Chapters Chapter 1 - A chance encounter
A long time ago, there were two ponies that loved studying, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. But they didn't become friends instantaneously, for they were too absorbed in books and would rather spend their time reading books than socialize. Then one day, much to Twilight's excitement, her parents organized a trip to the Canterlot Library. Her parents usually get her books from the Library of Magic, which has a striking resemblance to the Canterlot Library but it isn't like the Canterlot Library since the Canterlot Library had way more ancient books and a restricted area (not that Twilight knew about the latter). The interior of the library looked almost like a colosseum, with lavender columns and violet walls, along with a very shiny floor and rows upon rows of bookshelves filled with what appeared to be over a million books. Twilight hyperventilated in excitement as she drank in every detail, with her mother casually handing over a paper bag for Twilight to breathe in.
"She definitely takes after you," Twilight Velvet jokingly said to Night Light.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Night Light said in a mildly proud manner.
As they shared a chuckle, the two parents quickly noticed Celestia appearing from the far back of the library. They then made their way while Twilight ran off to enjoy whatever random book she could get her hooves on.
"So...who talks first?" Night Light asked Velvet "You talk first? I talk first?"
"It would be best if I did the talking, darling," Velvet answered, "I have been known to be the more sociable out of us."
And so Velvet walked up to Celestia and introduced herself and her family to Celestia.
"Ah, Princess Celestia. Pleasure to meet you. My name is Twilight Velvet, this is my husband, Night Light, and the little unicorn over there is my daughter, Twilight Sparkle."
Velvet then pointed to Twilight, who was reading a book about the history of rock farming as if it was the most fascinating thing in the universe.
"Ever since she saw you at the Summer Sun Celebration, she’s been obsessed with magic and has been reading every book on the topic ever since."
"Well, I suppose rock farming is magical in its own way," Celestia joked lightheartedly.
"Oh, and she just likes to read in general. If there's a book on something, she will read it."
"She gets it from me," Night Light boasted.
"Your daughter reminds me of a student I have," Celestia said while pointing to a unicorn that was slightly older than Twilight reading a book written by Star Swirl the Bearded himself. The unicorn was of an orange-yellow colour with red wavy hair that had streaks of yellow in it, making it almost look like bacon. Unlike the very obvious fascination written on Twilight's face, this other unicorn had a rather neutral expression, apart from the occasional smirk and eyebrow raise.
"This is my personal protege, Sunset Shimmer," Celestia said while still pointing at Sunset "I've been meaning to get her to make some friends but she insists that studying is much more important than socializing."
"Not to worry," Velvet said while giving a flap of her hoof "Our Twilight's a bit asocial herself."
"That, and we don't trust her to be on her own," Night Light butted in.
Celestia then trotted towards Twilight, who was still enthralled in the book she was reading, in spite of nearly reaching the end of it. Twilight looked up and noticed the pony that was now standing near her, much to her surprise and eventual excitement.
"Twilight Sparkle, is it?" Celestia asked.
"That's me!" Twilight said excitedly.
"I was wondering if you could make friends with my protege, Sunset Shimmer, given how you both like reading."
"Uh...That's a bit of a weird request, and I wouldn't really consider a shared fondness for reading to be a solid basis for friendship, but I suppose I could give it a try."
Twilight levitated her book and trotted off to sit right next to Sunset. Sunset just ignored Twilight's presence while Twilight just kept looking at Sunset and then turning her head to look at Celestia while wearing an awkward smile on her face.
"Uh...hello, My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?"
Sunset then gave Twilight a glance and acknowledged her.
"If you must know, my name is Sunset Shimmer. I am Princess Celestia's personal student. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to continue my studies."
Twilight tilted her head to get a closer look at the book Sunset was reading.
"Is that Star Swirl's Magical Grooming Spellbook?!"
"Yes, it is."
"I have the entire collection!"
"There's a collection?"
"Yes. Star Swirl's Magical Spells for Personal Life!"
Twilight was wearing a huge grin on her face. Sunset could have sworn she heard a squeaking sound when Twilight smiled. She also saw a twinkle in both of Twilight's eyes.
"What else do you know about Star Swirl?" Sunset asked.
"He's the father of the animorphic spell, he defeated the sirens that once plagued Equestria, he also has an entire section in the Library of Magic dedicated to him!"
Sunset was slowly starting to find Twilight's excitement to be amusing. She was also mildly surprised by the amount of trivia Twilight had knowledge of. It would seem she found somepony that liked facts and reading more than she did, not that she would ever consider herself a bookworm. Then she had an idea.
"This may sound weird but, on the count of three, say the first thing that comes into your mind. Don't overthink it. One. Two. Three."
Both Twilight and Sunset said in unison "Daring Do and the Grand Multiple Choice Pop-Quiz!"
They then looked at each other in surprise after saying that.
"What?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Did we just become best friends?" Sunset asked in a milder tone.
"Why yes, you did!" Celestia butted in.
Twilight and Sunset then looked at Celestia.
"Perhaps we should visit here more often for a study session," Celestia suggested.
Twilight and Sunset looked at each other before looking back at Celestia with a smile on both of their faces. Twilight's smile was showing her teeth while Sunset's one had a look of confidence to it. Celestia herself was wearing a warm smile. She was happy because she finally managed to achieve what she thought would be nearly impossible.
She got Sunset Shimmer to make a friend.
Author's Note
For want of a nail, eh? Yeah, this is why I had the comedy tag put in. There is nothing dark about two unicorns who gush over their fondness of books and reference a scene from Step Brothers.
But if you know who my editor and that I have made my fair share of dark stories, you would know that this time of peace and happiness isn't going to last.
Chapter 2 - The entrance exam
It was another day in the library for Twilight and Sunset, studying as hard as they could. While reading, Sunset noticed that Twilight was having difficulty flipping the pages with her magic.
"Need some help?" Sunset asked.
"No worries, it's fine," Twilight replied, "It's just my magical abilities need maturing that's all."
"Maturing?"
"Well, that and I tend to have so many thoughts in my head that it's slightly difficult for me to focus on one thing. For example, I could be talking to you about Daring Do, then I would be thinking of magical artefacts, then the Elements of Harmony, then the various gemstones like quartz and rubies and...well...you get the idea."
"Well, as long as I've known you, you've always been a walking encyclopedia."
"Knowledge is magic, after all!"
"Actually, the saying is 'knowledge is power'. Although Celestia insists that friendship is magic, which is why she kept pushing me to make friends."
"Friendship is magic? I like it. Has a nice ring to it. Though, I think I'll stick to saying 'knowledge is magic'."
Twilight and Sunset continued their studies, as day eventually turned tonight. And speaking of night, Night Light showed up with a document in his mouth. It looked like a certificate, with a big check written in red and a badge that was blue on the outside and yellow in the centre. It also had Celestia's signature at the bottom. Oh, and Twilight Velvet was there too.
"Guess who got enrolled into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns!" Velvet announced excitedly.
Twilight put down whatever book she’d been reading and trotted over towards them to look more closely at the document. She then jumped for joy and squeed excitedly, for it was a dream come true. Sunset was also happy for Twilight.
"Congratulations," Sunset said.
"I just realized something," Twilight announced, "If I get accepted into the school, do you know what this means?"
"Uh..."
"We get to be classmates!"
"Cool."
And like that, it felt like everything was coming up Twilight. Except there was one little detail that might’ve screwed everything up. She would have to pass an entrance exam.
Twilight stood nervously in the classroom as three examiners looked at her with stern but apathetic looks. One was a bespectacled unicorn with a violet curly mane and tail and a pale yellow coat. The one next to had a white mane and tail that was straighter and slightly longer. He also had a blue coat. The one next to him had a brown mane and tail and a pale brown coat. And the one next to her was one with a black mane and tail and a grey coat. They were standing right at the back of the room behind a row of orange chairs. The floor looked like a blue checkerboard and the walls were green in colour. Twilight looked towards her parents, who were standing at the left of her for support along with Sunset Shimmer. A she looked on, both Velvet and Night Light gestured at her to remind her to smile.
"You got this," Sunset mouthed with a wink.
Eventually, a dragon egg was carted into the room. It was a simple instant incubation spell. The problem was that Twilight wasn't very good at magic. She was good at the theoretical side of things, but the practical side, not so much. What was worse was that her anxiety would impede her magical abilities even more. Thoughts of failure flooded her head as she looked at the dragon egg.
"Well, Miss Sparkle?" the curly-haired examiner said.
Twilight stood back and focused on the egg as much as possible. She strained herself in trying to get it to hatch. She moved around in various positions but with no luck. She then fell to the floor in despair.
"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Twilight said in a defeated tone.
But then, the unpredictable happened. A loud sonic boom filled the sky. It was also in the colours of the rainbow. Some would call it a Sonic Rainboom. The explosion was enough to startle Twilight into instinctively shooting magic out of her horn, which fortunately blasted at the dragon egg she was so desperate to hatch. As a result, the egg did indeed hatch, revealing to the world a purple baby dragon. Unfortunately, Twilight's magic hadn’t stopped there and surged at an incredible and unstoppable rate. It had gone completely out of her control and as a consequence, she accidentally turned her parents into plants, levitated the examiners and grew the baby dragon to the size of a castle. Sunset, concerned for her friend's safety, carefully ran up to her and tried to comfort her. While her social skills left a lot to be desired, Sunset was going to try her best to help her friend.
"Twilight! Listen to me! The magic does not control you! You control the magic! You’re the one in charge!"
She then placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, something the otherwise oblivious Twilight seemed to have noticed.
"I'm here! You don't have to do this alone!"
Sunset's words of encouragement slowly made their way into Twilight's head. And as she started to cool off, her magic slowly started to fade away, as did any magical inflictions. While everything and everypony (and the baby dragon) had gone back to normal and Twilight had shown herself to have raw magical abilities, there was now the question of what to do with a walking time bomb full of magic.
Two hours had passed since the incident, with Celestia, Sunset, and the examiners talking about what to do with Twilight.
"I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with abilities as raw as hers," Celestia said, "but she needs to learn to tame these abilities through focus study."
"With all due respect, Princess," the dark-maned examiner said, "while Miss Sparkle is very talented, she could be a risk to the other students."
"Indeed," the curly-maned examiner concurred, "What would happen if she had one of those outbursts and it was fatal? For all we know, the next time a bit of magic hits somepony, it could—and pardon the sudden morbidness—melt the flesh off of their bones."
"That is rather morbid," Celestia pointed out "But if I were to personally tutor her myself, I'm sure she would—"
"Get herself and potentially other innocents killed?" the dark-maned one interrupted in a deadpan tone.
"I was going to say her magic would improve under my tutelage."
"Haven't you already got a personal protege?" the brown-maned one asked.
"We already study together," Sunset said, "I think I can help control her magic."
"Sunset is correct," Celestia said, "She managed to calm Twilight down before I made it to the scene."
"I must be frank with you, Celestia," the curly maned one said "If she has one of those magical outbursts that prove so difficult to control that it would gravely injure you, where would that leave the people of Equestria?"
