” said Liliah, wiping the sleepiness from her eyes.

Kaalgao looked away from his reading to face Liliah. “Sadly we can’t, apparently one of the members of the Circle of the Corpse has something important to tell us… I believe its Dread Lord Scres; one of his scientists have found something… that would interest us. Isn’t that right King Xarcain?”

Xarcain grunted, before leaning back on his throne. “Well that’s why we’re here… BUT HOW FUCKING LONG DO WE NEED TO WAIT! I’ve been siting my metallic ass here for several hours waiting for him; why couldn’t we have done something while waiting!?”

“We would… if the ghouls hadn’t caused the tunnel to the Trial of Souls to collapse while simultaneously making an explosion by the western wing of the castle by accidentally spilling a mixture of the Head Alchemist’s concoctions together… good thing nobody were killed… well… nobody that could of died in the blast – we still need to clean ghoul pieces off the walls… I swear one of them moved.”

At that same time, two ghouls who were covered in bandages looked at one another before laughing stupidly – both at not understanding a single thing Kaalgao said, and… that their just being ghouls.

Just as Kaalgao listed off why they were in the throne room, the doors opened to reveal Dread Lord Scres and an unnamed Plague Doctor. Plague Doctors were the equivalent of researchers and doctors in the Kingdom of the Damned; this particular plague doctor was carrying some sort of device that was a mix between a mirror and a rune teleporter.

“I am sorry for being late, I am still not used to traversing through this place,” said Scres. Scres was of a similar age to Liliah – well they were both un-aging undead beings, but you get the gist. While Scres was an abomination, he was smaller and thinner than the usual abomination… and smarter, as to why he had his own personality and some coherent thought. “Anyway – my king, one of my plague doctors found something… interesting when he was experimenting with his new device.”

The doctor in question stepped forward; his mouth was stitched closed, but he simply showed his device and turned it on. This peaked everyone’s interest, as they examined it – the device’s mirror-like part glimmered before revealing something that only Xarcain recognized.

“Are those… realms?” Before Xarcain was a device that showed the location and details of various realms – dimensions that were littered across the Void. It wasn’t just realms of the multiverse he resided in but also other multiverses… other realms. “Explain what this thing can do!”

“Well from what I was managed to understand, this device allows anyone to see other worlds, with the device gathering what information it can about it. Simply enter some numbers and it shall show you that realm,” said Scres.

Any realm… hmmmm… With that, Xarcain inserted a random set of numbers, before a world came to view – it was a world of harmony and magic, full of mythical sentient beasts… it was… “interesting” would be the words Xarcain would use. “Noice.”

“Can we visit these worlds?” asked Liliah.

“Well...” Scres gazed to the plague doctor who looked back and shook his head. “No… but I think – with your permission my king – we can make a similar device that can let us do that.”

Xarcain thought of this, and after some thinking – which was only two seconds – he made his decision, with a kingly mind… “Meh, we got nothing else to do; go ahead and make this gizmo or what not.”

The plague doctor and Scres bowed as they went off to do just that; Kaalgao watched them leave and sighed. “I have a feeling this is going to end horribly,” said Kaalgao with some doubt.

With everyone awaiting for this device to be built, the previous device still showed the window view of this other realm; it showed a beautiful land full of peaceful creatures – a name was shown on the device, called Equestria.

Somewhere across the Void – Equestria; Ponyville

In the center of Ponyville Park, the newest princess; Princess Twilight Sparkle, was working on one of her newest experiments. The device in question was capable of allowing anyone to see into other worlds, as after her return from the human-world version of Equestria, she had the idea of seeing what other worlds are like.

Right now, she wanted to show her friends what she’s been doing for the last couple of weeks after the fiasco with the Plunderseeds. Spike was with her, helping her re-calibrate the machine, and making sure everything would go alright.

“Spike can you check if the monitors are connected properly?” asked Twilight, looking through her notepad.

“You got it Twilight,” said Spike. As Spike examined the monitors, at the very same time, the rest of Twilight’s friends arrived to see what their bookworm-friend was working on this time.

“Darling, what exactly are you working on this time?” asked Rarity, wearing a sunhat.

Twilight turned to face her friends, with a large grin while her mane and tail were frazzled and her eyes were bloodshot from endless nights and days of working on this experiment; her friends noticed and cringed at the state she was in.

“Twi… you alright?”

“Huh, uh yeah Applejack… I’m fine… but I finally been able to complete it!”

“Complete what exactly Twilight?” asked Pinkie, appearing behind her.

Twilight didn’t seemed that fazed – either because she was too tired to notice or gotten used to it – as she decided to show her friends the device she had been working on. It look like a miniature observatory, without the dome or large telesope, instead replaced by a metal frame, and several screens and buttons around it, that were on a metal platform.

“Behold, I give you, the Inter-Dimensional Window Device or IDWD for short! This device allows anypony to look at other worlds other than the one that I went to; imagine, alternate timelines where things happened differently – like what if Luna never became Nightmare Moon in the first place, and ruled beside Celestia for the last thousand years or if all our personalities were swapped like Pinkie acted more like Fluttershy and Fluttershy acted more like Pinkie! The possibilities are endless!”

The idea was interesting, but it was when Rainbow Dash asked a question that made her pause. “That’s cool, but can it look into other worlds than just an alternate Equestria?”

Here Twilight made a loud pshhh noise with her mouth and gazed at Rainbow like she said that magic is what keeps the world spinning – which was semi-correct, but it mostly involved more scientific knowledge than magical knowledge. “Rainbow, there is no such thing called ‘other worlds’; many of the worlds that are connected what I’d call ours, ‘the Primary Equestrian’ world are just alternate versions of ours. The idea of completely and solely unique worlds that have zero signs of any relation to Equestria is… preposterous; it would shatter Starswirl the Bearded’s explanation to the idea that time is like a tree, starting from the stump and branching off like branches on a tree.”

“Oh come on Twilight, you keep telling us that the idea of outer life existing is possible – considering there’s life on the moon, when Rarity became Nightmare Rarity,” said Rainbow. Rarity rubbed her leg in embarrassment at the memory while Fluttershy rubbed the back of her neck in a comforting manner. “There’s got to be worlds than just an alternate Equestria, right?”

“Well… if the existence of other worlds being out there is real… Well then I suppose everything I’ve learned would be useless, as some worlds would have tech and magical advances that way exceed ours… again though, the idea of other worlds is impossible. Something would of have to made all those worlds, just as how ours was built by Faust herself.”

As the two friends talked-argued with one another, Spike sighed and made sure the device was at peak condition. Unnoticed by anyone, the device had pinpointed the coordinates of a mysterious world – a world of mythical proportions… and entities that are beyond what the peaceful world could handle.

Dimension 3071, Knightan; Castle of Souls, Throne Room

As Xarcain awaited for the device to be done soon, elsewhere in the castle, a few members of the Circle of the Corpse came to the castle for their own business; these members were “The Mind of Corruption” – Oarleo The Fanged – leader of the forces situated in the Dead Plains. He was here… actually he had no reason to be here, half the time he’s a nuisance, the other half he can be extremely unpredictable, while in the rare case… he’s outright terrifying if he were your enemy – you do not want to be with him alone in a room.

The second member that was at the castle is “The Spirit of Curses”; Guardian of Spirits, Spirit Priestess Veano – she had come to see Xarcain about a strange vision that has come to her and has come to see him for guidance… that and to have an excuse so she can be alone with him and do something… risque.

The third and final member that was just arriving at the Main Gate – the entrance to the foot of the mountain to the maze-like tunnels to the core of the mountain – is Xarcain’s loyal steed, “The Boots of Decay”; Decay the Demonic Horse. Decay had just returned from a small errand to gain more beasts for their military force and to test their newest siege weaponry. Right now he was coming back to report his mission… and receive a good ear scratch from his master – slash, best friend ever for all eternity.

As Oarleo was wandering the castle, he bumped into Veano, or in this case simply caused her to go flying and smash into a wall… which was odd since she was a part ghost. After removing herself from the wall, she floated herself to Oarleo and gave him a venomous glare in return. Oarleo was no ordinary undead but a very rare one called, a Blight – Blights were the highest form of any undead, as they were extremely powerful… but the reason Oarleo was a rare one was because he was a Blight… that can use transformation magic, an ancient type of magic not used by many except for druids.

Oarleo was an undead beastman that Xarcain had encountered; stories say that Oarleo was some kind of criminal that was executed by humans for massacring scores of humans. It was only after using his powers did Oarleo went berserk until he realized he was dead… well undead; now he just does what he wants and is sent wherever he’s pointed to go – he isn’t that bright.

“Oops, sorry Vea, yeh alright?” asked Oarleo.

“ALRIGHT! WHAT IN THE DARK POWERS ARE YOU DOING LUMBERING AROUND YOU IDIOTIC BRUTE!?” screamed Veano. “AND MY NAME IS VEANO, NOT VEA!”

“...I’ll assume yeh not alright.”

While Veano was giving off a red glow, she was smaller than Oarleo, though you know what they say – don’t judge the book by its cover. Veano screamed and ranted at Oarleo like any petite yet explosive girl her age… well she was thousands of years old, but nobody needed to know that, as she looked around the age of fourteen… which is both sad and… well just sad.

It detail were to put for the two it looked like this – Oarleo was currently a undead beastman-wolf, with some of his fur matted, his flesh rotting, both his eyes were fine while his head was exposed showing his fleshy brain, as his claws were bare bone and sharped to the point, as his legs were covered by light leather armor. On his waist was a large knife as big as the castle’s doors, and on his back was a large weapon that was custom-made for Oarleo – it had two points making it appear like a pair of horns while ending with a long blade with several spikes covering it, the handle was thick and covered by a cloth that was dirtied to a dark brown as a skull of a dragon was made as a the handlebar.

Veano was wearing the clothes she died with, a slightly torn and ghostly priestess gown, while a priestess crown adorned her head, with several trinkets around her neck. She wielded no weapon but was shrouded in ghostly power, as her lower body brought out a ghost-like tail, but she can appear with two legs. She looked very… eastern, as she mentioned back when she was alive she came from the east from a land of warriors of honor and swords that were made with a unique smith-technique called “tempering”.

She is unsure what has happened at her homeland, but she is happy where she is now; the two were glaring at one another or rather Veano was glaring while Oarleo just laughed it off without a care.

Entering the same time was Scres with some plague doctors and ghouls who carried a device on a cart. The three parties saw one another, and after gazing at each other, Scres sighed and stared at everyone present.

“Are you two seriously fighting again?”

“Oh look, isn’t it the new guy? So how your new position as the representative of Dark Necropolis doing; I heard you let a spy into the city and nearly infiltrate out with some of our secrets? Must of been so embarrassing that King Xarcain had to fix your mess. HA!”