Everypony then heard the throne room doors open. In the middle of the open doors was an elderly unicorn stallion with a tan coat and a white goatee. He had a slightly balding mane that was combed at the back. He wore black horseshoes and a blue trenchcoat that was partially undone and made out of what was presumed to be dragon scales. Inside of the trenchcoat was a buttoned-up white shirt, with the buttons being black in colour. He had yellow-orange eyes and very prominent cheekbones. Sunset eyed the unicorn scornfully. It was Professor Xindisious.
"Mind if I give my opinion on the matter?" Xindisious said in that raspy voice of his.
Author's Note
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the main baddy of the fic. Master Xindisious. As one can tell by the name, he is based on Xehanort from the Kingdom Hearts games. But he also has a bit of Darth Sidious in him too (hence why his name is an anagram of "insidious" but with an "x" inserted into it).
Everypony in the throne room stared at Xindisious. Out of everypony, Sunset was the only one who held contempt for Xindisious. Along with being suspicious of him, Xindisious was also rather fond of serving Sunset some humble pie, whether she wanted it or not. And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that he taught magic that, unless you had a license for it, was considered outlawed.
"I overheard you talking about Miss Sparkle like she was a weapon of mass destruction and I figured I might be the one suitable enough to teach her," Xindisious said.
"Well, Celestia suggested she should personally teach Miss Sparkle herself" the dark-maned examiner spoke arrogantly "What makes you think you would be qualified to teach her?"
"Allow me to show you."
Xindisious' horn glowed and he ripped his front leg clean off. Even with the bone sticking out for everypony to see and the flesh clearly separated in the centre, not a single drop of blood was spilled. He nonchalantly stuck the foreleg back on, with it quickly reattaching itself to the rest of him. To say everypony was creeped out by the display would’ve been an understatement, with Sunset looking like she was about to lose her lunch. Being as old as Star Swirl himself, Xindisious learned a few spells that helped extend his lifespan beyond that of a normal unicorn. However, those spells were considered dark in nature and many ponies had theorized that Xindisious might actually be a lich covering up his lack of flesh with an illusion spell. But since Xindisious had apparently never been corrupted by his use of dark magic, along with Celestia herself occasionally uses dark magic for demonstrations, she kept him around for him to teach ponies the pros and cons of dark magic and why you must have a license to perform certain spells. Not that it made him trustworthy to everypony else though.
"If you like, I can disintegrate it and grow back a new one."
"I don't think any more displays of your magical prowess are necessary, Professor," Celestia said.
"Perhaps I should also mention that I am well-versed in spells not even Star Swirl has taught you, Celestia. So not only can I teach Miss Sparkle how to control her magic without putting my own life on the line, but I can teach her so much more."
Sunset looked at Celestia, who was pondering on whether Xindisious would be a suitable teacher for Twilight.
"You aren't seriously suggesting we give Twilight over to this guy, are you?!" Sunset asked in disbelief.
"Your honesty is appreciated, Miss Shimmer," Xindisious deadpanned.
"You do specialize in necromancy and dark magic, after all. That's not really the sign of a perfectly sane pony."
"My work on necromancy and 'dark magic', as you call it, is more theoretical than anything. And the only times I ever practice them are in seances. After all, if I were the bad pony you believe me to be, then why would Celestia give me a teaching position at the School for Gifted Unicorns?"
Sunset looked at Celestia in shock.
"He mostly does lectures, Sunset," Celestia said "You ought to know, you attended some of his classes."
"Hmm, tell you what, how about everypony here sleep on it," Xindisious suggested, "but for now, tell Miss Sparkle that her application has been rejected."
"But she passed the entrance exam!" Sunset shouted.
"And at what cost?" came the curly maned examiner’s sharp retort, "she nearly killed us!"
"I'll leave everypony to it," Xindisious said before trotting off.
Celestia mulled over the choices presented to her. On the one hoof, Twilight would benefit from being her personal protege alongside Sunset. But on the other hoof, the examiner and Xindisious did bring up good points about how she could be a danger to everypony. While she knew Twilight would never be accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns for the safety of the other students and staff, it appeared she would have to decide who would make the better teacher; her or Xindisious. The decision was even more difficult considering the fact that Xindisious had been right about having more experience. It was only natural given his incredibly long lifespan and his experiments involving magic even Star Swirl himself had apparently never used.
It would seem the best course of action would be to make the decision tomorrow.
Twilight laid down on her belly in her bed, disheartened by the fact that she blew her one chance to learn more magic. Despairing over her predicament, she wasn't even in the mood to read. She just stared at her pillow, thinking about how things could have gone better. Then she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in," she said melancholically.
The door opened, with Sunset entering the room.
"I know friendship isn't really my strong suit," Sunset started off, "but I thought maybe I could try comforting you."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Sunset. I'm happy you came here to comfort me but I just want to left alone for now."
Sunset pondered on what to do. She hated seeing Twilight like this but she couldn't help but wonder if her attempts at getting Twilight to open up would make things worse. And then Night Light shouted up the stairs.
"Sunset! Could you tell Twilight that we're going out for donuts? Her big brother just got a promotion!"
"Okay!"
Sunset turned towards Twilight, who was still sulking.
"Your dad said we're going out for doughnuts to celebrate your brother's promotion."
"Yeah, I heard," Twilight deadpanned.
"Tell her Cadence is gonna be there too," Night Light yelled up again.
"Okay!"
Sunset quickly turned towards Twilight again.
"Your dad says Cadence is gonna be there too."
Twilight's ears perked up at that statement. She lifted her head up and looked towards Sunset, devoid of any trace of her previous depression.
"Who's Cadence?" Sunset asked.
"Only the greatest foal-sitter in all the history of foal-sitters!" Twilight answered excitedly.
Author's Note
If you were wondering how Celestia permitted somepony like Xindisious to practice what he does, this is why.
Chapter 5 - Start of darkness
It was a rainy day at the Canterlot Cemetery. Twilight and Shining Armor mourned their parents, with Shining Armor placing his hoof on Twilight's shoulder in sympathy while Twilight struggled to hold back tears. The scar on Shining Armor's eye had cooled down, giving it a maroon colour. Cadence was there covering herself, Shining Armor and Twilight from the rain with a black umbrella as they all stood in front of the graves of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. An elderly unicorn stallion with a tanned coat and a white goatee trotted up to them. He was wearing a leather hooded cloak to shield himself from the rain.
"My condolences regarding your parents, Miss Sparkle."
Twilight turned towards the unicorn, her eyes still soaked with tears and slightly red.
"I am Professor Xindisious, a teacher from the School for Gifted Unicorns. I realize this is hardly the most appropriate time to ask, but I was wondering if you were still interested in furthering your magical studies."
Twilight looked at Xindisious in confusion, though there was still grief on her face.
"You have a very special gift, Miss Sparkle. Your power is raw but untamed. With my help, not only will you be able to learn things not even Celestia can teach you, but you will become one of the most powerful unicorns in history since Star Swirl the Bearded."
Shining Armor and Cadence both eyed Xinsidious with no small amount of suspicion.
"And what makes you think we're gonna hoof over my sis to you?" Shining Armor asked defensively.
"So distrustful. You're just like a pupil of mine, Sunset Shimmer."
"Huh?" Twilight said, ears perked up.
"I taught her in one of my classes. She was an arrogant filly, I promise you that. I suppose being Celestia's personal protege got to her head," Xindisious looked down at Twilight, "you're friends with Sunset, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"While she does have an ego problem, I can see why Celestia picked her. She was very much like you, raw power combined with a desire to learn."
Xindisious looked back up at Shining.
"I would also like to offer you and your sister a place to stay. It would be dangerous for a young lad and lass such as you two to be left alone in your old family home."
"We have Cadence," Shining Armor retorted.
"Yes, the Princess of Love. But, like you, she is just a child. Sure, both of you are older than your sister, but if you were to ever encounter the masked griffin again, you would be putting yourself in mortal danger."
"How did you know we were attacked by Kain?"
"Sunset told me. So tell me, do you and your sister accept my offer?"
Xindisious opened the door to his cottage, allowing Shining Armor, Twilight and Cadence entrance into his humble abode. The inside of the cottage was damp and mostly made of dark wood. There were dusty bookshelves on the left and all sorts of skulls and potions shelved on the right. Instead of where one would presume a kitchen would be, there was what appeared to be a lab instead.
"I told you this guy was creepy," Shining Armor whispered to Cadence.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy."
Xindisious led Shining Armor, Cadence and Twilight into the lab. The stallion then pointed to, much to Twilight's horror, the corpse of the baby dragon that hatched from the egg during Twilight's entrance exam. The baby dragon's scales were a darker colour and it had a green glowing gash across its throat. Its eyes were a milky green colour and its jaw hung open like it was gasping for air. It appeared to have decayed to the point that it almost looked skeletal.
"Another casualty of that brute, Kain," Xindisious said "A shame, really. I hear dragons make good assistants, provided it doesn't eat all your books and learning equipment."
Cadence and Shining Armor looked at the dragon corpse with equally disturbed expressions, with Shining Armor looking like he was going to be sick. Xindisious trotted over to one of his dusty bookshelves and telekinetically pulled out an equally dusty book. The book had a leather colour and a silver frame around the cover, with a skull on the top centre of the front.
"Necromancy is usually outlawed but if you have a license for it, you can practice it legally," Xindisious exposited, "however, they do not give out licenses that easily. You have to take tests and participate in mental examinations and psychiatric evaluations to prove that you are stable enough to safely use this kind of magic without being corrupted by it."
"I'm surprised they thought you were sane enough to practice necromancy," Shining Armor deadpanned.
"You and me both," Xindisious retorted before letting out a light chuckle.
Xindisious put the book down hard on the table and turned towards Twilight.
"While bringing ponies back from the dead is a controversial subject, I believe it would be justified in this scenario because the victim here did not lead a full life. I doubt any benevolent ruler would allow such a young thing to die so early if they had a way of preserving that young soul's life."
Xindisious levitated the baby dragon corpse and placed it next to the dusty tome on the table.
"Or in this case, giving life back to the young thing."
Twilight looked at the book and the baby dragon corpse. Is this what her life was to become? Her dreams dashed, her parents dead, and now she was being coerced, albeit gently, into studying morally dubious magic? She wasn't sure what to make of it.
"I understand that you have your reservations, Miss Sparkle" Xindisious said "Resurrecting even the smallest of creatures can be a daunting task, especially for the inexperienced..."
Xindisious leaned in close to Twilight, his expression twisted into a somewhat unpleasant leer.
"...but you want your parents back, don't you? While your magic is unstable, I will be able to tame it. And soon enough, you will be able to cast as many spells to your heart's content. And then, you, your brother, and your parents can go back to being one happy family."
Xindisious looked at Twilight with a menacing smile.
Author's Note
See? Told you it'd get to dark places.
Chapter 6 - Ten years later
Twilight sat at Joe's donut shop waiting for Sunset. She was accompanied by a small undead dragon named Spike. She named the dragon such due to the dark purple crystals embedded into his back looking like the quills of a hedgehog, with the quills sometimes being informally referred to as spikes because they were… well… spikey. The dragon's eyes, or eye since his right eye socket was empty, also blazed with a bright purple aura similar to Twilight's whenever she used magic. Unfortunately, half the flesh covering his body had withered away, exposing the ribs on the left side of his abdomen and the right side of his skull. Soon enough, they saw Sunset enter the shop. Upon spotting the two, she quickly made her way over to their table before taking a seat opposite the one Twilight sat at.
"It's been a while, Twilight," Sunset said.
"Well, you've been busy with your studies," Twilight replied "I've been busy with mine. You lose track of time."
"I think there's a spell in the Library of Magic that can fix that."
Sunset and Twilight chuckled.
"So, how have you been?" Sunset asked
"I've seen better days," Twilight replied bitterly.
"How so?"
"Still no sign of Kain. And, try as I might to bring ponies back from the dead and in full health, the longest one of them lasted before rotting away was only a mere week."
"What do you mean 'one of them'?"
Twilight gave a sheepish smile.
"I maaay have been visiting the Canterlot Cemetery and the Everfree Forest to look for test subjects so I can find a way to bring my parents back."
"I asked her why she didn't use me as a test subject," Spike butted in "But I gave it a pass after she told me what happened to the other ponies and, well, I'd like to keep whatever skin I have left."
"Well, that's enough about my depressing life," Twilight bluntly stated "How about you? I'm sure you have great stories to tell me. You know, being Celestia's protege and everything."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Twilight, but nothing eventful has happened recently. Celestia tasked me with looking over the Summer Sun Celebration. Boring, I know."
"I think it would be an honour."
"Try saying that if you also have the unenviable task of 'making friends'. I already got you, what would I need more friends for?"
"To live longer?" Twilight deadpanned.
"If you want to live longer, you could try being an undead abomination," Spike said, "worked for me."
Sunset looked at the undead dragon.
"For a necromantic construct, you are one cheeky little—"
"Sugary doughnuts" Joe interrupted as he placed a plate of doughnuts covered in lots of sugar.
"Where was I?" Sunset asked "Oh yeah, and to make matters worse, Nightmare Moon is prophesied to return on this very night! You'd think our ruling monarch would be more concerned about that than about my social life."
"Well, she did banish Nightmare Moon all by herself. I think she can handle it."
"And what if she can't? For all we know, Nightmare Moon might have been training with her Nightmare Forces while Celestia has been busy doing nothing but eating cake!"
"Wow, and I thought Twilight was neurotic," Spike deadpanned.
"I'm not neurotic!" Twilight said defensively.
Spike tilted his head and raised an eyelid at Twilight.
"Yes, I can be obsessive at times. Yes, I have anxiety that blows small situations out of proportion. Yes, I throw a fit when things don't go according to plan or disrupt an otherwise perfectly set routine. No, I am not neurotic!"
Everypony in the vicinity gave Twilight an odd look. Twilight ducked down her head in embarrassment.
"I also suffer from nightmares, but a lot of ponies do so that would be irrelevant," Twilight muttered.
It was the moment everypony has waited for. The Summer Sun Celebration, held in the centre of Ponyville for all to see. Sunset was standing in the biggest space she could find amidst the crowd. While waiting, a familiar pink pony she met while looking over the preparations zoomed right next to her.
"Isn't this exciting?" the pink pony asked, "are you excited? 'Cause I'm excited! I've never been so excited—well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I was like this but I mean really, who can top that?"
Sunset gave the pink pony next to her an annoyed look. She looked behind her and noticed her friend, Twilight Sparkle, had shown up, and with her little draconic lich in tow.
"Glad you could make it," Sunset said to Twilight.
"Who's your friend?" the pink pony asked.
"This is Twilight Sparkle," Sunset replied "She and I have been best friends since we were fillies. Well, when she was a filly. I was slightly older than her."
"You know, I think I know a bat-pony called Twilight and he sparkles. Or was it a vampire pony? A vampire bat-pony? No wait, I think he was a vampire bat-pony named Wood Cull, but he was sparkly and he liked to stay up at night and..."
As the pink pony continued to ramble, Twilight looked towards Sunset.
"Is she a friend of yours?" Twilight asked Sunset.
"More like a work colleague," Sunset deadpanned.
The birds at the front, composed by a yellow pegasus, whistled as the brass instruments played to gather everypony's attention. The spotlight shone onto Mayor Mare as she trotted onto the stage.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"
Everypony in the crowd cheered at that statement.
"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honour to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria. Princess Celestia!"
The curtains unveiled on where Celestia should be, but she was nowhere to be seen. As everypony wondered where the princess was, a strange mist of ethereal magic appeared where Celestia should be. The magic dissipated to reveal a black armoured alicorn with a mane like the night sky.
Nightmare Moon had returned to Equestria.
Author's Note
Even after all this time, not much has changed.
Chapter 7 - Putting plans into motion
Xindisious stared at the moon in his cottage using a telescope placed on an open window. He noticed something different about the moon. It was lacking the pockmarked image of a mare that it had for centuries. He smiled at this revelation.
"Ah, so the other sister has returned. Good. Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."
A door opened as Twilight trotted behind Xindisious, with Spike in tow.
"Master Xindisious!" Twilight said in a panicked tone "Nightmare Moon has returned and Sunset and I need your help in finding out everything you know about the Elements of Harmony!"
Xindisious put the telescope away and faced Twilight.
"Did you not know of the prophecy?" Xindisious asked.
"Yes, but I was so caught up in tracking the movements of Kain and I thought Sunset and Celestia could handle it, but Celestia disappeared and… and..."
Twilight hyperventilated, to which Xindisious rolled his eyes and telekinetically pulled a paper bag from a cupboard filled to the brim with them. Twilight snatched the paper bag out of the air with her own magic and brought it to her muzzle before taking several rapid, heaving breaths.
"There was nothing anypony could have done," Xindisious said, "I tried to find out when exactly she would return, but there are some things that are just unpredictable—chaotic even."
Xindisious levitated a book towards him and flipped to a page that showed the Elements of Harmony.
"There are six elements, but only five are known. Some have speculated the sixth to be magic but such is unlikely due to magic being extremely common in this world."
Twilight finished hyperventilating and put the paper bag down.
"Do you know where I can find the Elements?"
"The last known location is within the Castle of the Two Sisters, which can be found within the Everfree Forest."
"I'll go tell Sunset."
"Don't. I'm sure she and her new acquaintances have discovered how to find the Elements by themselves."
"How did you know Sunset has made some friends?"
Xindisious chuckled at that statement.
"Friends are what you and Sunset are—best friends at that. But the ponies Sunset has affiliated herself with? She can only tolerate them at best."
"Twilight, Master Xindisious has been stalking them," Spike bluntly stated.
"Well, that's one way of putting it," Xindisious deadpanned.
Xindisious trotted over to the front door of his cottage and showed Twilight and Spike the way out.
"Time is short, Miss Sparkle. I'd suggest you make your way towards the Everfree Forest before it's too late."
Spike hopped onto Twilight's back as Twilight bolted through the door as fast as her legs could carry her. Xindisious closed the door and made his way to his bedroom upstairs. He took off his clothes and placed a black hooded cloak onto himself, his flesh withering away as he did so. Xindisious looked less like a pony and more a personification of the concept of death itself. His skeletal form still had bits of decaying flesh on the bottom of his chin and a small patch on the right side of his forehead. His eyes were gone too, replaced with small burning orange lights in the centre of his otherwise empty eye sockets. There were still wisps of his beard on his chin. He used his magic to open up a portal of ethereal darkness that leads to the Everfree Forest, hoping to keep an eye on his apprentice within the shadows.
Having taken Master Xindisious' advice, Twilight and Spike trekked through the Everfree Forest in search of the Elements. She had been to the Everfree Forest before with Xindisious back when she was still learning to control her magic so she almost knows the place at the back of her hoof. Keyword being "almost" since she didn't know there was a castle within the forest until Xindisious told her. Leaves rustled within the distance. It appeared that the predators, not all of which were native to the forest, were on their nightly prowls. A manticore made its move by pouncing from the bushes next to Twilight and Spike. It was the last mistake it ever made as it landed into a stream of black and dark green dragonfire. The manticore was incinerated in an instant.
"You do know you could have used that Soul Steal technique I taught you to sustain yourself, right?" Twilight asked Spike.
"Yeah, but I'm not a big fan of manticore souls," Spike replied, "They give me indigestion."
Twilight shrugged her shoulders.
"Fair enough."
Sunset and five other ponies made their way through the Everfree Forest. They waited for Twilight to come back from visiting her master but she never did. Also, they rather conveniently found a book on the Elements of Harmony within the Golden Oaks library under the "E" section. Sunset tried to persuade the others to stay behind but they insisted on coming with her, much to her chagrin. As they traversed the forest, it was filled with dead animals, all of which were predatory in nature. Some looked emaciated while the others looked like they were burnt to a crisp.
"Who could have done this?" the yellow pegasus asked shakily.
Knowing exactly who it was, Sunset held her tongue. The last thing she wanted was to have the ponies accompanying her know she was friends with a pony that knew magic most considered to be unnatural, especially if said unnatural magic involved taking the lives of others.
There were also destroyed trees in their path, with some of their remains looking like scary faces. Sunset hoped that those really were bits of wood from a now ruined tree and not remains of more predators that thought Twilight and Spike made a suitable meal (unless it was a Timberwolf). Soon enough, Sunset and her acquaintances eventually came across what appeared to be a dead sea serpent. The way the sea serpent's corpse was placed made it look like a macabre bridge to the other side of the river it occupied. Unusually for a sea serpent, or any reptile for that matter, it had facial hair and a mane. Across the sea serpent's neck was a green glowing gash. That was enough to give Sunset pause.
"What's wrong, Sunset?" the pink pony asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"It's nothing. It's just that wound looks… familiar."
Sunset recognized those types of wounds from the day Twilight's parents died. She assumed Kain must have known Nightmare Moon had returned and went out of hiding to claim more victims.
This was not going to be a pleasant night.
Author's Note
I smell a reunion.
Twilight and Spike had finally arrived at the Castle of the Two Sisters. It looked less like a castle and more like a ruin, with a large portion of the bricks forming it missing and foliage growing all around. The only part of the castle that remained intact was the wooden door. Celestia and Luna must have really done a number on the castle during their battle all those years ago. They entered what was left of the castle, hoping to find the elements there. And in the centre of the room were the Elements of Harmony, ripe for the taking.
"The Elements of Harmony!" Twilight stated excitedly, "we've found them!"
Twilight concentrated on the elements, carefully trying to lift them up and place them onto the floor. She looked at the elements now neatly lined up on the floor in a row and realized there were only five.
"Where's the sixth one?"
Twilight turned her head around frantically, trying to figure out where the last element was, and in the midst of his creator's worry, an idea came to Spike.
"You're a necromancer, right?"
"Yes but I fail to see how that could be of any use here!"
"Well, there's one use I can think of. There are probably a lot of spirits in these walls. Maybe you could try and contact them to see if they could help us.”
That idea sparked another within Twilight, one she owed to none other than her undead but still very much faithful assistant.
"Spike, you're a genius!" Twilight cried, pulling the reanimated drake into an unwanted hug.
"Hey, easy on the scales,” Spike replied with more than a little discomfort, “I already look dead enough as it is."
Twilight sat at the centre of the room, closed her eyes, and focused. As she did so, her horn began to glow ever so slightly. She breathed in and breathed out, trying to relax herself so she could focus more on the spell at hoof.
"Spirits of this castle," Twilight chanted quietly "If you can hear me, make your presence known to me, so mote it be."