Scres ignored Veano, but she new it riled him up inside, however the atmosphere changed when Oarleo picked both up into a hug – even though one of them was a ghost. “Oh come now, lets go and see Xarc, and see what this goo-gay of yours can do!” Scres tried to convince Oarleo to let him down while Veano screamed and writhed about in his grip. Coming around a corner was Xarcain’s stead, Decay who watched the three head to the throne room; with a snort of flame, the demon horse followed.

After getting Oarleo to let both Veano and Scres go, Scres managed to set up the device that should allow anyone to traverse worlds without problems… hopefully. As Xarcain finished hearing his report from Decay – and giving him a good ear scratch, a happy neigh from his horse – he gave his focus to the device.

“Have you given it a name? We can’t just call it ‘the device’ forever, you know,” said Xarcain.

“Well the plague doctors are dubbing it; ‘the Realm Warp Transporter Gateway’ or the RWTG for short-”

“I’ll just call it the Rowatoga, it sounds catchy,” said Xarcain.

...And he named it already…

While Kaalgao rubbed his eyes at the thoughts, Scres ignored the interruption and signaled the plague doctors to activate the device. Elsewhere at the same time, just as the device was being turned on, something else was happening.

Equestria; Ponyville, Ponyville Park

As Twilight asked for everypony to stand back as the device was being turned on, Spike flipped a switch and ran to everyone else; as the device began to hum and lights and various noises began to be heard, the whole machine came to life.

“Hey Twilight, does this thing got a name?” asked Rainbow, having already forgotten.

“Its called the ‘Inter-Dimensional Window Device’, or the IDWD for short, remember?”

“Oh oh, can I name it!”

“But Pinkie… didn’t Twilight already gave it one?”

“That’s not a name; how about the Window-Maker, I think its a good name!”

Twilight thought about it and it was an actually good name for the device, but as the device was beginning to turn on… something… went wrong. The device began to spark and shake until magical energy began seeping like lightning trying to escape a jar. The ground shook as cracks began to spiderweb outward with the device in the center, the sky began to darken as the blank frame of the device began to show and endless black emptiness… until a massive blast of pure energy – pure unfamiliar energy.

The girls, Spike and any pony nearby had to hold onto something as the blast caused a shockwave of magical energy to spiral out of control and cause a maelstrom of chaotic magic. The fringes of the device began to shatter and crack, but as the device was slowly self-imploding a voice could be heard echoing across the area from the nothingness.

“Morf eht tsepeed egde fo eht diov, llahs emoc htaed dna raw; enon llahs eb devas, enon llahs eb detas rof htarw etanracni lliw emoc! EH SEMOC – EHT SSELLUOS GINK SESIRA ECNO EROM!”

Without so much as a single noise, Twilight’s machine was consumed by the unstable magical energies, as it self-imploded into a miniature explosion that to the common sight look like it blinked out, and was replaced by a small crater. Everyone stared dumbly at the crater before Spike was the first to speak.

“Well… that ain’t good,” said Spike.

Elsewhere at the same time…

Just as the device was beginning to turn on… things started to go south… well that was right after Veano came to give Xarcain of the vision she received; as the device beginning to turn on, Veano spoke to Xarcain about a coming danger – a warning.

“My king, a vision came to me about some terrible happening… all I managed to gain from said vision was of mysterious land – Mt. Scyeal was surrounded by a wasteland, alone without no outside help to come to our aide… A bright vortex of power and magic would consume us and send us through the Warp, leaving us stranded and confused… But the most confusing thing is that it starts with… a single unending noise,” said Veano.

Xarcain listened carefully, and after carefully piecing the vision together came to his own conclusion. Vortex… Warp… Warp… wait a second, is it referring to Scre’s machi-

Immediately he stood up and stared at the now out of control device with a mix of horror and irony. “TURN OFF THAT DAMN THING NOW!”

One of the plague doctors who didn’t had their mouths stitched and wore a weird crow mask faced with two green glassy eye slots. “De vachine von’t turn uff, de inneah core is von ovvar-drive! Power levels ovar nine-”

“Yeeeah I’m gonna stop ya right there before the memes start coming by,” said Xarcain, turning to face Scres. “Scres! Is there a way to turn it off?!”

“I… We could try reversing the polarity that allows it to see other worlds, if I just...” Scres entered some commands and for awhile the device was beginning to turn off, when a large boom was heard outside. Quickly gazing skyward was a giant wormhole vortex of… something; it looked to be another world but one unfamiliar to any present.

Soon gravity started to act weird and as everyone within the castle, around and in the mountain began to float up and be consumed by the vortex to this strange world.

Xarcain only had one thing to say about all of this… and it summed up what was currently happening.

“Well… shit hit the fan fast,” said Xarcain, arms crossed in a non-surprised demeanor.

Soon the whole of Mt. Scyeal – the Castle of Souls, the Soul Cavern, and a half a kilometer diameter around the mountain vanished, leaving behind a blank piece of land in the center of the Kingdom of the Damned. Only one being witnessed it up closed, a simple necromancer who was ordered to get more scrolls for Kaalgao, dropping his payload onto the ground. “...Fuck.”

Some time later – Equestria; Badlands

Noise started to return back to Xarcain, everything was pain and agony… or in this case, all it did was get him pissed and annoyed. “For the love of fucks that bloody hurt… I swear if I found half of the castle and the mountain missing, I’m going to wring someone’s neck… probably one of the plague doctors… or maybe Scres.”

As Xarcain stood back up, he found himself alone in the throne room, though this reason was answered quickly as he found a majority of everyone out in the garden, either face-first into the dirt or in some sort of puddle which used to be either a fountain or pond for fish… if they had any fish.

The plague doctors were fine, Scres was stuck in a tree, Veano and Kaalgao were in some bushes, while Oarleo was in the pond… comically in fact as he had one of the bird baths on his head like a hat. The only ones that weren’t present was, Decay and…

“...Oh shit… Where’s Liliah?”

After searching the castle and around the mountain – which was done by going to the Overseer Room, and sending in scouts – the mountain itself was transported in some sort of wasteland in the middle of nowhere. No signs of any life for the next dozen of kilometers… or any signs of his apprentice or stead.

“My lord, we may not even be on Vestai anymore as the Overseer’s abilities are being blocked, and considering there is no nearby active magic, my assumption is that we’re in a completely new world,” said Kaalgao examining the current static picture above the Overseer orb.

“Well that’s fantastic; not only did the device transported us but the mountain to some strange world, but my horse is missing and my apprentice as well – half a quarter of our forces are back at Vestai, we’re all alone with only a quarter of our forces, with zero chance of backup and we got at least a majority of the smart ones here instead back at the kingdom to fix this problem!”

“Hopefully Maolces can figure something to contact us from the kingdom… and hopefully the fog is still keeping the kingdom shrouded,” said Veano.

“Don’t worry, the fog has always been self-sustaining, as it was the only thing that never required King Xarcain’s power,” said Kaalgao. “Though that means we are at a disadvantage without it.”

“If that’s the case, why do I see that?” asked Oarleo. Everyone over the edge of balcony overlooking the mountainside to see a mysterious fog rolling out from the foot of the mountain.

It appears some of the fog managed to come with us… this may not be as horrible as I first imagined.

“Well we can worry about finding a way back home! We need to find Liliah and Decay; SO GET SEARCHING!” shouted Xarcain, storming off to do… ‘something’.

As the rest of the members of the Circle of the Corpse watched their king leave in frustration, things would begin to spiral… in more ways than one.

Somewhere in Equestria – Everfree Forest

Liliah – Corpse Knight of King Xarcain, and his loyal apprentice – was waking up from a very bad coma; she remembered a large noise and light before being engulfed by said light. What happened… where…

After getting up Liliah found herself in a castle… an unfamiliar one unlike the Castle of Souls. “Am… I?” said Liliah to nobody.

Tapestries of a sun and moon could be found above two twin thrones, as well as steps to some sort of lobby, as the walls were cracked and covered in moss and plant-life. The castle felt empty, but not the empty she was used to… like empty-empty…

It was after realizing that nobody was nearby or any signs of anyone being near her was discovered… she realized she was alone… and somewhere she didn’t know where.

“By everything that’s holy… Where is everybody?”

Author's Note

And behold, as the story begins; this is a two parter chapter as originally it was to be longer, but couldn't put the effort to make a lengthy chapter. This chapter is to just explain a majority of why, how, and where questions. Now onto the when, who, and what questions next - PROLOGUE PART 2 COMING UP!

Thoughts: Xarcain
Kaalgao
Liliah

In The Middle of Nowhere

Equestria; Canterlot, Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s Tower

After Twilight had become a princess and the whole Plunderseed issue was dealt with, Celestia was back at her tower looking through a few things about reassuring her ponies that an incident like the Plunderseed one wouldn’t happen, and that repairs at Ponyville for destroyed property was fix. It was at this very moment when she was overlooking some papers… did she felt an immense wave of energy coming far south… very… malefic energies.

By Faust, what is this power?!

At that very same moment, a pop noise was heard and behind her was Luna who teleported and too felt the immense power as well. “Sister! Did you sense that wave of magical power!?”

“Indeed, whatever it was seemed to come further south, possibly near the Badlands; I’ll have some of the Royal Guard to see what it was, but just in case… we should also see for ourselves to make certain it isn’t some that can be a threat to our ponies.”

Luna nodded in agreement but before she left, she turned to face her sister one more time. “Tia… this power… it is similar to the energies felt from Tartarus… you don’t think an entity from there escaped… could they?”

“No… and if they did, we would of noticed… no, this is something else… and I feel that whatever it is, may be greater than anything we’ve faced before.”

Elsewhere…

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK-FUCK OF ALL THE FUCKS! LILIAH IS MISSING, MY HORSE IS GONE; AGAIN, AND WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WHO KNOWS WHERE! JUST BLOODY FAAAAAAHHHHHK!”

Xarcain was busy in ones of his tantrums as he smashed furniture and whatever he could get his hands on – right now he was throwing a vase filled with oil which sprayed its contents into a wall before proceeding to unleash a blast of flame to light the oil on fire. The smell of burnt dust and stone lingered as he stood before the destruction; many of the castle staff stayed out of their king’s angry rants while the remaining members of the Circle and other authoritative figures took a meeting to see what must be done, what resources they had and what they didn’t have, and the geographical location they were at and what was beyond from the scouts reports.

Those at the meeting – which took place at the Overseer Room, which was where most meetings took place – were the current members of the Circle; Oarleo The Fanged, Spirit Priestess Veano, Dread Lord Scres, and Dark Mage Kaalgao. Others who were also present, being part of the castle’s staff, those stationed within the mountain or were within half-kilometer diameter of the mountain when it was transported to this world were various generals, captains of the different guards at each stationed level within the mountain, high-ranked officers, researchers, and the heads of the castle staff.