She felt a slight chill run down her spine. Images of a pony-shaped figure flashed in her mind, like a spirit within the castle was trying to give her an idea of what they looked like in life. She focused on these images, her horn glowing brighter as she did so. Magic dispersed from her horn and slowly formed into a translucent apparition of a pony. Twilight slowly opened her eyes. They were rolled up in the back of her head, with her eyelids rapidly blinking for a bit before stopping entirely. The Spirit Manifestation spell. It was used regularly in seances after many psychic unicorns grew tired of having a stranger temporarily use their bodies as a mouthpiece to speak to their loved ones. It was a compromise in that the spirits could speak to their loved ones personally and the psychics didn't have to worry about having their personal boundaries invaded. Sometimes, those spirits can also be malicious and, once you start channelling a spirit, it would be difficult to stop.
"Twilight Sparkle," the spirit said to Twilight.
Twilight lightly nodded her head, too busy focusing to give the spirit a proper response.
"I was a curious mare obsessed with the dark side of magic. Kind of like you, actually. Unfortunately, I did not count on Timberwolves making these ruins their home by the time I went on my little journey."
Twilight slightly tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in response.
"Do not worry. Like me, they are long gone at this point. Come. I have something to show you. It has been a while since a mortal such as yourself came here."
The spirit floated towards one of the many abandoned corridors, to which Twilight slowly got up and followed the spirit like an insect mesmerized by a pretty light, or a cat to a ball of yarn. The further they went, the darker the corridor became, with the only thing guiding their way was the spirit's magical glow. The spirit and Twilight stopped in their tracks when they encountered a tome lying on the floor.
"The Librum ex Mortequus," the spirit explained, "an ancient book filled with dark and powerful spells. While not as eldritch as the Neighcronomicon, it contains spells that most necromancers can only dream of. It was said to have been written by a pony inhabitant of the land of Tambelon."
"Tambelon?" Twilight asked.
"Yes," the spirit replied "A kingdom of darkness ruled by the ram that came to be known as the Emperor of Equestria and the Father of Monsters, Grogar."
"I'm very certain Tambelon is just a fairy tale designed to scare foals, as is Grogar."
"There's always a bit of truth in legends, Twilight Sparkle. I thought you of all ponies should know that."
"Given how the stories described Grogar as being more powerful than a draconequus, I find it unlikely that one unicorn mage, even one who’s reached the highest level possible, could defeat him so easily. Next, you'll be telling me that an Earth pony is capable of sensing the future."
As Sunset and her acquaintances made their way towards the castle, Pinkie started twitching spontaneously.
"Uh...Pinkie?" Sunset asked, "Are you okay?"
"My Pinkie Sense is tingling!" Pinkie replied.
Pinkie's tail rapidly wagged like an excited dog.
"Something gonna fall from the sky!" Pinkie shouted as she quickly hid under a tree, which probably wasn't the best spot to hide from falling objects.
Everypony looked around to see if there was going to be any falling objects heading their way, a few ponies in the group even sticking their forehooves out to see if it was going to rain. Rainbow Dash was the first to notice the impending descent of the object Pinkie predicted would fall. It looked like a griffin born of darkness that crawled from the very depths of Tartarus itself. And it was coming right for Sunset.
"Look out!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she charged into Sunset in order to help her avoid the descending danger.
The griffin landed forcefully onto the ground and raised his head, giving everypony a good look at his face. The griffin wore a metallic mask, above which were eyes that burned bright, like molten metal. While everypony else found the griffin's appearance to be strange, Sunset knew all too well who this was.
"Hello, Sunset," Kain said before charging into Sunset and grabbing her by the throat with his scarred talon.
As Sunset struggled for breath, Applejack unwound a thick rope she’d brought in case of an emergency. Thinking quickly, and with a finesse born of experience, she worked the rope into a lasso and threw it unerringly around Kain's talon. Attempting to get the griffon to release Sunset, Applejack yanked hard on the rope. In response, Kain pulled the lasso and flung Applejack into a tree. Rainbow Dash flew into Kain, intending to bring him down in a high-speed tackle, only for Kain to quickly grab her by the head and slam it into the ground with brute force.
"Supervillain!" Pinkie screamed "Supervillain!"
Kain charged into Pinkie and grabbed her by the throat. His demonic stare felt petrifying enough to send shivers down the normally energetic pony's spine.
"I am far worse than a mere villain, my dear," Kain said.
Rainbow Dash charged into Kain again, only for Kain to backhand her away as if she was a fly.
"Tell me," Kain said to Pinkie "Why are you here?"
"Are you gonna control my mind?" Pinkie asked "I'm not letting you in. My mind is fortified with icing!"
Kain's grip on Pinkie's neck grew tighter, drawing a trickle of blood as a result.
"I doubt that would be necessary, considering you're going to tell me anyway. And if not, then perhaps one of your friends will."
Kain hovered towards Fluttershy, Rarity and Sunset. While Sunset was in a battle stance, the other two ponies were scared of the dreaded creature before them.
"For those that are still conscious," Kain said "If you wish to see your friend live another day, you will state your business here. If not, then I will break her neck while you helplessly watch."
Sunset shot a blast of magic at Kain, to which he swatted away with little to no effort. She tried to telekinetically release Pinkie from Kain's grasp, only for Kain to blast magic from his luminescent talon directly at Sunset. Seeing no other options to save Pinkie's life, Sunset sighed.
"If you must know, we're here to find the Elements and stop Nightmare Moon."
Kain stared at Sunset, then chucked Pinkie at her hooves. Pinkie coughed and spluttered as she got up.
"What a coincidence," Kain said "I came here looking for the Elements myself."
"Does that mean you'll help us?" Fluttershy asked.
"No," Kain bluntly replied.
Author's Note
Fight Night!
EDIT: Oops, published the chapter two minutes too early.
Chapter 9 - Painful Reunion
As Twilight sat down on the floor, enamoured by the recent book she acquired, Spike noticed a cloud of dark magic swirling behind them. The magic moved towards the Elements, levitating them in the process.
"Uh...Twilight?" Spike said, pointing at the Elements.
Twilight closed the book she was reading and turned to the Elements, which were being slowly engulfed by a swirling vortex of dark magic. Twilight gasped before running after the Elements in order to catch them. The magic engulfed her before making her and the Elements disappear without a trace.
Kain swiped at Sunset with his luminescent talon, intending to decapitate her. Sunset teleported out of the way and behind Kain before blasting him with her magic. Quickly recovering from the attack, Kain telekinetically grabbed Sunset and slammed her down onto the ground repeatedly before pouncing on her, to which Sunset kicked him off and used her own telekinesis to throw him into a tree. Everypony cheered as Sunset was winning the fight. Kain got up and swiftly tackled Sunset off of the ground and into the massive gap between where everypony was and the ruins of the castle. With a magical burst of energy, Sunset managed to escape Kain's grasp and teleported to the other side of the bridge.
Twilight woke up after being whisked away by the dark magic. Her head ached as she came to her bearings. She looked around and noticed she was in a different area of the castle ruins, with Nightmare Moon standing in front of her levitating the elements. Nightmare Moon chuckled as she stared at the young dark mage before her.
"You wish to defeat me?" Nightmare Moon asked, "a simple unicorn? You must be joking!"
"Well, if Gusty the Great can imprison Grogar, I don't see why it should be hard for me to defeat you," Twilight replied, "also, wasn't your former teacher a unicorn?"
"What do you mean?"
"Star Swirl the Bearded. Father of the animorphic spell. I heard he used to teach you and your sister."
Nightmare Moon snarled at Twilight before chuckling once again.
"You seem to be very knowledgeable about me, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight's blood ran cold when she heard that statement.
"How do you know my name?" Twilight asked.
"When one has the ability to traverse the dreams of others, one does have an affinity for getting inside ponies' heads," Nightmare Moon replied.
Nightmare Moon trotted towards Twilight, her frame tall and imposing and her expression imperious yet carrying a strange hint of curiosity. Twilight stood her ground, her own expression full of defiance and determination.
"Might I ask why a unicorn that practices dark magic would want to continue the reign of my sister?" Nightmare Moon asked.
"While a night that never ends does sound intriguing, I'm afraid that would result in a lot of dead ponies and wildlife in the long run," Twilight replied.
"We could always resurrect them. Think of it, an undead kingdom for us to rule."
"True, but I have friends that wouldn't want to be dead."
"Friends?"
"Well, just the one friend."
A sudden crash resounded behind Twilight, who flinched and quickly turned to see that a hole had been blasted out of the castle wall. When the smoke cleared, it showed Sunset pinned down by Kain. Traumatic memories flashed through Twilight's mind as she looked at the beast that killed her parents. She looked back at Nightmare Moon before looking back at Kain, her once determined gaze now terribly conflicted. Should she stop Kain from killing her best friend or should she defeat Nightmare Moon? Before she could come to a conclusion, she saw those red eyes staring back at her, burning their way into her soul. If she didn't know any better, there was a good chance that Kain was smiling underneath that mask.
"How good of you to join us," Kain said to Twilight before tossing Sunset aside.
Kain slowly made his way towards Twilight, like a hungry animal waiting to pounce on its prey. Twilight pawed at the ground, ready to charge into him at any moment. She wiped any trace of fear from her face, knowing that Kain could use it to his advantage. They stared at each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. Kain swiped his luminescent claw up from the ground to send a wave of magic at Twilight's way, to which Twilight blocked by forming a force field around herself. Twilight absorbed the impact of the blow into her horn to fire a powerful beam of magic at Kain, which Kain effortlessly swatted away like one would a fly.
"Impressive," Kain said "But it will take more than that to defeat me."
"Lucky for you, there's more where that came from!" Twilight said defiantly as she levitated herself with her magic and fired an assortment of blasts. All but one of the blasts missed Kain or were blocked by him, with the one blast in only managing to singe one of his wings. Kain charged up the magic in his claw and fired emerald electrical bolts at Twilight. Twilight teleported behind Kain and fired another blast at him. The blast managed to hit Kain this time. But even so, Kain got back up as if it was nothing and lunged at Twilight, grabbing her by her neck and slamming her into one of the castle walls.
"You hold nothing back, Miss Sparkle," Kain said "Admirable, but ultimately futile."
Twilight fired another blast, this one directly into Kain's mask. Kain coughed and spluttered as he released Twilight from his grasp. Twilight charged in at Kain as Kain tried fixing his mask. Without hesitation, Kain grabbed onto Twilight's head and pounded it into the floor. Twilight got up and, before she could deal another crippling blow, Kain swatted her into one of the walls. The wall broke upon impact. Twilight formed a force field as Kain charged at her and clawed at her like a rabid animal. All of Kain's calm composure evaporated in that instance, replaced with blind fury as he struck at the force field Twilight was using to protect herself. The field eventually gave way and cracked into pieces before disappearing entirely. Twilight teleported out of the way, now having to deal with Kain's rapid strikes with little to no protection. She felt exhausted, her fight with Kain beginning to wear her down. Everything quickly felt like a blur as Twilight tried with all of her might to stay up, but it was all for naught. Without warning, Kain appeared behind her and dug his glowing talon into her back. Twilight screamed in agony as the talon went even deeper into her back to the point that she could even feel her spine burning. She collapsed onto the floor as all feeling in her legs left her. The fight in her now gone, she watched as everything faded to black.
Author's Note
Ah, yes. I was wondering what would break first.
Chapter 10 - Unleash The Magic
Twilight woke up in shock, her back still in indescribable agony and her vision blurred. When her vision cleared up, she saw Kain staring at her with those burning red eyes of his. And behind Kain were rows upon rows of steel bars. Apart from the bars, her surroundings only consisted of dark purple crystalline walls and cages filled with all sorts of abominations, along with the damp bed she was lying on. She tried to get back up to attack him but, when she tried to lift her head, a sharp pain shot up from her spine all the way into her neck. She hissed as she threw her head back in defeat. All she could do was stare at her captor.
"W...why...?" Twilight asked weakly "Why didn't you just...kill me?"
"Simple," Kain replied "I like you."
Twilight gave Kain a confused look. The monster that murdered her parents, scarred her brother, brutalized her friend and crippled her liked her?
"And of course," Kain continued "My benefactor needed you for his plan. You would not be much use to him dead."
"Where am I?" Twilight asked.
Kain got up and gestured towards the caged beasts.
"Home," Kain replied, "this is where I learned the truth, and just as I despaired, so too will you."
Long ago in ancient Equestria, there were two griffin princes. One had glistening gold feathers and was the centre of attention while the other, more bookish, griffin had feathers as pitch black as a raven and was usually overshadowed by his sibling. One enjoyed making public appearances while the other kept to his books, completely entranced by what he found within their pages. While both were destined to rule the land of Griffonstone, only one knew how to rule and it was the bookish brother. The prince whose charisma and personality shone like the sun would rather spend his time partying with the locals than focus on concerns like his tax policy. The bookish prince wouldn't think of his lack of acknowledgment by the public to be that bad, had it not been for the fact that it extended to his own family. For all his parents cared, the bookish one was nothing more than a spare. The griffin's resentment for his brother grew over time, especially since the brother never bothered to learn how to be a responsible ruler.
"Good evening, brother," the brother said to his more bookish counterpart "Still drowning yourself in literature, I see."
"Just a light bit of fantasy this time around," the bookish griffon replied.
"When are you going to get some fresh air? It's bound to do you some good rather than these dusty old things."
"Books are knowledge, brother. And knowledge is power."
"No, might is power. Charisma is power. Friendship is power! Not books about the arcane that none of us have a chance of using."
"Not all of the books here are about magic spells and tales of the fantastical. It also has useful information on things like tax policies."
"When I'm king, the subjects would be more than willing to give their life savings to me."
The gold griffin grabbed his brother's book and threw it out of his talons.
"Come on, brother," the griffon said to his scholarly brother, "let's do some sparring. For old time's sake."
Kain stared at the crystalline walls of his ‘home’ here in Tartarus, thinking back to his days of imprisonment.
"What happened?" Twilight asked.
"Sibling rivalry can be a nasty thing, Miss Sparkle," Kain replied "I lost my temper and, without meaning to, bashed my brother's skull into the colosseum walls."
Kain stared at the floor in melancholy, memories of his time in Tartarus flooding his mind. A time where only one thing mattered to him. Survival.
"And that is how I got here," Kain said, "disowned by everyone I knew."
While Twilight had a small morsel of sympathy for Kain, it wasn't enough for her to let go of her hatred for him. Kain moved his head towards the doors of Tartarus, guarded by Cerberus.
"Over the years, many creatures imprisoned here would stare at this door and imagine opening it and earning their freedom. Such a simple thing to do."
Kain sat near Twilight on the bed.
"Many had died or were mangled beyond belief trying to escape. For those whose lives ended in their attempts, they considered oblivion to be worth the risk. Even if one were to distract the guard dog, they would require an extraordinary amount of magic to open the door to freedom."
Kain placed one of his talons on Twilight and pressed down to elevate himself from the bed.
"And that is where you come in. Unlike you, I didn't have the luxury of being a natural magic-user. I had to learn. I had to practice. I had to harvest the essence of others. You have a gift, Miss Sparkle, power that you were forced to suppress lest you hurt the ones around you."
Kain grabbed onto a pair of metal bars and bent them at a wide angle to create an exit for himself. Using his magic, he levitated Twilight and placed her down in front of the door. Taking a vial filled with poison from his apparatus, he crushed it with his talon and drove the talon into the nerves exposed in Twilight's back. Twilight screamed in agony as she felt the venom enter her bloodstream.
"I have inserted a neurotoxin into your body," Kain explained, "so along with your body, your mind will also be tortured. The only way to end it is to unleash your full potential."
Kain bent down and looked at Twilight in the eye, her face full of agony and unyielding fury.
"Or you will meet an excruciating demise. And if that were to happen, there would be nobody to stop me nor my benefactor from slaughtering those you care for."
Kain got back up and walked towards the door. All it took was one swipe of his talon for the door to open for him. And once he left, it immediately closed. Twilight began to lose consciousness again. She felt like she was going to die. She wanted to die. She didn't fear it. But there were a few things that stopped her from giving into the grasp of death.
"You don't have to do this alone!" she heard the words of her friend echo in her head. She was there for her during that fateful day in the entrance exam. She was there for her when her parents died. And she was there defending her from Kain when she went to confront Nightmare Moon.
Twilight slowly tried to get up. The feeling in her legs returned, even though that feeling was nothing more than her legs getting flayed and having acid poured onto the exposed muscles. Her back was in even greater agony, as was the rest of her. In her unending excruciating pain, she felt something she had not felt in a long time. That surge of magic she felt when she was in the entrance exam. She levitated slowly as the magic flowed through her. She screamed at the agonizing combination of the neurotoxin and her own raw power. A sudden surge of magic escaped her horn and blasted at the door in front of her. The door opened for her as she lightly descended back down. She trotted towards the exit in a slow primal gait. As the doors closed behind her, there was only one thing left on her mind.
Kill.
Author's Note
I can't believe I missed my usual updating day for this story.
Well, I'm running dry on chapters so I'm gonna put this story on hiatus for now. Don't worry, I know where it's heading.
Also, I hope you like Kain's backstory.
Sunset and her acquaintances sat in a dark, damp dungeon room, their collective attempt at defeating Nightmare Moon a failure. The only source of light was from the moon between the metal bars on a small window. While they have tried to escape, the magical properties of the dungeon sapped away at their power, leaving them unable to use whatever magic they possess to escape. Outside of the cell they were imprisoned in was a small undead dragon and a key right next to him. While everypony else assumed this was a necromantic creation of Nightmare Moon, Sunset knew that the revenant standing before her was Spike.
"Spike," Sunset whispered, "Let us out."
"Can't," Spike replied "Even if I wanted to, Nightmare Moon would find out and I'd be even more dead. Besides, she already killed Twilight."
"No, she didn't. Twilight's still alive."
"Really? Then where is she?"
"Kain took her."
Spike paused for a moment. He remembered Twilight talking about the monster that murdered her parents before her very eyes. He shook as he remembered a luminescent talon slashing at his throat when he wasn't even old enough to speak. He shuddered to imagine what bestial savage would be willing enough to orphan a little filly as well as murder a newborn dragon.
"Yep," Spike said fearfully "She's dead."
Within the Everfree Forest, Kain landed towards a cloaked equine figure.
"Is it done?" the cloaked pony asked raspily.
"Yes," Kain replied.
"And should she die?"
"You have the spare, do you not?"
"True, but she is not as powerful as Twilight Sparkle. Nor does she trust me as easily."
"Considering you're a lich who taught Nightmare Moon herself a few tricks of the necromancer trade, I'm hardly surprised," Kain deadpanned.
Within the dungeon, Sunset continued to try and reason with Twilight's former assistant, but to no avail.
"I would help you out for Twilight's sake," Spike said "But I never really had that much of an attachment to the living anyway. Besides..."
Spike looked in both directions before moving towards Sunset.
"Nightmare Moon scares the Tartarus out of me," Spike whispered.
"Even though you could suck her soul out?" Sunset asked.
"Yeah, but I'm too scared to try it. An alicorn more powerful than mortal ponies and can control the Nightmare Forces? Kinda blows Twilight and I out of the water."
"What if I get Xindisious to bring you back? Would that make you feel better?"
Spike looked away before sighing and looking back.
"Fine," Spike said in an annoyed tone "But you owe me five souls if this goes wrong and we all get killed."
Spike picked up the dungeon key that was next to him and opened the door. As Sunset and the others exited the cell, they felt their magic return to them.
"Aw, yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted excitedly "Now let's kick Nightmare Moon's butt!"
"How about you save the butt-kicking to me and Spike?" Sunset asked.
"What?!"
"Hey, you still get to do something," Sunset retorted defensively "While Spike and I distract Nightmare Moon, you and the others look around the castle for Celestia."
"No way. If we're taking on Nightmare Moon, we're doing it as a team!"
Twilight continued trotting towards her target, her rage and anguish fuelling the surge of magic within her. It felt like a wellspring that hadn't been tapped in centuries. When she made her way to the Everfree Forest, she saw in the distance the one that made her this way. That beast…that demon... the one that made her life Tartarus.
Kain.
She felt another surge of magic course through her as she lept towards the ancient brute and drove her front hoof so hard into his face it melted his mask right off of him, revealing and further disfiguring his already mangled beak. Twilight ripped through the forest with Kain in tow before smashing him into and through a castle wall at the end of the forest path. The wall collapsed as Kain was thrown off of Twilight's hoof. Kain stared in awe and horror at the young unicorn before him, her eyes glowing white with magic.
While she appeared expressionless, Kain knew that Twilight wanted nothing more than to painfully end his unnaturally long existence. Out of a natural sense of self-preservation as well as curiosity in what Twilight could do in her new state, Kain got up from the rubble of the ruined wall and flew high into the air. Twilight leapt into the air and shot an extremely powerful blast at Kain's direction. Kain narrowly missed the attack from the enraged unicorn, only receiving a singed feather. But when Twilight repeated the attack as she caught up to him, he was far less fortunate.
Without the pain-relieving enchantments of his mask, Kain howled in agony before coming face-to-face with the merciless mare. Twilight tackled Kain towards the ground, but in that same moment, he clawed at her shoulder and used his own magic to hurl her off of him and onto the castle below. The disfigured griffon looked down where Twilight had landed. While he couldn't see any sight of her, he eventually heard Twilight scream, though it was less a terrified wail and more a furious howl.
A lavender-coloured mass of unbridled rage and nigh limitless magic burst forth from below, every ounce of that arcane power aimed directly at Kain. He tried blocking the charging mare but for all his efforts his luminescent talon got shattered into a million pieces before fading from existence entirely. Before he had time to process how excruciating it was to have one of his limbs torn into nothing, Kain flew away as fast as his wings could carry him, only to get hit with another blast of magic that sent him plummeting down into the canyon below. The griffon tried to get up but it was no use. Crippled by the pain as well as his now missing talon, Kain could only stare in terror at what he had unleashed and what his employer intended to do with her. Knowing this was the end for him, Kain closed his eyes in resignation and drew what would soon be his last breath.
So this is what it felt like, brother? Kain thought to himself, his beak too mangled for words.
Author's Note
What better way to come back from hiatus than with Twilight killing the Joe Chill to her Batman?