While those listed for this meeting were numerous to name off, some important entities to name that would play important rules for the survival within this strange world – Head Alchemist, Doctor Yadve, was… eccentric to say the least as her taste in things was… exotic to put it at the least; Head Butler & Maid, Singulora and Finalis were responsible with organizing all castle staff, loyally for the centuries to come and were somewhat the ones responsible to make sure the king didn’t… end up blowing up the castle; General of all forces within Mt. Scyeal, General Loae Bokle, was in command of every military force within the mountain, and governed the several captains that each command at least over twenty-thousand troops within each of the mountain’s various levels; Beastmaster, Kronvi Blood-drinker cared and trained all the beasts that were inside the Lair Dens that were within the foot of the mountain; and finally, the last important figure present was Head of Research, Professor Obaion Utarala Esquire Comasnados the Third… or Prof. Obai for short.

As Kaalgao observed each of these important figureheads and their second-in-commands with them – except for Beastmaster Kronvi as he and his fellow tamers were the only ones to check on the creatures and all of them were his second-in-command… that and someone had to make sure the creatures stayed calmed and didn’t rampage with him absent. With a quick cough to get everyone’s attention, he pulled out some scrolls and began to read them out.

“We’re here to discuss the current problem we now face – due to us being separated from ninety percent of our forces back at Vestai, we can only depend on those in the mountain, but luckily some forces and structures that were half a kilometer in diameter around the mountain had also came with us to this… strange world. I managed to do a count and we haven’t lost or had any of our forces killed during the mass-teleportation… sadly some however did not teleport with us to this… wasteland. I am just getting telepath messages from small companies in different areas around this world – some are in a jungle, others up in some sort of frozen wasteland, while others are in some kind of forest… for now I told them all to regroup together and make temporary fortifications until we can reclaim in the future.”

To continue with the rest of the report, after the scouts have gathered from checking the perimeter, we know we are in a large wasteland expanse, and are surrounded by tall empty mountains; not as tall as Mt. Scyeal, but tall enough to make any force to at least take a day or two of climbing constantly without breaks. The scouts have also found that beyond those mountains – especially south – are jungles, to the east are swamps, and to the north are forest… but to the north-west there appears to be some sort of… settlement, the scouts couldn’t properly see due to the distance, but we can confirm there is a form of sentient life on this world so we may encounter this world’s equivalent of other kingdoms and the like… as to what kind… is what we will find out later.

Some other reports to make are our troop count; not counting the lost companies that are somewhere else in this world, those we have in total in the castle, Mt. Scyeal and the surrounding area that was teleported with us are categorized to this. We have two-hundred thousand ghouls both for construction and assault purposes, willing and ready, as well as five thousand minion imps; out of the ten thousand skeleton foot-soldiers, the five thousand skeleton knights, five hundred phantom armors for each of the twelve captains under General Loae making a total of one-hundred-eighty-one thousand, and two hundred worth of three to four or more field armies.

Including the bonus heavy forces and ranged forces that accompany all twelve commanding officers; of five hundred phantom armors, two hundred abominations, two hundred ghoul ogres, two hundred warrior imps, seven thousand skeleton archers, and three thousand imps. There is also the special forces of the stealth troops, magical troops – magic, elemental, or otherwise – support troops, and siege troops, consist of; five hundred decay ghouls, twenty-five shades, two-thousand skeleton rogues, fifty-thousand necromancers, five-hundred and fifty death giants, seven hundred plague doctors, another fifty death giants equipped with siege equipment, and an estimation at least… twelve thousand disease bombers or more… and this is our basic infantry nevertheless.

So if we add up all twelve forces combining their melee infantry and the ranged infantry, combined with our builders and special forces…

“We have at least estimating around five-hundred-eighty-five-hundred thousand and three hundred basic troops,” said Kaalgao. “As for our advanced infantry and King Xarcain’s personal army have either been teleported from us or were elsewhere from Mt. Scyeal.”

At least a quarter-half of the advanced troops have been teleported elsewhere while only half of the king’s personal army is present, one quarter is missing – possibly teleported off – while the other quarter was not present at the mountain as they were elsewhere in the kingdom.

Those we have present – and accounted – are; five thousand ghoul berserkers, five hundred death knights, two hundred plague abominations, four hundred imp lords, five death golems, three hundred death hunters, seven hundred armored shades, twenty-five giant skeleton archers, two hundred and fifty possession spirits, one thousand and five hundred hell hounds, twenty-five thousand imp casters, ten thousand earth warders, twenty thousand demon sorceresses, one thousand death mages, five thousand cursed skulls, two hundred decay death giants, fifty alchemy makers, fifteen decay dragons, and five giant spiders from the remaining advanced troops, which makes a total of one-hundred-forty-five thousand, seven hundred and forty troops from the advanced forces.

Those part of King Xarcain elite forces consist of the ones that both weren’t teleported and aren’t at the kingdom still; those numbers are, seven hundred and fifty summoners, six hundred corpse wagons, five thousand death lords, two-hundred and fifty thousand chaos warriors, fifty banes of sin, five tormentors, twenty-five thousand monstrosities, one-hundred and twenty-five thousand undead canonneers, two thousand and five hundred shade beasts, one thousand and five hundred death assassins, four thousand and five hundred old ones, five thousand spirit priestesses, five hundred chaos casters, one thousand and five hundred hell casters, twenty-five thousand death mages, two million and five-hundred thousand fog fiends, three thousand and five hundred corpse carriers, two thousand and five hundred nightmares, three-hundred and seventy-five thousand corpse riders, two thousand and five hundred corpse giants, two den spiders, and three death diggers are still within the king’s elite forces, which make a total of three million, three-hundred and thirty thousand, and four hundred and nine troops.

All in all, all our troops combined together make a total of over four million… the problem is that this wouldn’t been much an issue back in the kingdom, sadly we are in unknown territory and the only amount of territory we have is Mt. Scyeal and half kilometer diameter’s worth of land.

“Which is why… this in mind, I’d like to hear each of your opinions and ideas of what should we do best?” asked Kaalgao facing all those present.

The first to give their opinion was General Loae; he was demon with two hooven legs, four appendages that were all three-fingered, and had several horns, a few of them broken from previous battles. His eyes were a fiery red and was muscular averagely for a demon of his kind, and wore his usual Hell armor on, without his helmet, while having his cape clipped on the back of his chest-piece.

“I suggest we focus on making fortifications by creating three sectioned walled areas around the mountain; one around the farthest perimeter, one that is between this world’s land and ours, and the final in between Mt. Scyeal and beyond. Due to the abundance of rock formations in the vicinity, we may gather materials from the area than having to search somewhere else. I proclaim we have at least three groups for three separate jobs – first group will mine for materials; rock and whatever ore and gems this land may give, the second group will transport said materials back to Mt. Scyeal, while the third group will use materials to construct these defensive walls,” said Loae, his arms crossed.

Everyone agreed on this, and soon the next to speak were Head Butler Singulora, the undead man had thin white hair and a white bushy mustache while one of his eyes had an eye-patch on while the other had a monocle on it. He wore a fine suit that while looking extremely ancient was still in pristine condition, after all these years. “I’d like to suggest we do a check of our current resources, as if we are indeed to be here for a while, we need to see what is our current resources and how long we can manage them until we can find a more permanent solution,” said Singulora.

Kaalgao agreed and would put this in secondary priority until the king has calmed down to hear the suggestion. The next up was Doctor Yadve, she looked like what the Alchemy Makers would normally look other than her outfit was… unique to put it simply and that she had several potions strapped around her waist, torso, and had a large canister full of a green viscous liquid inside. “Now this is an important request but if possible, once reconnaissance operations begin, I’d like for them to gather as many of the local fauna and anything of interest… it is important we see what we’re dealing with and avoid any problems to come. Don’t you agree with me, Prof. Obai?” asked Yadve, glancing at Obai.

The professor wasn’t looking back but had his hands clasped together and eyes closed as he was in deep thought. For awhile he stayed like this until he opened his eyes; Obai has hetero-chromatic eyes with one being a pleasant light green and the other being a very dark red. Obai wore a clean white scientist outfit while underneath it he wore chain-mail, and had one hand covered by a customized gauntlet that had tubes and several bolts integrated into it, with the other hand was severely changed and had tentacles and spikes coming out of it. His face while one half had a mask on, the other had mechanical pieces and cogs integrated in his skull, the final detail was that his legs were completely and utterly mechanical which left only his chest remaining its original form.

“I… will have to agree with Doctor Yadve; it is important we understand this world – both its physical properties and magical ones – before we make any rash decisions. I would also suggest we create a system that would easily allow us to transport our troops, resources, and ourselves while also hiding ourselves from prying eyes. It is already confirmed that some of our advanced troops and the king’s personal army have been split from us somewhere in this world… would it be a grand chance for them to make gateways from their position to the Soul Cavern, perhaps?”

Many muttering went around as everyone thought about the idea, with Kaalgao to silence them, and answer. “That idea was actually something I wanted to bring up; since we have no connection back to the kingdom, a permanent form of transportation would be needed. I told the separated groups that had summoners with them to create gateways and small encampments at their current location, and so far only three groups had mentioned having summoners with them.”

Obai nodded at that his suggestion was already planned ahead; the next and final person who hasn’t spoke was Beastmaster Kronvi. Kronvi a demon like Loae, but had only two short horns and two limbs; the only notable detail about him was he had a draconic tail and his legs while ended with two feet had sharpened points like a lizardman’s.

Kronvi eyed everyone and sighed, sitting down but gazing back at everyone. “I have no suggestions to give, but if you gotta chance… capture some of the wild-life… I wanna see what kinda beasties they got in this realm,” said Kronvi.

With that done, Kaalgao said some final things and ended the meeting; as everyone began to leave, Xarcain came inside just as everyone except for Kaalgao, Veano, Oarleo, and Scres were still in the room. “Well… what do you got that we can do?” asked Xarcain, begrudgingly.

“My king; General Loae has suggested we fortify our positions around Mt. Scyeal by making a three-tiered circular walls. I’ve been also told by Head Butler Singulora, that we should check our current resources in case we’d run out in the future; and also that Doctor Yadve and Prof Obai both agreed upon the needed to gather anything of interest in this world and that we should make gateways back in the kingdom that would connect to the Soul Cavern and making traveling around the world easier… Oh and that Kronvi asked that we capture any beasts we encounter of worth for him or Yadve.”

Xarcain nodded, as he thought through this information in better detail. I’ll have a twentieth of the ghouls, with two of the captains leading ten thousand skeleton knights, twenty thousand skeleton foot-soldiers, and three thousand imps mine for stone to build these walls. I’ll also have another captain lead fifty of my corpse wagons, one thousand minion imps, and one thousand skeleton foot-soldiers to transport said materials; and three twentieths of the ghouls and one hundred and fifty of my summoners will work on the walls in three teams by three of the captains.

For the rest, I’ll send three reconnaissance squads led by three of the captains; consisting of one thousand ghouls each, one hundred decay ghouls each, twenty shades each, one hundred skeleton rogues each, and fifty hell hounds each for all three squads. The rest I’ll let Kaalgao and my other heads handle everything else.

“I want three reconnaissance squads consisting of ghouls, decay ghouls, shades, skeletons rogues, and hell hounds led by three of the captains; I also want six of the captains to be in charge of the gathering of resources, transporting the resources and building the walls with these forces,” said Xarcain. Xarcain extended his left gauntlet which had a symbol of an eye on the palm, an ominous glow enveloped the gauntlet until said glow extended to Kaalgao. Soon all the information Kaalgao needed to know was sent to him telepathically, which he nodded at the understood orders.

“I’ll tell the captains to be chosen to get ready for the mining operation, and construction of the walls,” said Kaalgao, exiting the room.

Soon the rest of the Circle also left, leaving Xarcain alone in the Overseer Room; he stared blankly at the circular stone table with a mystical orb in the center. The orb would allow him to see everywhere across this world just like back in the kingdom, so on the stone’s surface was a 3-D model of Mt. Scyeal and the surrounding area which showed small figures which were his subjects moving around this wasteland they were in. Where are you Liliah?

Equestria; Everfree Forest, Everfree Ruins

Liliah stood alone in the empty and desolate castle, and while she resided in the Castle of Souls… which was also an empty and desolate castle, it was empty in the sense that it hadn’t been in good condition for awhile, as there were some… people she could speak to. This castle however, was indeed empty, so the chances of her finding anyone was… nil.

“Hello… Is anyone out there?!” shouted Liliah. Liliah clutched her sword’s handle tightly; while she has been trained by Xarcain – the king himself – and several other experienced trainers for different things; he was taught by Kaalgao about magic and death magic in particular, Mr. Singulora and Mrs. Finalis taught her about proper etiquette, how to act like a proper lady, and such. Her favorite teacher had to been Kronvi as she loved petting the creatures he took care of, especially the hell hounds how they’d yip and bark happily whenever she would come to visit the Lair Dens.

...I haven’t felt this alone since… since… Because of she was an undead her memory has been foggy and couldn’t remember much of her past; this was a common trait for all undead as while they’re given the ability of near-immortality and still regain their physical skills due to muscle memory, any mental memories are hard to regain unless the recipient sees something to spark a memory… so far nothing of the sort has happened to her since she became an undead.

Shaking away the headache from attempting to remember, she decided to wander around these castle ruins to find anything of remote that might be useful. So for several hours – or what felt like hours – she searched every inch of the castle, finding some traps that weren’t… dangerous but more like pranks of sorts, some ancient suits of armor, tapestries depicting of the sun and moon and of two winged and horned horses of some kind – one being marble white the other a night dark blue.

After continuing to search the castle, Liliah stumbled upon what appeared to be what remained of the library of some kind, as some books were so old that simply touching might make them fall apart and rot. There were tons of windows either dull from age or had cracks on them; there were a lot of piled up books and some dust, but it looked like someone had moved these books, specifically ones that were partially readable. At first, Liliah thought someone was here but noticed some of the book piles had a good layer of dust on them so whoever was checking these books were long gone, so deciding to open one of the books, she grabbed one book in particular.

The cover was surprisingly readable for being in another world, but it appeared to be in ancient human dialect, the kind that involved the words “thee”, “thine”, and “thou”, but luckily that the books back in the Castle of Souls that were given by Kaalgao were also in ancient dialect so she could read these books flawlessly. The book she was reading was called, “An Atlas of Equestria” – which answered her question of her being in another world – and once opening it, the book was surprisingly still intact while looking somewhat moldy; Liliah could sense magic seeping from this book, just by touching it. Probably a preservation spell of some kind, whoever put it was probably going to come back to get this book… welp, finders keepers.

Reading through the book explained several different cities and settlements; landmarks, roads, forests, mountains, it had everything… but Liliah could tell this book was outdated and most likely, a lot of these locations could of either wasted away through the years or changed drastically from the small settlements they were called. After reading it, a large piece of paper slipped out of the book, picking it up she found a really old map of what she assumed was Equestria.

The map showed that the forest she was in was called the Everfree Forest, and that there was a castle here called; Castle Everfree. North of her was an empty piece of grassland with a lake nearby; there was also a city on the side of a mountain, which showed stylized lettering for the city’s name. Canterlot… I guess that’s where I’m going next.

There were other cities and settlements but they were blurred or didn’t catch any interest for Liliah; putting the book and map away into a satchel she always carried with her with her personal belongings – which wasn’t a lot – and some basic survival things for her… well, for an undead. Some wrappings for any wounds she may receive – while being dead, it didn’t stop from blood dripping from any open wounds – a needle and thread to stitch wounds, some healing balm, soul potions – basically a beverage designed for the undead to enjoy – and several varying potions of healing, replenishing stamina, and for offensive and defensive purposes.

She also had her sword – a simple short-sword for her to use – a carving knife, and a slingshot – the only item that was hers before she was dead… possibly during her life when she was alive – that was surprisingly in pristine condition for a slingshot made of some quality materials, with a small bag full of stones for her to use.

“Now then… which way is to that mountain?”

Deciding to head to the highest point in this castle, a decrepit tower that was connected to a stone building beside the castle; climbing the steps was… odd, as it looked like the steps were built for something with several limbs, probably a quadruped of some kind considering the way the steps are bigger than they need to be. Reaching the top, there was some sort of pedestal and some stained glass windows too were present, but none of it seemed out of the ordinary, as Liliah walked to a part of the wall with a gaping hole to look through.

Liliah could see the tops of the trees of this forest she was in, as in the distance was the mountain with a city on the side, but there appeared to be some sort of town as she saw the rooftops of some thatch homes and what appeared to be a town hall. I suppose making a town near that lake would of made sense, and who knows how hold this castle it, so some differences may appear between this map and the ones that I may find in that town.

“Okay, with the direction planned correctly, if I follow that way I should make it to that town in an hour or two,” said Liliah. Climbing down the steps, Liliah later found a suspension bridge to cross, until she later found a dirt path of all things which led toward the town; with nowhere else to go, she walked down the trail without any problems.

Deep in the woods, several sets of yellow eyes stared deep in the trees; a rancid smell and growling could be heard before the sets of eyes vanished as several figures sulked this strange new prey.

Equestria; Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library

After that freak accident with her experiment, some of the Royal Guard – which were sent by Celestia herself after sensing the strange magical signatures coming from Ponyville – to investigate the crater at the park. Twilight also received a letter from the princess that both Celestia and Luna would visit tomorrow to see what the strange surge of magic was, and talk to Twilight and her friends about something both the princesses have sensed.

I wonder what the princesses want to tell me and the girls?When the letter and Royal Guard both arrived, the group all went to the library to drink some tea and snacks; Twilight herself though was busy looking a certain book about the phenomenon that happened with her device and that strange garbled voice she heard.

“What you looking at Twi?” asked Applejack.

“Well… when my experiment was going wrong, and that whole strange blast of magical energy, I’ve been thinking… that strange voice we heard… I feel like I heard it before when I was back at Canterlot as Celestia’s pupil. From my studies when I was a filly, there were five ways to use magic – and this didn’t limit to only unicorns or ponies but other creatures too – with the most basic way to use magic for unicorns and other creatures is using something to extend magic from one’s magic core.”

“Magic… core?” asked Fluttershy.

Here Twilight’s eyes seem to brighten as she smiled. “Oh dear, Twilight’s going to her lecture mode,” said Rarity with a smile and giggle.

Since unicorns have their horns, they can easily expel spells or raw magic from their own magic cores by using their horn as a rod of sorts; other creatures without horns use objects to expel their own magic, like a staff or stave for example – in ancient times, minotaurs while being known for their brute force did indeed have mages called Nature-Melders who can control the wild-life and nature itself… though the practice has been stopped as Minos has become the biggest industrial nation so it is rare to find natural places of nature and areas filled with nature magic.

The second method to use magic is using the elements themselves, the basic elements being fire, wind, earth, and water, and if you combined them you get different combinations of the kind – wind and earth together create nature, and fire and ice make steam. The most common way to do this is of course using the literal elements; they do this by going to places full of ambient magic like the Everfree Forest, the Frozen North, or anywhere depending on the basic element someone wants to train under.

The third method is through enchanting, as you can enchant certain spells or magical energy into objects or even yourself; there is a limit though in which you need to re-enchant said object and that there is only a limit of enchantments you can add on to an object or being.

The fourth method is through chanting or ritualistic methods; many of the holy temples use this to enact using Holy Magic or Light Magic as it is also called. By chanting a certain word or line, while using an object of some kind to output one’s magic to, they can create spells that require those with large magic stores or complex spells. This however is only useful for let’s say, creating a barrier around a city like how Shining Armor did – while his cutiemark allows him to make a barrier, it required other unicorns and some members of the holy temples to support the barrier on times when he couldn’t. Another example is the Crystal Heart as the citizens themselves give their own stores of magic from sheer emotion itself and thought, which restores and boosts the heart ten-fold.

“The final method though… is something that’s not exactly banned but tricky and hard to do, and if not done carefully may cost your life… Spiritual Magic, also known as; Necromancy,” said Twilight.

“Wait, NECROMANCY! You mean that magic that can bring ponies back to life!” shouted Pinkie.

“Well yes, but that is the speculation everyone often see for Spiritual Magic. The magic itself is the ability to commune with spirits – whether its those of the afterlife or ambient spirits near areas of ambient magic. It allows anyone to use the powers from beyond to due the impossible; though the reason this kind of magic is so dangerous is that most often use it to bring the dead back to life and rare is it that ends successfully through different methods but the basic end result… are zombies.”

The girls all shivered at the thought of anyone bringing someone from the dead, no matter what reason it could be. “Other times they manage to bring the dead pony’s spirit and may converse with them or something… though you may accidentally summon a vengeful spirit. The biggest risk however is that you may damage your own magical core or even your life energy. There are many reasons Spiritual Magic is never used… but the reason why I’m bringing it up is because when someone uses Spiritual Magic… there are two ways to do it – one is to use an object of some kind to bring forth a spirit depending on what kind of spirit you’re trying to bring; a spirit of a deceased or an elemental, while the other method… is speaking in ‘tongues’.”

“Speaking in what Twilight?” asked Rainbow.

“Its another word for gibberish or to speak something incoherent… its hard to describe but most necromancers would speak in an indecipherable dialect that not many ponies in the past could understand… well until they found out that what they’re speaking isn’t gibberish but all the words are backwards; many believe it is due to the Spiritual Magic seeping into their magical core and causing some sort of… self-possession to happen in which that the body does all the work for what is needed while the mind goes blank – empty of emotion and thought – until whatever reason that pony has for using spiritual magic is done.”

“So you’re saying that yoohay we were hearing was just everything backwards. Well that’s good to know but how is this going to help us, I barely remember what that voice said at the slightest,” said Applejack.

“Precisely, and as to how, I simply need to use a memory spell at that exact time and remember word-by-word then use a simple translation spell and voila; instant proper sentences. It’ll take a few days to find books on memory spells and another day to remember then translate it but I’ll get a head start right this-”

At that moment, Spike came downstairs with another scroll in claw. “Twilight, you got another scroll!” said Spike. Twilight levitated the scroll and opened it to see what was inside.