And to those who stuck around, I hope it was worth the wait.
Chapter 12 - Confronting The Night Mare
Nightmare Moon sat within the throne room of the once beautiful castle. It still bore some wounds from her fight with Celestia. She’d known for a long time that her sister was weak and if it weren't for her wielding the Elements, she could have destroyed her then and there. The fact that she didn't even put up much of a fight during their long-awaited reunion just confirmed it. As she reminisced on that fateful day, she saw a unicorn and an undead drake walk into the throne room.
"Didn't I ask you to keep an eye on the prisoners?" Nightmare Moon asked.
"Yeah, but she really wanted to talk to you," Spike replied.
Nightmare Moon got up from her throne, "I presume you are my sister's protege."
"What gave it away?" Sunset dryly asked.
"I knew my sister was vain but I never imagined that she would pick a student with ‘sun’ in her name," Nightmare Moon replied, "let alone one with a cutie mark similar to her own."
"She picked me because I had potential!" Sunset retorted.
"Potential to feed her ego," Nightmare Moon deadpanned.
Sunset glared at Nightmare Moon, she pawed at the ground and charged up her magic, ready to make the first strike.
Hey, hey, sippin' on lemonade
Shinin' bright, but we're throwin' no shade
Exclusively, we're V.I.P.
'Cause EG's on this yacht
Nightmare Moon turned around to see where that sudden burst of music came from. She saw a pink Earth pony wearing a cap and a pair of sunglasses with a music-playing contraption she had never seen the likes of. Sunset looked over and just face-hoofed at Pinkie's presence.
"What are you doing?" Nightmare Moon asked.
"Dance off, N.M.," Pinkie said, "Me and you!"
Sunset still had her face in her hoof. Out the corner of her eye, she could see Spike snickering, something that she would have joined in with were it not for the dire situation at hoof. Why Nightmare Moon hadn't destroyed Pinkie Pie yet was beyond her.
"WHAT?! ARE YOU DOING?!" Nightmare Moon shouted at the top of her lungs, irritated by the pink pony's presence.
"Why, I'm distracting you, silly," Pinkie replied.
Nightmare Moon turned back around and saw five more ponies enter the throne.
"Aw, yeah," Rainbow Dash said, "The cavalry has arrived!"
"I thought I told you guys to look for Celestia," Sunset said in an annoyed manner.
"And leave you all alone to deal with Nightmare Moon? Not a chance!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "we're in this together!"
"Then you shall all be destroyed together!" Nightmare Moon bellowed as she blasted at Rainbow Dash, only for Sunset to jump up and quickly block the blast with her own magic.
"Spike! Now!" Sunset shouted.
"I have a bad feeling about this!" Spike said before inhaling.
Knowing what the soul-sucking revenant was going to do, Nightmare Moon blasted Spike with a magical bolt, knocking him into a wall and taking one of his arms off. Rarity and Fluttershy immediately ran towards the wounded Spike. As Fluttershy picked up the dismembered arm, Rarity conjured a pair of scissors to cut her own tail off and sewed the revenant's arm back on.
"Thanks, guys," Spike said.
"It was no bother at all, darling," Rarity said.
Nightmare Moon charged up another bolt of magic, intending to catch Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy off guard, only to be blind-sided by a shot of confetti and party balloons. Observing the battle, Sunset took note of what everypony was doing. Rainbow Dash's refusal to abandon her. Pinkie Pie lightening the mood of the intense battle with her silly antics. Fluttershy looking after Spike while Rarity offered her own tail up as a makeshift bandage and stitches. She teleported towards Applejack and encased her in a force field.
"Applejack," Sunset said, "I need you to tell me your most embarrassing secret."
"What for?" Applejack asked.
"Trust me, all of Equestria depends on it," Sunset hastily replied.
"This never leaves this force field," Applejack said sternly.
Applejack leaned in and whispered to Sunset her most embarrassing secret, with Sunset using a low-level telepathy spell to check that she was telling the truth. Thankfully, she was, and it took every fibre of Sunset's being not to laugh at Applejack's embarrassing secret. Without a moment's hesitation, Sunset teleported away and individually teleported her outside of the castle.
"Hey, what gives?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "We were winning!"
"Rainbow, you could barely lay a hoof on her," Applejack deadpanned.
"Okay, guys, I have a plan," Sunset explained, "And I just hope that it's crazy enough to work."
"Ooh, what's the plan?" Pinkie asked excitedly.
"This may sound hard to believe but I think we each represent an Element of Harmony," Sunset replied, "Think about it, you represent Laughter by undermining Nightmare Moon's attempts at being intimidating. Fluttershy and Rarity represent Kindness and Generosity respectively by tending to Spike's wounded and even giving up a tail just to reattach his arm."
"Does this mean you won't eat our souls?" Pinkie asked.
Spike shrugged, "I guess not. Plus, I'm starting to like you guys so I wouldn’t want to anyway."
"Rainbow Dash, who stuck by me to what could have been the bitter end even though I told her to find the princess, represents Loyalty. And Applejack, who told me a secret I nearly wet myself listening to, represents Honesty."
"But who represents magic?" Rarity asked.
"Ooh, I know!" Pinkie replied excitedly "It's Spike!"
"What?" both Spike and Sunset flatly asked.
"He's a zombie," Pinkie explained, "Zombies need magic to come back from the dead."
"Actually, Twilight calls me a revenant," Spike explained, "She said zombies don't have any free will of their own while I do. Still doesn't explain why I need to eat souls, though."
Sunset cleared her throat, "I'm pretty sure the Element of Magic is me."
"Really?" Pinkie asked, "How come?"
"Because I have trained under Princess Celestia herself," Sunset replied, "Not many ponies know the kinds of magic that I do."
"You little foals!" Nightmare Moon bellowed, "Did you really think that you escape me?!"
"Hey, wait a minute," Pinkie asked, "Shouldn't we get the Elements first?"
"Since we are the Elements, I don't think we need to," Sunset replied.
In a blinding flash of light, they blasted a rainbow at Nightmare Moon.
"What?!" Nightmare Moon screamed, "Nooooooooooo!"
Author's Note
Happy Halloween, everypony!
Chapter 13 - A New Assignment
Twilight staggered towards Ponyville, having used all of her energy during her battle with Kain. It took her all night to travel all the way from the Everfree Forest towards the quaint little village. In the distance, she saw streamers and balloons in the air and heard crowds of ponies cheering. He travelled onward to investigate what all the commotion was about. As she wiggled away through the crowds of ponies, she saw Celestia sitting on her chariot with Luna by her side.
"Twilight!" she heard Spike cry out.
She turned around and was greeted by both Spike and Sunset giving her a great big hug. While she was glad to see her friends again, she was still sore from her fight with Kain.
"Ooh, sorry about that," Sunset said as she stopped hugging her.
"It's fine," Twilight said through gritted teeth.
"I thought you were a goner!" Spike said.
Twilight pointed to Spike's stitched-up arm, "Your arm looks different."
Spike looked at his arm, "Oh, yeah. It came loose while fighting Nightmare Moon. Good thing Sunset's new friends were there to help me out."
"Friends?" Twilight asked.
"They're more like work colleagues," Sunset replied.
"Oh, come on," Spike said, "You think they're friends too. You were smiling when Pinkie Pie challenged Nightmare Moon to a dance-off."
"Okay, I admit that was pretty funny," Sunset said before laughing.
Seeing Celestia and Luna getting off the chariot, Twilight immediately bowed, even though her legs were killing her. Spike and Sunset turned around and did the same.
"I knew you and your friends could do it," Celestia said to Sunset.
Spike nudged Sunset's side as if to suggest he told her so.
"Okay, yes, they're friends," Sunset whispered.
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked, "You only knew them for one night."
"Twilight has a point, Sunset," Celestia said, "Have you ever considered staying here to get to know them a little bit more?"
"I already got one of them to tell me an embarrassing secret," Sunset replied, "Trust me, I know them well enough."
"Perhaps but, since you and your friends represent the Elements of Harmony, don't you think you should make a better effort at being friends with them? Who knows, maybe your bond with them might become as strong as the one you have with Twilight."
Celestia pointed at Twilight, who had just collapsed from exhaustion.
"Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"She's fine," Sunset replied, "She had a rougher night than I did."
"I see," Celestia said, "Anyway, I am now tasking you with studying the magic of friendship and strengthening the bond between yourself and your new friends."
"Uh...Thank you, princess," Sunset said, hiding the fact that she was not looking forward to her new assignment, "I don't know what to say."
Twilight woke up inside Xindisious' cottage.
"Ah, good, you're awake," Xindisious said, "I thought using all of your power would have killed you."
Twilight tried to get up but immediately slumped back onto the table.
"Rest easy now, Miss Sparkle," Xindisious said, "You're fortunate to be in one piece after your battle with Kain."
"You saw that?" Twilight asked.
"Indeed," Xindisious replied, "I don't think I've seen such raw magical power since Star Swirl. So, how did it feel to finally unlock your true potential and use it against the monster that ruined your life?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight replied.
"You've been tracking him for years. Surely, you must have felt something. Maybe even a hint of satisfaction."
"Well, it does feel surreal. It was all a blur when we fought. Like I hadn't put any thought into what I was doing. I was just acting on instinct."
Xindisious levitated over a bowl of soup, "I'd recommend you drink this. I'm not sure the neurotoxins have left your system yet."
"How do you know Kain injected a neurotoxin into me?" Twilight asked.
"Lucky guess," Xindisious replied.
The door of the cottage opened, revealing Sunset and Spike.
"Is Twilight awake yet?" Sunset asked, "I need her help with something."
"She is awake," Xindisious replied, "But she still needs to rest. I'd give it two weeks before she's back to full health."
"What do you need help with?" Twilight asked.
"You know how Celestia tasked me with making friends?"
"Yes."
"Well, she thought I needed to know more about friendship and I now have to write what I learned about friendship on a weekly basis."
"Considering how you and your new friends are our only method against whatever great and terrible evil wishes to ravage our land, could you blame her for wanting to make sure those friendships last?" Xindisious dryly asked.
"Anyway, what have you learnt from your time being friends with me?" Sunset asked Twilight.
"That you have a bit of an ego problem," Twilight replied, "You have anger issues and, despite the fact that you don't like socializing with ponies, you're very good at wrapping them around your hoof."
As Xindisious and Spike quietly giggled, Sunset just stared unamused by Twilight's assessment of her, "I meant what do you know about friendship."
"I guess it changes people for the better," Twilight replied, "For example, do you still want to be an alicorn?"
"Not really," Sunset replied.
"So, without you as her friend, Sunset would turn into a power-hungry sociopath?" Spike asked.
"Given what Miss Sparkle had said about Miss Shimmer, I wouldn't be surprised if she was one anyway," Xindisious said before chuckling.
"Says the amoral necromancer," Sunset retorted.
"Would you rather me be an immoral necromancer?" Xindisious asked.
"Is there a difference?" Sunset asked sardonically.
"Actually, there is," Twilight replied, "Amorality is when you don't care about what's morally right or wrong. Immorality is when you go out of your way to do what is considered morally wrong. Though I do find it concerning that my teacher has no problem admitting he doesn't have a moral compass."