To Twilight Sparkle,

My Royal Guard and the mages I sent to examine the crater left by your device to see what ambient magic they could find; they sent their report to me just now and what was written is… troubling. The ambient magic they found around the crater and surrounding area of the park is Spiritual Magic and a mix of another kind of magic we and the mages there are unfamiliar with… they also found remnants of a dark presence around the crater.

With this information, and the recent strange feeling my sister and I felt south-east of us, we believe something may have slipped into our world when your device was activated. Instead of coming tomorrow as planned, we will both arrive today in a few hours, I am deeply sorry for all of this suddenly happening, but do not panic; we will also bring a squad of Royal Guard and Lunar Guard each as we believe that whatever has come to our world may be near Ponyville.

I hope this letter does not bring foreboding news to you and hope this is all in my sister and I’s heads.

From,
Princess Celestia

P.S. There is no need to make a grand entrance for us… remember you are a princess too so think of it as princesses wanting to see a fellow princess.

After reading this, Twilight had mix feelings about all this but shook aside as she told her friends and Spike; soon all of them went to go ready to meet the princesses at Sugarcube Corner… that and the group we getting hungry from all of this excitement.

Equestria; Everfree Forest

Liliah had followed the dirt path until she came upon a field of strange blue flowers, and sensed something off about them, but due to her being undead if the flowers were cursed or something, they would had no affect as all undead are curse-immune, poison-immune, and immune by magic with either dark or death types. After walking pass the strange flowers – they made a weird sound like laughter, and decided to pick one out of curiosity and how beautiful they actually looked – she wandered further down the forest when… she felt she was being watched.

For being trained by the king himself and his aides, there were many bonuses she gained from her unusual but helpful training regimen… she had a third sense of things, and this third sense of hers was telling her that there were several things surrounding her… and they weren’t friendly.

Pulling out her sword and keeping one hand close to her knife in case things go awry, movement happened; it was quick and sudden but she managed to block with her sword as a beast pounced onto her. She pushed back and over her with her unnatural strength, as the creature tumbled about until it slammed against a tree, so taking a look at her attacker, she saw what appeared to be a wooden wolf of some kind… a big one unlike the natural wolves in the wildlife or from stories she read before.

They had yellow eyes, were made of wood, sticks, leaves, and other forest-things, and has some kind of sap dripping from their maws like drool… and they smelled horrendously though that didn’t bother her as she was often around ghouls so the smell wasn’t even close to be tolerable and was actually pleasant to her.

If these are the wolves of this forest, then there should be more than-

Instantly, she dodged to the left as another of the wooden creature pounced; looking up quickly, she saw at least seven more came out, putting the numbers to nine now. She was in a dense forest, in a cramped space surrounding by several large wooden wolves, and alone too; remembering her training, there was only one option to do – find a better advantage – but to run.

She sprinted off as the beasts of the forest chased after they’re latest prey while looking scrawny, was still made of flesh and flesh is what they crave. Liliah wasn’t sure where she was running to, but she knew she needed to get to somewhere and fast, but after some running she realzied the surroundings around her began to… change; the trees were looking different and brighter, and more sun was beaming past the treetops, but the biggest clue was the trees bore fruit – apples.

Realizing she was out of the forest she slid to a stop and gazed at her foes, reaching to her satchel and pulled out orange potion with a piece paper wrapped around with a flame as a symbol. Pulling out her slingshot she armed it and prepared to aim, but realized only eight of them were present and quickly turned to the right and fired. The potion flew into the open maw of one of the beasts as the potion broke as fire engulfed the creature, burning it to firewood; the other creatures backed up but kept a close distance as they watched their comrade burnt alive. Taking this as her advantage she continued to run but armed her slingshot with a putrid green potion that showed a pool of green bumbling liquid, and with precise aim, slung it at the root of one of the trees, as the potion ate away the tree until it couldn’t hold its weight and fell down onto two of the beasts and the still burning corpse of the previously dead wooden wolf.

With this domino effect, a large bonfire was made and the fire spread to the other trees; this caused half of the remaining pack to flee except for three of them who glared back and continued to chase. “Why won’t you run like the others – I am not someone to mess with!” shouted Liliah, firing another fire potion.

This one dodged but it caused the forest fire to spread further, as Liliah was chased by the beasts even further into this apple forest.

Ponyville; Sweet Apple Acres, Cutie Mark Crusader Treehouse

The CMC were currently at their treehouse, bored as usual since they did what activities they could do this week for their cutiemarks. Sweetie Belle drew some drawings, Scootaloo read some Daring Do books, while Applebloom looked through what kind of cutiemarks they could do, asking her friends to confirm if they did them or not.

“Hang-gliding cutiemarks?” asked Applebloom.

“Nope, did that already,” said Scootaloo, flipping a page.

“Art critique cutiemarks?”

“Tried… and run out of Canterlot Musuem for critiquing that pony’s art… Though everypony else agreed it didn’t look that good,” said Sweetie.

“How about…” said Applebloom. Applebloom paused as she began to sniff the air, until gave a quizzical look. “Do you smell something girls?”

Both CMC members took a whiff too, when they caused outside and in the horizon they saw smoke some distance from them, and there could be only one reason why there was smoke in a place like this.

“FIRE!” shouted all three fillies.

They quickly exited the treehouse, and done the ramp; the last time this happened – one time was because of them, the other time was because of a freak thunderstorm by the weather team – Applebloom was told what to do in emergencies like this like any fire drill for the farm.

“Scootaloo, get to town and find help or my sis and tell her the apple orchard is on fire at the western orchard! Sweetie and I are going to find Granny Smith since Big Mac is at Ponyville selling apples today; we’ll try to make sure the fire doesn’t spread to the rest of the orchard or near the barn!”

“You got it Applebloom!” With practiced ease, Scootaloo clambered on her scooter and sped off with her wings buzzing like a hummingbird. Sweetie and Applebloom ran back to the barn for Granny Smith.

On the way there, they heard some nearby noise when something crashed by one of the trees and stood before them or rather was standing near them but facing something else. A timberwolf and two others of its kind were growling at something, but as the fillies stared at shock they gazed at what the timberwolves were looking at. They weren’t sure what it was but it had clothing that was similar to a knight’s, a cape that was somewhat torn and old, a sword on the right hand while the left held a slingshot, but the strange being had her mane or hair all crazy as it splayed on her back and around her head as it covered one side of her face, a piece of her torso was missing and showed her ribs and insides while her left leg was bare bone with pieces of cloth and a boot on it.

One of the timberwolves noticed the fillies but that would be its doom as the strange creature struck true and stabbed its sword into the timberwolf’s skull as the light from its eyes vanished and clattered into a pile of sticks. The other two timberwolves growled as one managed to struck a hit and send the creature flying past the fillies into a tree as a loud crack was heard – from the tree cracking or the creature.

One timberwolf lumbered to the fallen being while the other gazed hungry at the fearful fillies ready to munch on them; both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shivered in fear as he clung to one another… but the impossible happened. Too quick for the normal eye, the strange creature stood up quickly and stab a knife into the approaching timberwolf’s eye socket, while not hurting it but surprising it… and surprise is just what Liliah needed.

A quick boot to the snout, she climbed over the dazed beast, jumped on its back and use her sword to slash at the other timberwolf, beheading the wooden wolf as its body fell over and turned to wood. She slowly turned to the timberwolf that had her knife in its eye socket as it tried to scratch it out fruitlessly, before it saw Liliah with cold crimson eyes before she held one potion in her left hand and shoved it into the beast’s other eye socket, the potion exploding as the beast was consumed in flames.

Liliah watched the flames consume the beast until ashes remained, which she sifted through the ash and pulled out her knife, putting it away until she glanced to the side and saw the two gawking fillies that stared back at her. Many thoughts were going through her head but even though she was trained to kill by the most deadliest of beings in her world… she was still a fourteen year-old girl, mentally in an eleven year-old body.

“PONIES! Ohhhh, you’re so cuuuute!” shouted Liliah as she crouched down to pick up the white… unicorn. “AND A UNICORN, OHHHH YOU TWO ARE ADO-RA-BLLLLE!”

She picked up Applebloom and began to hug them both, but as she did this something unexpected – well she did expect them to be afraid of her due to her appearance – happened… the filly unicorn started to cry and make crying noises like any sentient being. This somewhat shocked her as she slowly let go of Applebloom who fell plot first to the ground while she gripped both hands around Sweetie’s barrel as she continued to cry.

“Pllleeease don’t hurt me, I-I-I...” Sweetie continued to cry while Liliah gazed at her sadly until she felt something around her own barrel as she looked down at Applebloom bucking her with both back-hooves with a serious look.

“Let go, of my, friend, you, meanie!”

Liliah gently put down Sweetie Belle and began to smooth out her mane and wipe her tears, before pulling out some of her wrappings and ripped a small piece for her to blow on. After blowing on the piece of cloth, Applebloom ran to her side and hugged her.

“Sweetie Belle, are you alright, that thing didn’t hurt you did she?”

“No… she’s kind of nice… and gentle… like Fluttershy!”

“Fluttershy don’t beat up timberwolves like she does.”

“But Fluttershy did the Stare on that cockatrice once, remember!”

“...True,” said Applebloom, agreeing. Both fillies though looked up at the now standing Liliah and realized she was as tall as their sisters. “Ummm… sorry for thinking you’d hurt us… But who’re you and…”

Applebloom looked at her leg that was just bare bones and the piece of her torso missing with a cringe – Sweetie shared the same sentiment but considering the number of times she cooked and nearly burnt herself and the other things she got in trouble at Rarity’s boutique, she had her own scrapes and scratches, so she had surprisingly more guts than Applebloom when it comes to wounds.

“...Are you alright? Your legs is just bone and you got a piece missing… I think you need to go to the hospital.”

“What’s a hospital, and don’t worry I’m fine… though… you might helping me; I was chased by those wooden wolves and gotten lost. I saw a town here from the forest at this abandoned castle and another castle at the side of the mountain, I was planning to go there you see for… well, directions.”

“Not from here huh, well that castle you saw was Canterlot, and the town is Ponyville, but you’re at Sweet Apple Acres – my family’s apple farm – where we sell the best apples there is. The town is just down a dirt road by my family’s barn… Since we got off the wrong hoof, how about my granny check them wounds of yours and see if we can get that tummy of yours full, you look thin as a stick; and we should do it quick, I saw a fire some distance and I sent one of my friends to get help to put it out.”

“Thank you for the invitation, and I may have started the fire to scare off those… wooden wolves.”

“You mean the timberwolves?”

“Yeah those...”

“Well my sis is going be upset you nearly burned our family orchard down but I can understand considering there were three of them up against one.”

Originally there were nine though the other three out of the six that survived ran off, leaving those three to remain. “Yeah; again I’m sorry and I’ll repay back for that,” said Liliah with a bow.

“That kind of yeah, I’m sure my sis can find some work for ya. Anyway, let’s go before the fires spread and we’re stuck here!” Soon the trio went back to the barn, leaving behind the ashy remains of one timberwolf, and the destroyed forms of two.

Talking ponies… well I live in a world of undead beings, a king who’s thousands years old, and other mythical creatures… This isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve experienced so far.

Author's Note

The end of the prologue, and now into the story; Celestia and Luna are going to come to Ponyville earlier then originally planned, Sweet Apple Acres - well only a small western orchard of it - is on fire, and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle have met somepony or someone knew. What could happen next?

Narration/Dialogue: Kaalgao
Twilight Sparkle

Thoughts: Celestia
Kaalgao
Xarcain
Liliah
Twilight Sparkle

First Encounter of the Strange Kind

Equestria; Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner

The girls waited for the princess arrival to come, eating lunch and talking to one another when they heard a loud crash until coming into the bakery was Big Mac with Scootaloo on his back. The filly looked exhausted like she been running a marathon; Big Mac gently put Scootaloo down on the floor as she took careful breaths before quickly looking up at the girls, specifically Applejack.

“Applebloom… Sweetie… Fire… at… Sweet Apple… Acres… help,” said Scootaloo, collapsing from exhaustion.

After hearing this, both Applejack and Rarity stood up immediately; Twilight and the others followed suit and instead of running to the farm, Twilight called everyone together as she mass-teleported them back to the barn.

Once arriving there, they saw the smoke coming from the western orchard, but before any assumptions were made, two small voices could be heard from the barn. “Applejack!/Rarity!” shouted both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, at the same time.

The sisters hugged one another and checked to see if their little sisters were alright, after that they started to reprimand them about this recent mess. “Okay, what did you three do this time to cause a fire in the western orchard!?” said Applejack.

“We didn’t do anything this time; we were at our clubhouse when I smelt something and saw the smoke! I sent Scootaloo to get help while me and Sweetie Belle tried to run back to the barn… but we met face-to-face with some timberwolves-”

“THERE WERE TIMBERWOLVES!” shouted Twilight, worried. “How did you manage to avoid them?!”

“We didn’t… we would have been meals for them if it weren’t for Liliah,” said Sweetie.

At this, everyone gave confused looks, at the mention of somepony none of them knew of – and the name itself being strange. Applejack shook the thought away and focused her attention back at the main problem at hoof. “You can tell me when we get inside but first; Rainbow and Fluttershy, I need you two to gather some rainclouds and douse those flames! Big Mac and Pinkie, go and get some water buckets to make sure the fire does spread to close and Twilight, can you try something to smother those flames from growing any wilder!”

At this everypony nodded and headed off to stop the flames. “As for the six of us… we’re going inside to see this Liliah pony that saved my sister and her friend. Though I do wanna know why a bunch of timberwolves were in our orchard and why some strange would appear with all this happening.”

“Indeed, I like to give my thank yous for saving Sweetie here,” said Rarity, cleaning some dirt on Sweetie’s coat.

“But… Liliah isn’t a pony,” said Sweetie.

At this the two big sisters looked at the three fillies with confused looks – Applebloom and Sweetie gave their own shrugs while Scootaloo looked back with a blank look. “Don’t look at me, I have no idea who this Liliah pony is, I was sent to get you guys,” said Scootaloo.

“Well, let’s get inside, all this excitement is making me hungry,” said Spike.

As the group entered, they saw Granny Smith talking to someone but when the managed to get all the way in… the two mares, Scootaloo, and Spike froze as they stared at… well whoever this was. Sitting before them who was in the middle of a conversation with Granny Smith was a bipedal, skinny… minotaur-esque creature that wore some old dingy clothing – which almost made Rarity faint.

The biggest oddity was the large amounts of bandages around her, as she had her left leg covered in bandaged from foot to thigh, the middle of her torso was wrapped, while the left side of her face was also covered in bandages, making her a partial mummy. The stranger looked up with one eye before smiling; she had a sword leaning against the wall, a satchel beside her and some of her armor was in a beside her sword in a pile, leaving her barefoot and only wearing some clothing she had on her.

Granny Smith and the stranger were drinking apple-flavored tea, Granny Smith looking at the newcomers and smiled in return. “Applejack, you sould meet hour guest n the one woh saved Applebloom n Sweetie Belle from them timber’olves,” said Granny.

“Ummm, its nice to meet you,” said Liliah with a weak smile.

The group stayed silent until Scootaloo spoke. “...Can I touch your sword?”

An hour earlier…

After exiting the western orchard, Liliah was led b Applebloom and Sweetie Belle – they introduced themselves to her as they moved together to the barn – as they now stood before the Apple Family farmhouse. As they approached, exiting from the house was Applebloom’s grandmother, and the matriarch of Sweet Apple Acres; Granny Smith. “Applebloom; are you and ya friends alright?” asked Granny.

“We’re fine Granny, I told Scootaloo to go get help to put the fires out; we also ran into some Timberwolves, but Miss Liliah took care of them,” said Applebloom looking up at the girl.

“Well… it’s my fault for the fires, I’m deeply sorry for causing this mess,” said Liliah, bowing.

Granny Smith look at Liliah from head to toe, not flinching at her grievous looking wounds, before gesturing for them to come in. “Tis no problem, but it appears you got quite a lickin with them wounds of yours. Let’s get inside and get you all fixed up n wait for help to come,” said Granny.

The four entered inside and Liliah found the most interesting home ever; even though Liliah couldn’t remember much of her past life, she could remember never living in a proper home, so seeing the inside of one was… mesmerizing.

There were some armchairs, a couch, rocking chair for probably Granny Smith, bookshelves with some books, photos of family and friends, and a coffee table in the middle. All of this was a lot to take in until Applebloom nudged Liliah right leg which caught the girl’s attention. “Granny said she’ll make some tea and snacks, you wanna relax and wait; I’ll go get the first-aid kit upstairs so just wait here with Sweetie Belle,” said Applebloom. Soon the small filly went up the steps, and as Liliah watched her leave she gazed down to find Sweetie Belle staring at her before looking away with a tinge of red around her cheeks.

These… ponies are so hospitable… I hope they’re not afraid of me, too much.

Liliah soon felt all the adrenaline from today disappear as her bones and muscles ached; deciding to relax was a good idea, so Liliah removed her armor. First putting her sword against the wall near the couch she sat on, Liliah stood up and first removed the chest-piece and putting by her sword, then the gauntlets on her arms, then the armored boots, and finally the belt which held her scabard. After that she slowly removed the shredded clothing she wore when she ran through the Everfree Forest, slipping her satchel off and looking through it before she pulled out another shirt – a simple gray wool shirt – and slipping it in, that covered her upper body but left her lower torso just skin. The reason was because of the piece of her torso was missing would cause any shirts she wore to get stuck by the bones jutting out.

“Ahhh, much better...” said Liliah, sliding down the couch. For one quick second Liliah closed her eyes when she felt something around her right arm. Looking down was Sweetie Belle who was… giving her a hug. “Ummm, what you doing?”

“Oh, I, um… I was giving a hug because… well… aren’t you hurting?”

“Am I hurting?”

“Yeah, like your whole… leg is just bone, and a piece of you is missing, and your mane is so messy, it doesn’t look like it hasn’t been cleaned in days,” said Sweetie. “If my sister saw you like this she freak!”

Well I did avoid showering due to being tired from training with Master Xarcain. Liliah gave a light giggle before petting the top of Sweetie’s head which made the filly like the feeling, and push her head instinctively up to get as much of the feeling around her scalp.

“I’m… Do you know what a zombie is?”

At this Sweetie perked up and looked at Liliah. “Yeah, a zombie is an undead pony or thing… Why?”

Liliah had a difficult time to explain this, but after awhile she looked down at Sweetie once more. “...I’m a zombie, but not any zombie… I’m something called an ‘Undead’; Undead are smarter zombies and hold some coherency and natural movement…” Liliah saw the look of Sweetie as she was slowly scooting away, but before she did Liliah seemed to have a remorseful look, which made Sweetie second guest herself.

“You’re really a zombie,” said Sweetie, a little fearful.

“Undead to be precise, but yeah… Unlike zombies, undead don’t eat flesh or choose not to; I won’t hurt you I promise… I’m really far from home and I was hoping that the ones in this town would help me...” Liliah seemed to lower her head, as her eyes seemed to glaze over before suddenly felt a small weight on her lap and saw Sweetie giving her a hug around her.

“I’m sorry for getting scared of you; we ponies can be a bit frightful of things we don’t understand, but you just wanna go home. Nopony can blame you for that… I’m sure the rest of Applebloom’s family will forgive you for the fire, you were just trying to protect yourself.”

Liliah looked up at Sweetie and smiled, scratching her behind the ears. “You’re a good girl, Sweetie.” Sweetie smiled happily and hugged back; coming down the steps with a first-aid kid was Applebloom as she saw the two hugging, she placed the kit on the coffee table and turned toward them.

“What’s with the hugging? Did I miss something?”

“Oh nothing, just told your friend about something about me.” Sweetie gave Applebloom a short summary of what Liliah told her and soon she too understood, but said it probably be a good idea to cover her… grievous looks so everypony else doesn’t freak out.

With the help of Sweetie, the two fillies managed to wrap the parts of Liliah that were best to be hidden in bandages. “Oh, you two should bandage this as well.” Liliah parted her hair that was covering the left side of her face; that part of her face had two scars around her eye, but her eye itself showed her skull as the eyeball showed the veins and was somewhat malformed for some reason. The girls cringed and agreed that should be covered too; covering that part of her head swiftly, leaving her vision in half – which was fine with her – Granny Smith came back with some tea and snacks for the four.

“Here you go, my famous Apple Tea,” said Granny, giving a teacup to Liliah.

“Thank you.” Liliah picked up the teacup and took a sip, immediately loving the warm flavor and apple taste, finishing her first cup and getting a second and third later. A plate of cookies were also present as Applebloom and Sweetie ate some, with Liliah getting one or two as Granny and Liliah drank the tea.

“So… Liliah was it?” Liliah looked up at Granny Smith as she sat down on the armchair with a content look. The old mare while looking old was somewhat spry to be moving around without the help of any her grandchildren so she was stronger than she seemed. “You knot from them here parts, are yah?”

“No… You see, a friend of mine was bringing a new device made by some of our, well what you may call scientists, and test it out. Things… didn’t go well and myself and possibly anyone else near the explosion was sent away from our home; I don’t know how far or where we are but I’m not sure we can return home, but I know my master will find a way back.”

“You have a teacher?” asked Applebloom.

“Yep; Master Xarcain, he is the king of the land he rules, and watches over the lands with all under him united together. He is both my teacher… and...” Liliah had a smile before realizing she was reminiscing past events, and began to blush.

“Oh, this Carlain fella must be the special stallion!”