Xindisious shrugged, "Morality's in the eye of the beholder, Miss Sparkle. I have lived long enough to see the laws of the land change over time, why should I care about what others consider right or wrong?"
Author's Note
Just a heads-up. Since Sunset obviously never left Equestria, it's safe to assume she didn't have the same character development she did from Rainbow Rocks onward.
Mind you, she is very noticeably friendly towards Twilight.
I dunno what I'm saying. I'm a bit drunk. But not to the point that my soeppling is...never mind.
Chapter 14 - Tears in the Rain
Twilight and Shining Armor stood at the graves of their parents. It had been only a week since Twilight's eventful encounter with Kain.
"Hi, Mom," Shining Armor said morosely, "Hi, Dad. I know it's been a while since we talked. Just got promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard last week. Bet you would have been real proud of me."
Twilight saw Shining's eyes watering, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Shining replied as he wiped away a tear, "Just a bit of rain."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, "It's not raini—"
It didn't take Twilight long to notice the tears running down her brother's eyes. As socially oblivious as she was, she knew he was trying to put on a brave front like he usually did.
"It is," Shining Armor replied, his voice quivering.
"Oh," Twilight said quietly, "So it is. Terrible day for it."
After a moment of silence, Twilight conjured a lilac plant, carefully laying it down as she moved closer to the grave and knelt down to pay her respects.
"I will bring you back soon," Twilight whispered to the deceased, "I promise."
She stood back up and turned away, ready to continue her studies in necromancy. She and Shining Armor trotted away to continue their respective duties. Ever since both siblings had reached their teens, it had always been a tradition of theirs to visit their parents every year on the anniversary of their deaths. Little did Shining know, her sister usually tried to bring back other departed ponies not long after they had paid their respects.
"You okay, Twily?" Shining asked, "You're quieter than usual."
"I have some good news but I didn't know if they wanted to hear about it," Twilight replied.
"Why wouldn't they want to hear about it if it's good news?" Shining asked, puzzled by his sister's behaviour.
"It's to do with Kain," Twilight replied.
There was a spark of hope in Shining's eyes, "Did you finally capture that monster?"
"Even better," Twilight replied, "I killed him."
Shining looked at his sister in a confused manner, "Wait, killed him? How? Not even Cadence could have beaten him and she was an alicorn."
"I don't know how but I guess I just tapped into power only unicorns of the highest level could possess," Twilight replied, "And then I melted his mask right off of his face and looked into his eyes as I burnt him to a crisp."
"How did it feel?" Shing asked.
Twilight paused before looking her brother in the eye, "It felt...good."
Spike watched as Twilight was preparing the finishing touches on a ritual designed to bring the spirit of a pony back into its physical form. Scrawled upon the dirt of where a pony by the name of Rigorous Mortcloth was buried were runes written in red, with four black candles surrounding the grave.
"Are you sure this will work, Twilight?" Spike asked, "I know you feel like you can do anything after you took down Kain but don't you think you should—"
Twilight giggled, "And I thought I was the neurotic one. Don't worry, I'm sure this will work. I looked over this ritual a dozen times, made sure everything is to perfection, why wouldn't it work?"
Before Twilight could focus on starting the ritual, she saw her undead companion clutching at his belly. Curious as to what it was, she saw him burp out a golden ticket.
"Okay..." Twilight said unfazed, "That was unusual."
"Really? Only noticed that now?" Spike dryly asked.
"I meant the ticket," Twilight replied before levitating the ticket towards her, "Who would invite me to the Grand Galloping Gala?"
Spike burped out an envelope, which Twilight then levitated over to herself. She ripped open the envelope and read aloud the letter within.
"Dear Twilight, Celestia had sent me two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. I didn't know what to do with the other one so I thought I would send it to you. It's fine if the GGG isn't your thing and you don't want to go, you can sell it to somepony else. Sunset Shimmer.
“PS: Since I picked Pinkie Pie as my plus one after a very unsubtle song and dance number, my other friends might want you to give the ticket to them. Or at least make them your plus one."
"So, are you going?" Spike asked.
"Not really," Twilight replied, "It's just a bunch of aristocrats and other high-class ponies dancing and eating cake. What about you?"
"It's not really my thing," Spike replied, "Don't want any of that girly frilly-frou nonsense."
Twilight shrugged, "Fair enough."
A loud crack of thunder boomed in the air, followed by a downpour of rain. But instead of getting drenched, Twilight and Spike were still dry. They looked up and saw a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-coloured mane peering down at them from above a hole in murky grey clouds.
"Hi there," the pegasus said, "Enjoying the weather?"
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked.
"Whaddya mean?" the pegasus asked rhetorically, "I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on, so I thought I'd kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry, that's all."
Twilight glanced over at the ticket she dropped onto the ground, "You're doing this for the ticket, aren't you?"
“Me? No no no," the pegasus replied in an unconvincing manner, "Of course not. Seriously, I'd do it for anypony."
"If it weren't for the fact that we have a mutual friend in Sunset, I would be inclined to believe you," Twilight deadpanned.
"Although, it would be kinda nice if you were gonna give me that ticket," the pegasus said.
"If you promise to be quiet while I perform this ritual, I will give the ticket," Twilight said.
The pegasus saluted, "You got it!"
Twilight breathed in, closed her eyes and focused on the corpse buried beneath her. She quietly chanted in an ancient Equestrian language as she channelled her magic into the cadaver below. A mostly skeletal, half-rotten corpse burst out from the grave, surrounded by Twilight's magic, and began to grow back its flesh and muscle. As soon as the once-dead pony had fully regenerated, Twilight collapsed onto the ground. The revived pony landed on his feet and gasped for air.
"I just had the most terrible dream!" Mortcloth exclaimed, "I dreamt that I was..."
Mortcloth looked at his own gravestone then at the little undead dragon standing before him.
"Dead?" Spike asked sardonically, "Yeah, that wasn't a dream."
Author's Note
Soz this was a day late. I got drunk yesterday.
Chapter 15 - The Tale of Grogar
Twilight observed the recently resurrected Rigorous Mortcloth. Rather than a still-decaying corpse that she was used to seeing when practising her necromancy, Rigorous was a flesh and blood stallion with a grey coat and slightly dishevelled black mane and tail with a coffin for a cutie mark. She marvelled at her work as she was now this close to bringing her parents back. Now all she had to do was ask the reborn stallion some questions to see if his mental faculties were in order.
"Is this some kind of practical joke?!" Mortcloth asked frantically.
"I'm afraid not," Twilight replied, "Now, without looking at your own gravestone, what is your name?"
"Rigorous Mortcloth," Mortcloth replied.
"He took a quick peek at his grave just when you finished bringing him back," Spike pointed out.
"Okay, and how old are you?" Twilight asked.
"Thirty-three," Mortcloth replied.
"And what was your job before your untimely departure?" Twilight asked.
"I was a mortician," Mortcloth replied.
"Figures," Spike deadpanned.
"Do you remember how you died?" Twilight asked.
"Couldn't we go for an easier question?" Mortcloth asked, "Like how I got my cutie mark, perhaps?"
"Since it's possible for some ponies to have the same cutie mark, I'm really not interested in that," Twilight replied, "Although it does show how intact your memory is if you can remember something as far back as your cutie mark. Now, about your death..."
"It was just another day at work," Mortcloth explained, "I was putting a Mr. Casket Case in a suit tailored for the occasion then, all of a sudden, he got up and lunged at me. I tried to pry him off but the grip he had on my neck grew tighter and tighter."
Spike burped out the obituary containing the details regarding Mortcloth's death, which Twilight levitated over to herself.
"Death by strangulation," Twilight muttered to herself, "Yeah, that checks out."
As she finished reading the obituary, Twilight looked over to one of the candles, which were still lit. In order to really test whether Mortcloth was actually a living pony once more and not just a highly-advanced undead, she levitated the candle over to Mortcloth's flank and watched as it was slowly engulfed in flames.
"Does anypony smell something funny?" Mortcloth asked.
Spike pointed to Mortcloth's flank, to which Mortcloth turned his head around and saw his now immolated flank.
"Oh," Mortcloth said before fainting.
As Xindisious quietly read the Librum ex Mortequus, he heard the door burst open and turned to see his faithful student and her equally faithful assistant, carrying a stallion with a charred flank.
"Another one of your experiments, Miss Sparkle?" Xinidisious asked as he looked at the half-burnt stallion.
"I just wanted to find out if he was a living, breathing pony again or just another mortally-challenged subject that will turn into a pile of bones and viscera within a week," Twilight replied, "Mainly by testing if he could feel pain."
Xindisious tilted his head, "And did he?"
"No, he didn't," Twilight replied, "Spike literally had to point out to him that he was on fire."
"Well, you certainly aren't leaving him with me, Miss Sparkle," Xindisious said sternly, "There are still traces of your last subject on my rug. It is fortunate that the princess doesn't visit here that often otherwise I would have had my license revoked years ago. Speaking of which, just in case you are wondering where I will be at the beginning of next week, Celestia has invited me over to the Grand Galloping Gala."
Spike snickered at the thought of Xindisious going to the gala, which earned him a glare from both Twilight and Xindisious.
"For the record, I'm only going in order to keep up appearances," Xindisious stated, "It would be annoying for some of my colleagues to intrude while I'm working, thinking I have perished."
Xindisious levitated over a book and placed it in front of Twilight and Spike.
"Since you are recuperating quicker than I predicted, I have a task for you," Xindisious said as he opened the book, "Are you familiar with the legend of Grogar?"
"I wouldn't really call it a legend but yeah, I have heard of Grogar," Twilight replied, "My foalsitter used to tell stories of his 'conquests' every Nightmare Night when I was a filly."
Xindisious chuckled, "I assure you Grogar was very real. And he was indeed as powerful as the tales made him out to be."
Twilight scoffed, "With respect, Master Xindisious, I don't think he was that powerful."
"Oh, but he was," Xindisious said, "Not only could he bend nature to his will, he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. You see, Miss Sparkle, his army wasn't just filled with zombies and other undead abominations, but also had living, breathing, ponies. Souls that he pulled from oblivion so they could come back in mortal flesh."
Twilight's ears perked at that statement, "Are you saying he actually fully brought ponies back to life?"
"Yes," Xindisious replied, "Long before he delved into the darker side of magic, he used to be a healer for his village."
"Then why didn't he use his power to bring everypony in his ranks back instead of leaving them as monsters?" Twilight asked, "Assuming he did have an army of ponies."
"Because an undead army would be much harder to destroy than an army of the living," Xindisious dryly replied, "And he only reserved full resurrection for generals that earned his respect. He even brought some enemies he admired back as a reward for being a worthy foe. And as long as they weren't killed in battle, the renewed ponies could live for a century before he allowed them to depart for good. Certainly longer than a week, don't you agree?"
Even though she had hope that what her mentor was saying was true, Twilight gave Xindisious a sceptical look, "If Grogar was all-powerful and very much real, what happened to him?"
"Such was his power that the only thing that could truly bring him fear was the loss of that power," Xindisious replied, "and ultimately, that’s exactly what happened the moment he took on an apprentice."
Xindisious flicked the pages of the book until he stopped at an image of the Bewitching Bell.