“He is much older than I… around a couple thousand at least-”

“He’s that old! He must be older than the princesses!” Princesses?

Soon the four began to discuss about each others homelands – Applebloom, Sweetie, and Granny talking about Equestria, its rulers, the town and what the knew; while Liliah talked about her home and the close friends and what she may consider family there. Some time later, Applejack and the others would arrive and soon meet Liliah… which would lead to some events to occur.

Equestria; Above the sky, some distance near Ponyville

Both Princess Celestia and Luna were in pegasi-flown carriages, plus the ten Royal Guard and ten Lunar Guard that followed behind them – the Royal Guard all being five pegasi, three earth ponies and two unicorns, the earth ponies and unicorns on their own carriages, while the Lunar Guard were all batponies so they flew beside the Royal Guard pegasi.

“Sister, do you see that,” said Luna, pointing with her hoof. Celestia also look and saw a large pillar of smoke what she assumed was Sweet Apple Acres. Worry spreading through her mind, Celestia quickly took flight toward the farm, followed by Luna but first ordering the pegasi-flown carriages to land by Ponyville, and also telling half of her Lunar Guard to check the status of Ponyville.

As the two sisters approached the smoke, they saw two familiar figures in the air – a yellow figure and blue figure with the colors of the rainbow – and once they approached, and recognized them to be Twilight’s friends, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, the sisters spotted Twilight smothering the last remaining embers with the help of Pinkie Pie and Applejack’s brother, Big Mac as they dumped buckets of water in the remaining flames.

“Twilight, what has happened here!?” shouted Celestia, landing before her old student.

Twilight immediately froze and faced Celestia with both her eyes twitching feverishly. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, you’re both here! I-I don’t know; Scootaloo came to Sugarcube Corner and told us that Sweet Apple Acres was on fire, so I mass-teleported everyone there and myself, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Big Mac went to stop the fire from spreading while the Applejack and Rarity led the CMC and Spike inside the farmhouse. We still don’t know what caused the fire, but Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were apparently chased by some Timberwolves when-”

Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight’s snout, before giving her a motherly look. “Twilight, breath.”

Twilight followed Celestia’s advice, and breathed in and out until her breathing calmed down; soon the others came by and told what they knew about the situation. After listening she ordered the remaining Royal Guard pegasi and Lunar Guard to survey the area to find any clues of what started the fires. “Let us head to your friend Applejack and Rarity and see if they could get any information from their sisters,” said Celestia.

The group headed back to the barn, but as they approached, exiting from the barn were Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and the CMC, as well as another being that nopony recognized. This new arrival was partially covered in bandages – covering her leg, half her face, and a small part of her torso – and wore armored boots, gauntlets, and a chest-piece and had a sword with a scabbard connected to the belt she wore.

The other group noticed them, but when this new arrival spotted the princesses, she took a step back – her eyes showed fear… why though was unknown. “Liliah, what’s wrong?”

“Those three… they have the aura of holy magic around them,” said Liliah, muttering to herself.

Before anypony could ask what she said, Celestia and Luna approached them. “Fair maidens Applejack and Rarity, could you shed some light into what has caused this fire?” asked Luna.

“Well, this here girl by the name of Liliah was lost in the Everfree Forest and was heading to Ponyville when she was chased by Timberwolves. She used some sort of potion that could create fire and partially torched them wolves, and some of my orchard. Its all fine in the end and we gave our apologizes in the end; she did save my and Rarity’s sisters.”

“Is that so,” said Celestia, turning to face Liliah. “It is my thanks to you Lady Liliah for saving the lives of these young fillies… though I must ask – what are you exactly?”

“I’m… I am a human.”

Twilight immediately step forward in surprise – and was shaking in excitement. “You’re a human! You must be the first ever Equestrian human ever, because you look nothing like the humans back in the world I was in!”

“ITS NICE TO MEET YOU; MY NAME IS PINKIE PIE, WE SHOULD CELEBRATE A ‘Thank you for saving Applebloom and Sweetie Belle from Timberwolves’ PARTY! Also why are you dressed like a mummy?”

“The poor darling must have been injured fighting those Timberwolves,” said Fluttershy, worried.

“No, the wounds didn’t come from them – just got some bruises and scratches is all – these… are a long story.”

“Well while my and my sister’s guard examine the orchard for clues, we should head to Ponyville to make sure the populace is calmed from our untimely visit.” As the group left together, Luna slowly inched to her sister, and leaned her head so they could speak in privacy.

“This Liliah character… she is suspicious; we are sure that there are no humans in this world… and she couldn’t had come from he world Twilight was from as it looked slightly more advanced than ours… Her clothing, armor, and weapon suggest she is… possibly several centuries of Equestrian history when the armor back then was more… medieval than it is now. Something is amiss sister and it involves that girl,” said Luna.

“Indeed; I also sense something wrong about her… a dark presence of some kind… Similar to the same magic that was used… by dark spiritual magic.” As the two sisters talked, Liliah also kept her distance from them, when Twilight approached her for questions, but was also avoided too which made the bookmare somewhat… confused.

“Did I do something wrong, she’s avoiding the princesses and myself,” said Twilight.

“Well you three are royalty, she probably doesn’t want to get in your way, Twilight,” said Rarity.

“No… its almost like she’s fearful coming near us… What exactly do you know about her?”

“Nothing much, only that she met Applebloom and Sweetie, they introduced her to Granny Smith, had some tea and cookies and later we met her and were told the same story and that she’s a human… but those bandages though look really recent,” said Applejack.

“And those clothes of her are just horrid, she needs to visit my boutique for some fresh clothing later.” The girls sighed together, but while this was all happening, something amiss the trees watched them leave to Ponyville; the glowing eyes of something stared before glancing at Liliah, giving off a low growl as it vanished.

Equestria; Badlands

Once the six captains that were chosen for the wall-building were picked, the given ghouls and troops were sent off to find somewhere to mine while the other half of the captains stayed by Mt. Scyeal to build a foundation for the three mountains. Captains Terra Mons, Ferro Machina, and Ventus Tempestas – the captains of the earth, steel, and wind levels – were the ones to mine and transport the resources to the other half of the captains stationed by the perimeter, to build the wall. Captains Terra and Ferro were responsible for digging operations while Captain Ventus would lead his given forces to bring the required resources to the other three captains to build the walls.

Captains Terra and Ferro glanced at the mountains north-west of Mt. Scyeal, before facing their own forces – both Terra and Ferro were given each, five thousand ghouls, five thousand skeleton knights, ten thousand skeleton foot-soldiers, one thousand and five hundred imps to mine within the mountains. Captain Ventus was given fifty corpse wagons, one thousand minion imps, and one thousand skeleton foot-soldiers, but for now they made camp near the mountain for future mining operations.

“Okay, I want the ghouls under my command to start digging and create a tunnel system we can memorize and map out later for future use! The ghouls under Captain Ferro will pull out any rubble and resources to the surface so that Captain Ventus can transport the resources back to the builder groups!” shouted Terra. “Everyone get to work, stat; the skeleton knights and foot-soldiers will make a five meter perimeter patrol around the mine entrance and camp. Report if you see any unusual activity to either myself or Captains Ferro or Ventus.”

With that, everything moved like a busy beehive – both ghouls from each group began to work as in just a couple of minutes a tunnel system was made – as everyone began to create the mine, a campsite, and patrol paths which were intermittently switched every thirty minutes. Captain Terra overseen the production of the mine, until he heard someone approaching him from behind; turning around it, it was Captain Ferro – all of the twelve captains were named off the elements of the world, which also meant they had weapons and powers based off those elements.

Captain Ferro wore armor from foot to neck, and wielded a spear and tall shield, as Captain Terra wore a heavy-duty chest-piece and leather padding around his shin to his kneecaps, while his weapons consisted of a spike club and crossbow. “Something the matter Terra?” asked Ferro.

“Well… I am worried about King Xarcain; he has lost his steed once more and now his apprentice too. I wished he’d sent us out thee to find our missing comrades than being here to dig,” said Terra.

“Do not worry brother, the king may have his reasons for not sending out our other brothers-in-arms to find our lost forces. I am sure Lady Liliah is safe and sound somewhere, for now we should guide the forces given to us and make sure this project goes well and our fortifications are built to prepare for oncoming attacks that may come from the inhabitants of this world.” Terra nodded in agreement, guiding some skeleton knights to check the status of the mines so far.

I hope you’re correct brother… we have lost to much for the last thousands of years.

Equestria; Ponyville, Town Center

After calming the townsponies, the guards that Luna sent to reassure and check for damages in town came to report to their princesses what they found. “Everything is secure princesses, we managed to calm the townsfolk and told them to return their homes until you would return. We also searched the perimeter outside of Ponyville and found nothing of usual. The ones who were also sent to examine the crater also have something to tell you.”

“Bring us the mages we sent guard,” said Luna. The guard nodded and brought forth four magi who were led by a familiar wizard to Celestia – this wizard used to be a protege of hers, but now he was one of the few greatest wizards of Equestria this century to come – for his name was, Higher Mind.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna; I’m surprised you were coming today, I expect you to come tomorrow as I planned to stay here at the local tavern. Not that there is a problem with, but I have something important you must know; as when myself and the other magi were examining where Princess Sparkle’s experiment took place, the ambient magic leftover within the crater was… interesting to say the least. It was a mix of spiritual magic indeed, but we felt something else, we were unsure what it was but after further study, we found out what it was – it was a form of dark magic.”

This rung out gasps among everypony – except for Liliah and Pinkie both oblivious to what this meant – until Celestia pushed for further details. “Do you know what kind – shadow magic, chaos magic… corruption magic?”

“Sadly none of these, and while there appeared to be a mix of the three, there was fourth kind that was unfamiliar to any of us, even I. This magic while unnamed, is very similar to a banned practice that used to be done millennia ago; Necromancy.”

This brought more whispers among the group until Celestia raised her hoof to silence them before addressing them all. “Do not worry my ponies, we shall find out the source of this dark magic and see to it will not spread any further. Wizard Higher Mind, is there a way to track this form of dark magic?”

“Indeed, I already made a tracking spell that’ll any unicorn to see anything with this kind of dark magic either around or giving off any ambient magic like it.” As Higher activated said spell, a purple glow shrouded something behind the group, everyone turned around stared wide-eyed at the now glowing Liliah who stood beside the CMC. “It can’t be… She has dark magic pouring our of her – she has to be a dark magic caster!”

Immediately everypony scattered like mice leaving the Mane 6, both princesses, their guards, Big Mac, Spike, and the CMC who stood near Liliah. Realizing what was happening Liliah slowly reached for her sword out of instinct, but this caught the eye of Rainbow Dash and swiftly she flew straight at her. Tackling her, she shoved her against the trunk of a tree with such force that cracks could be seen splintering off the tree.

“Rainbow! Why did you do that!?” shouted Pinkie.

“She was going to pull her sword out, I knew she was bad news the second I saw her!” said Rainbow, puffing out steam.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” said Applejack.

“Well… I wasn’t sure or not, but now I know she’s trouble!”

While the mares argued, Applebloom and her friends were about to approach the fallen Liliah, when Twilight and Rarity stopped them approaching her. “Rarity, what are you doing, we need to help her!” said Sweetie, trying to push past her sister.

“Stay back Sweetie, you too girls; I don’t know what is going on here, but I think we weren’t told the full story about Liliah here,” said Rarity looking at Applebloom and Sweetie who looked away. “Fluttershy can you make you watch these three.”

Fluttershy nodded and brought them to the back of the group; Celestia and Luna came closer, ordering their guards to surround and apprehend Liliah. As the guards slowing approached her, one of them levitating some shackles and cuffs, the bandages around Liliah slowly began to slip off, and as the one that covered her face fell, Liliah’s eyes both opened wide.

In a flurry of motion, Liliah pulled out her sword and swiped at each of the guards, each blow painful but not fatal or hitting anything important with precise strikes. All five the guards that surrounded her fell in pain as they writhed on the ground.

Everypony stared wide eyed at how quickly Liliah dispatched experienced and trained guards from both the Royal and Lunar Guard, but what was most shocking was what laid underneath her bandages. Her left leg was bare bone, a piece of her torso was missing showing her ribs, while her left eye was scarred and the eye bulged out. She’s a zombie.

“GUARDS! Capture this creature of the undead, we must interrogate it and find out where is the one who resurrected it is at and send any other poor souls that been corrupted with this foul magic!” shouted Luna.

Both the remaining Royal and Lunar Guard that were standing began to surround Liliah, as she was slowly backed up until she ran toward the edge of the trees that led to the Everfree Forest, but before she could reach it she felt several warm objects fly by her until something hot slammed against her back. She screamed in pain as she tumbled to the ground and skidded just meters from the forest; quickly but painfully she crawled toward the forest until she felt a weight on her back, with her sword knocked aside as it skidded to the forest.

The weight on her was the same pegasus who tackled her earlier, grinning down below with a smug look. “You ain’t going anywhere zombie!”

Undead, not zombie.

Soon the guards and the other ponies arrived but as they were readying to apprehend her, they heard a cacophony of growls and snarls. “Timberwolves,” said Spike shaking.

“No, this is something else,” said Celestia. “Everypony get back!”

“What, but I got her in my hooves, why is everypony backing off-” At the very second something shifted within the trees, first it started with a single set of eyes, then another, and then even more; soon the whole treeline was a sea of glowing eyes, but these weren’t the eyes of any creature familiar or native in the Everfree. Soon a small glow began to grow ever steadily until it began an ever consuming inferno… which was sent flying right at Rainbow Dash.

The flames consumed the poor pegasus, her screams of terror sending her off Liliah who was unharmed by the attack. The mare came sprawling toward the others where Twilight quickly used a water spell, dousing her in the water in the area into a blast of water which doused the flames. Rainbow was somewhat alright, but her feathers were pitch black while her coat was covered in a thick layer of soot from the flames.

“Who dares attack my friend! Come out there you meanies!” shouted Pinkie.

“You heard her you varmints, whoever you are you better come out before and come and drag you out!” said Applejack, agreeing with Pinkie.

“YoU asKEd, you SHall reCeivE,” said a distorted voice. Stepping out from the foliage… was something out of a nightmare; one by one, creatures from legend and from dark imagination would exist – dark knights, demonic lords, giant skeletons, demon hounds, and demon casters. The creatures stared back with varying looks but all of them were bloodlusting and hateful, stares until one of the most terrifying things stepped forth from the trees; another creature similar to Liliah except his whole head was a skull with two glowing orbs, as he rode an armored skeletal steed.

The guards shook in fear but kept their guard as they pointed their spears and swords forward in a ready stance. The girls stared back with equal horror, but the princesses were ones most fearful, not because what they saw was something impossible, but something that they have never seen for such a long time. “By Tartarus… creatures from Tartarus are here,” said Celestia.

The undead rider gazed down at Liliah, extending one armored hand toward her. “My LAdy ArE You AlRight? We ShOUld hEAd back TO the CaMp; ThosE Who WeRe also Loss have made ReFuGE WesTWard.”

Liliah grasped the hand and got back to her feet; she grabbed her sword and after sheathing glanced at the forces of the damned ready to charge and slaughter those who dare attack their master’s apprentice… but she would not allow that. “Hold your position,” said Liliah, authoritatively. Immediately, the gathered forces stood by, some of the hell hounds sat down with their tongues out in a playful matter, if it weren’t for the sharp teeth and flames that coated their bodies, they’d actually look adorable.

Liliah approached forward but didn’t get close that she get a reaction from the ponies; seeing this as a request to speak, Celestia ordered her own guards to stand by as well, approaching Liliah with both Luna and Twilight, the girls staying to watch – both the scene before them and Rainbow.

“What foul thing do you wish creature of Tartarus?” asked Luna, spitefully.

“Sigh; look, I don’t know what in the gods is a Tartarus, so unless you are referring to the Hellscape, then I’m not from there… I’m not even from this world,” said Liliah, an inch of sadness in her voice. “But I don’t mean to be any harm to you.”

“YOU DARE SAY THAT AFTER WHAT YOU DONE TO OUR GUARDS!” shouted Luna.

“I’m sorry I harmed them, but self-defense was my reason for attacking… I’ve been approached by strangers once before and it cost the lives of those who were previously under my command… So sorry if I had to watch my own troops get slaughter by people like you!” This silenced Luna as she glanced to the side but kept a piercing glare in return. “I only wish to say that whatever premonitions you think about myself or anyone like me… It isn’t what you think – in your world, this necromancy isn’t something shunned… rather if controlled properly it can be used for good… others became afraid, confused and this caused the kingdom I now help with to have fallen because of the greed and fear of others. I am not from this world, but seeing how you and your subordinates have the same feeling like those before, I can see any sort of alliance is impossible… All I ask is… please understand our side before you make any risky choices… you may do more harm if you blindly assume things of us. We won’t harm you, any of your citizens or any other nation unless threatened… we’ll leave peacefully and won’t come back unless we have a reason to… farewell.”

Liliah turned around and with the help of the corpse rider, she rode with the undead rider with the rest of damned forces following behind like tide of death. As they watched them disappear into the forest, Celestia faced her guards then Twilight and the girls.

“What do you want us to do Princess Celestia?” asked Twilight.

Celestia glanced at her fellow princess and stared where Liliah left with her forces. “...We will wait; I want some of the Royal Guard and Lunar Guard posted by Ponyville and every settlement that doesn’t have any proper defenses… it may appears another kingdom has come to the land of Equestria… one we must be wary of.” With that, the nearest guard saluted and like that every guard went to do that as one pegasus guard flew off to Canterlot for reinforcements.

“As for you and your friends Twilight… I want you to scan the surrounding area – all of Equestria – of any energy signatures that Liliah gave off, I will have Higher Mind here and the other magi give what information they gathered to make a device that allow to pinpoint the location of creatures just like Liliah. For now though, rest up and stay close to Ponyville…”

I fear dark times are coming for us, and all of Equestria… and the world.

Equestria; White Tail Woods

Liliah and the escort of troops that came to search for her returned to the camp they made; the camp consisted of forces from the advanced infantry and Xarcain’s personal forces – summoners, corpse wagons, death knights, imp lords, death golems, armored shades, giant skeleton archers, undead buccaneers, hell hounds, death assassin, imp casters, old ones, earth warders, death mages, decay death giants, alchemy makers, corpse carriers, and corpse riders.

One of the summoners approached her; the summoners wore robes with a symbol of an eye just like the one on King Xarcain’s left gauntlet, and had the ability to summon structures by using the resources gathered nearby. “My lady, I am glad you are safe and that we manage to find you before anything could happen. I have already sent a telepathic message to Lord Kaalgao, soon he will tell King Xarcain of your whereabouts… with you here, we not have a leader to properly guide us. What do you wish for us to do?”

Liliah thought of what action should be made; seeing as her first impressions with the locals did not go well, there was only one option left. “We need to remake contact with my master – we shall build a gateway to the Soul Cavern. I also want this camp to become a proper fort, also have the summoners to create wards to hide our location and aura signature from prying eyes; we shall make sure this will become a fine location for future operations to be made for the kingdom. Spread the word and have the gateway be our main priority, but do not forget that every action done and completed efficiently will be the betterment of us all to succeeding our current goals!”

With this, all those who were nearby bowed and knelt in respect to Liliah – she was indeed the king’s apprentice. “We live to serve, and we die to be under your rule; Lady Liliah,” said all the forces of the damned. We will make it, all of us, and we’ll come back to you master.. I will come back, soon.

Elsewhere, somewhere further north – Frozen North; Crystal Mountains

Among these icy mountains, was dense snow storm that made any who may trod upon them blind for as far the eye can see… but soon an armored hoof crashed into the snowy earth of these frozen wasteland. A stallion that was larger than any stallion, possibly taller than the princesses themselves stood over the very top of one of the many mountains that surrounded a certain empire at the foot of these mountains.

The stallion snorted out a stream of hellfire that melted the snow and ice into steaming hot water; the stallion gazed at the crystalline buildings, the spire that was centered in the middle… and the lacking of defenses that surrounded it. A train whistle could be heard as train began to approach the crystalline city, that was surrounded by a bubble of pure magic.

The hell horse, known in the Circle of the Corpse as the “Boots of Decay”; King Xarcain’s loyal steed, Decay. He stared at it with his hellish-red eyes before facing the dozens of troops that also ended up in this frozen wasteland – they reached over the ten thousands… possibly more as they trudged through the snow, unwavering at the slightest.

The massive army consisted of enough troops to take down the most highly defended of cities, no matter how well defended they are… but they weren’t here to invade, rather for directions as they were lost. They had summoners so they could build a gateway any time back to the Soul Cavern… but they needed an area to build and fortify, so their only option was to ask the aide of those of this city… though they may feel threatened by their appearance so the massive army stayed silent until they got close enough to speak to this empire’s leaders… This was the idea that went through Decay’s head.

The army was made up of – summoners, corpse wagons, ghoul berserkers, death knights, imp lords, death golems, death lords, chaos warriors, five bane of sin, a tormentor, death hunters, monstrosities, hell hounds, death assassins, imp casters, chaos casters, demon sorceresses, death mages, hell casters, death lichs, decay death giants, corpse carriers, five decay dragons, corpse riders, corpse giants, and a death digger. The army filled the snow wastes, the skies themselves, and even deep beneath; the massive army stopped still and silent, awaiting for orders.

Close… we are close… Time to move onward. With one breath of hellfire, he signaled the massive army to travel down the mountain, and head straight for the crystal city. No time stop stop; we won’t stop until we know where Xarcain is… I’ll find him, even if it takes forever.

Author's Note

Narration/Dialogue: Celestia

Thoughts: Liliah
Terra Mons
Celestia
Decay