"Foreseeing his apprentice's treachery and his own defeat at the hooves of Gusty the Great, Grogar sealed his essence in what is now known as the Bewitching Bell," Xindisious explained, "But while it prevented him from ever being fully destroyed, it was also his greatest weakness. When Gusty took the bell from him and sealed it in an enchanted cave above Mount Everhoof, the magic within the cave prevented Grogar from regaining his physical form."
"Wait a minute," Spike butted in, "Are you saying Grogar was a lich?! "
"Correct," Xindisious replied, "One does not become that powerful without discarding his mortality first. Though regarding his choice of phylactery, you'd think he would have been wise enough to have picked something smaller and less conspicuous, such as a ring."
Xindisious closed the book and faced his protege, "If you can bring me the bell, we can use Grogar's power to bring your parents back."
Twilight put her hoof to her mouth in thought, "Wouldn't that result in Grogar being free?"
"Not exactly," Xindisious replied, "Given how powerful he was in life and how long he was imprisoned within Mount Everhoof, it will take a long time for him to return to the mortal realm. During that time, he will be willing to use whatever power contained in the bell to grant you whatever it is you desire. Within reason, of course, considering he's not some magic jinn."
Xindisious conjured a portal to Mount Everhoof. Even looking through the portal, Twilight could feel the strong winds of the mountain blowing against her.
"I trust you are up to this task," Xindisious said.
Author's Note
Guess what was a partial influence for this chapter.
Oh, and apologies with this chapter is later than usual. I had a busy week last week. Though this week was also busy too.
Chapter 4 - Doughnuts and Devastation
Twilight, Sunset, Night Light, Shining Armor, and Velvet were all sitting inside Joe's doughnut shop waiting for Cadence to arrive. Twilight was still sulking like she was doing in her bedroom, with the only difference being her mouth was covered in icing, coffee, and sprinkles. While she would’ve had the hot chocolate, she read somewhere that it was very bad for ponies. Her wondering of how Joe was allowed to sell a concoction that was dangerous to ponies helped ease her mind off of her colossal failure at the entrance exam, if only slightly.
"Another doughnut," Twilight requested, melancholy still in her voice "Extra sprinkles."
"Don't you think you've had enough?" Joe asked.
"Joe's right, you know," Velvet said, "if you keep drowning your sorrows in doughnuts and coffee, you won't have enough room for dinner."
"Wait, you decided to go out for doughnuts and you want her to have dinner afterwards?" Sunset asked.
"How else is she going to grow?"
"By stuffing my face with doughnuts and coffee," Twilight grumbled.
"Still in a mood?" Velvet asked, "I thought the news of Cadence's arrival would cheer you up."
"It did but I've been waiting for what feels like hours and I have nothing to do because I didn't bring a book,” Twilight complained in response, “I thought I wouldn't need it while Cadence was here and also because I didn't want to get any stains on it, and now I'm left thinking about how the entrance exam could’ve gone better."
The bell on the door rang with a little ding-a-ling, something that caught the attention of Twilight and Shining Armor. Entering the shop was none other than Cadence. Twilight quickly wiped whatever sweet mess was on her face and jumped towards Cadence.
"Cadence!" Twilight called out.
Cadence looked in Twilight's direction, to which Twilight stopped bouncing towards her and did their little dance, with Cadence quickly following in unison.
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybug's awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake."
As Twilight and Cadence shook their rumps in the air like they just didn't care, Sunset couldn't help but look and wonder what in Celestia's name they were doing.
"It's their little dance," Velvet explained.
Cadence looked at Shining Armor.
"Hi, Shining," Cadence said.
"Um...Uh..." Shining Armor stammered. It was apparent that Twilight wasn't the only one who inherited Night Light's social awkwardness.
Twilight giggled at Shining Armor before stepping back and trying to make a love heart gesture with her hooves.
"Shining and Cadence, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
"Real mature, Twilight," Sunset deadpanned.
Everypony then had a good laugh about it—Twilight, Cadence and Shining about Twilight pointing out the obvious and Night Light, Velvet and Sunset about Sunset's snarky comment. Then Night Light felt a grumble in his belly.
"Uh oh. I have to go to the little colt's room!"
And with that, Night Light bolted into the stallion's toilets. Just in time for Donut Joe to place a tray full of doughnuts and coffee onto the table.
"One doughnut with extra sprinkles, one strawberry doughnut, one plain doughnut, one sugary doughnut, one medium latte, one large expresso, and two Griffish coffees, one large and one medium."
Twilight trotted back to her seat to enjoy her doughnut and coffee. And when she downed the coffee, Shining stared at her in shock, but not for the reason she expected.
"Uh...Twilight? That one was mine."
Twilight turned the cup around and noticed to her surprise it had a caricature of a green drunken griffin with a shamrock in the background. Griffish coffees, or any drink with alcohol for that matter, were usually a favourite of Night Light's, something that he later passed on to Shining Armor by claiming booze was great for combating social awkwardness, provided you didn't drink too much and vomit halfway through a conversation. Luckily for everypony involved, both Night Light and Shining Armor were fun drunks.
"Oh," Twilight said sheepishly "Sorry!"
After a fun night of eating doughnuts, drinking beverages that were perfect for dunking doughnuts in—like coffee, having a laugh, and, in Twilight's case, accidentally getting plastered. It was night time when they left the doughnut shop, with Twilight staggering about and giggling, much to Sunset and Cadence's concern and amusement. She was so smashed, she sang a little ditty as they walked back home.
Do you know that you're all my very best friends?
"Are you sure she only had one Griffish coffee?" Night Light asked Shining Armor.
"Just the one," Shining Armor replied.
"Sorry I didn't stop her," Velvet said "Had I known which was which, I would have handed her the correct cup."
"It's okay, Velvet. On the bright side, if she ever wants to be like her dad and big brother, she could call it practice. Right, Twilight?"
Night Light turned to where he assumed Twilight would be, only to see that she was in fact, not there. When Velvet noticed Twilight had gone missing, both parents frantically look around to see where Twilight had disappeared to, only to see her on top of the doughnut shop holding onto the doughnut sign.
"This one goes out to my two..no, wait, three bestest friends in the whole world! Sunset, Cadence, and this big doughnut!"
Twilight eventually lost her balance and fell off, much to everypony's initial horror. But luckily, Cadence managed to catch her with her magic. Velvet and Night Light wiped their heads and let out a sigh of relief as they continued making their merry way home. Unfortunately, things were about to get a lot less merry very quickly. They were stopped in their tracks by a strange masked creature that was standing in their way. The creature was staring at them with red glowing eyes. If it weren't for it having talons for forelegs, it would have looked like a pony
"Uh...Can I help you, sir?" Night Light asked the creature.
The creature kept on staring at them menacingly. There was something about its appearance that indicated it was bad news. It wore a black cloak with a hood that covered most of its face in shadow. Its talons were mismatched. One was a pale yellow in colour and covered in scars while the other was glowing a translucent green and had dark grey bones showing through it. The creature's mask covered only its mouth and looked like a metallic claw with little holes in the middle, indicating it was used to help it breathe.
"Yes," the creature spoke in a deep but posh Canterlot accent.
The creature then removed its hood, displaying its face for all to see. It was then that the creature was revealed to be a griffin. Or at least it resembled a griffin. Its head was black in colour and it had a white marking on its face that looked like a bat.
"Kain!" Twilight said in a suddenly serious voice.
"Let's not stand on ceremony here, Miss Sparkle," Kain casually replied.
Twilight had read about the masked griffin mercenary known as Kain. Legend said he escaped from Tartarus with nothing but brute strength, cunning, and determination. But the other prisoners, along with Cerberus, tried to halt his escape by piling onto him and mangling him beyond belief, all of which he survived with nothing but his willpower. Impressive feats to be sure, but he hadn’t gotten out of it all unscathed. To relieve him of the pain of his injuries he wore an enchanted mask. The mask also had the added benefit of enhancing his already impressive strength as well. The griffin conquered a village known as Ponyville and ruled it like a king until Celestia swooped in and defeated him in combat. He fled afterward and, apart from green glowing claw marks left on a variety of corpses in recent years, nopony had seen him since, until now.
"To answer your question, Mr. Light," Kain spoke casually, "I'm here for your daughter. My employer has offered me what he considered to be a small fortune if I hand your daughter over to him. To me, the offer wasn’t all that much but it was something I was willing to accept all the same."
"And what makes you think we're going to hand our dear Twilight over like that?!" Velvet asked.
"If you don't, then I will kill you both," Kain replied.
Cadence and Shining Armor stood in front of Night and Velvet to shield them and glared at Kain.
"We’re not going to let you do that," Shining Armor said to Kain.
"How noble of you, but foolish."
Kain then removed his cloak, which revealed the rest of his body to be the same shade of black as his face. He also had a pair of wings that were similar to one of his talons. He had an apparatus mounted onto his back that had vials of a green compound fed into him through tubes connected to his body. It would seem that he had been finding ways to enhance himself. Kain pawed at the ground, readying himself for combat.
"Let us begin."
Kain charged at Cadence and swiped at her, with Cadence dodging the attack. Cadence and Shining Armor used their magic to restrain Kain by his talons, Kain, in response, broke free using telekinesis to smash the two ponies into each other.
"It looks like Celestia needs to teach you little ponies how to defend yourself."
Kain flew up and shot a blast of magic from his green talon directly at Twilight, rendering her unconscious. Everypony ran to the unconscious Twilight as Kain fluttered back down.
"Don't worry, she'll live."
Kain then raised his green talon and shoved it forward with immense telekinetic force. The movement, in turn, threw both Shining Armor and Cadence off their hooves and into a pair of trees. Kain then flew up and forcefully landed down by slamming his talons into the ground. The impact created a fog that obscured everypony's view. Velvet and Night Light clung to each other in fear while Kain prowled through the smoke like a predator. As Cadence and Shining Armor recovered from Kain's psychic assault, all they could see around them was mist and silhouettes. One silhouette in the middle of their view looked like two ponies huddled together. A glowing slash struck their necks and their heads fell. The ponies were then replaced by a monster. Kain slowly approached them, only for Sunset to jump up behind him and smash one of the vials on his back with her magic. Kain simply turned around and glared at Sunset.
"How good of you to join us. Although it would have been better if you were here sooner."
Kain then pointed to the headless corpses of Twilight's parents, much to Sunset's horror.
"Do not worry, you will be joining them very soon."
Kain quickly grabbed Sunset by her neck and started choking the life out of her. It would seem that all Sunset's attack did was slightly inconvenience him. She tried to teleport away but Kain quickly grabbed her by the neck again and slammed her into the ground. Shining Armor charged at Kain as quick as he could, only for Kain to stop him and slash him across the face. Shining Armor screamed as he fell to the floor, the newly formed scar across his face burning a bright red. The fog dissipated as Kain admired his handiwork. He was face to face with a very angry Cadence.
"If it pleases you, Princess, I lied when I said I was here for Miss Sparkle. While my employer does want Miss Sparkle for their own ends, they actually tasked me with killing her parents."
Kain then flew up into the air, preparing to escape.
"And if you do not wish to join them, you better stay out of our way."
Author's Note
Meet Kain, who is essentially a combination of Blight from Batman Beyond and Bane from The Dark Knight Rises (with a little hint of the comics version of Bane too). No relation to that guy from Legacy of Kain.
