IV:
The last will of Night Terror

It was late night, the undead dragon known as Night Terror was daydreaming in the ruins of the Royal Sisters’ castle, when he felt a presence. He smiled, as he was waiting for him.

“I got your letter! What do you want, Night Terror?” said Spike, materializing from the shadows.

The undead dragon smirked. “You haven’t learned anything on this five years. Aren’t you worried that this may be a trap?”

Spike smiled, releasing his aura of shadows. “I have my own tricks. Thanks to certain dragon and the Great Master, I’m not a sinner anymore.”

Night Terror’s smirk grew wider. Yes, this Spike was quite different to his past self. He had the confidence and the strength he lacked back on the day. He would never become an undead monster as he did.

The undead monster raised his claw and attacked his counterpart, but his own shadows solidified and grabbed his claw stopping the attack. Spike remained quiet, looking at Night Terror right to the eye without a hint of fear. But he semed sad.

“I don’t get what are you trying to prove. Can I leave now?” asked Spike.

Night Terror sighed, falling on his knees. He looked at his own claws with a sad smile.

“Aren’t they beautiful? I ripped off countless heads, teared apart body after body, crushed one enemy after another. I am the ultimate killing machine, and my beloveds were my ultimate weapon. But they are useless when it comes to protect the one I love the most.”

Spike gave Night Terror a blank stare.

“Enough! Just tell me what the hay do you want!” said Spike losing his patience.

Night Terror jumped over Spike and he raised his claws and buried them on the ground. Night Terror roared in annoyance and ripped his own hands off to grow a new pair.

“Do you know how it feels to lose your friends and family out of sudden, and know you are not strong enough to protect them? To have them aback only to realize that who they were is nothing but a distant memory, and that they had become something hideous and terrifying? Mom, what happened to her? All was left was a bloodthirst monster. But she kinda looked like her old self and I thought that was good enough. At least for a little while. Then, I decided to become her equal and here we are. Spike and Twilight are long gone, now we just are Night Terror and Midnight. Two undead creatures who exist only to kill and fool themselves saying is for the greater good.”

Spike shivered, something changed out of sudden.

Night Terror’s eyes lost focus, turning dead and empty. The monster raised his claw one more time and he was about to crush Spike. But unlike the other times Spike felt that his life was truly in danger and teleported in shadows to dodge the attack. Spike used his own shadow and Night Terror’s to immobilize him.

This infuriated Night Terror who began to struggle against the two shadows.

“What is wrong with you?!” shouted Spike in fear.

But Night Terror did not answer. He roared and tried to reach Spike with his jaws. But what confused Spike was the fact that his counterpart was using brute strength only. Why he was not using his magic, or his fire breath?

Finally, Night Terror trembled and stopped struggling. Spike felt how his aura went back to normal.

“What was that all about?” asked Spike.

“This is what happens if I lose focus only for a fraction of a second. It is time for me to pay the prize of my choices.”

“What do you mean?

Night Terror sighed sadly.

“I am losing myself Spike. The only thing keeping my soul is my deep love for Midnight. But unlike the Elements of Harmony my love is not enough to prevent the inevitable. It is only a matter of time for my soul to descend to hell and my body to become what you just saw.”

Spike gulped.

“A true undead.”

Night Terror nodded. “I know what is waiting for me and my family. During these small periods I lose my mind I’ve had some glances of hell. I know there’s a plan to retrieve their souls. I won’t be here for long, but as for the others the only way for Him to claim their souls is to destroy their bodies.”

“What? You mean that…”

“Yes, He created a tool capable to kill us for good. I want to save the rest for what is stored for us, so you must destroy them first. It won’t be easy but please, help me. You are the only one who can save them!”

“Okay, tell me what I need to do.”

“Whatever it takes… don’t let her take their unlives!”

…

Midnight, Griffon Empire Royal Library:

A group of black shadows were moving around pushing around shelves and throwing away the books after taking a quick glance.

“Hey you!” shouted a security guard. “What do you think you’re doing? Huh… ponies?”

Six pairs of rede eyes stared at the guard.

“What are you waiting for? He works here, he should know where to find the information we need!” commanded Midnight.

The griffon then squealed. A horrible high-pitched squeal that shattered all the glass in the library. The undeads flinched to the horrid sound and Jack the Reaper had no choice but choke the griffon to shot him off.

“Seriously, stop it!” said the cowgirl.

“Yes, cooperate with us and we’ll let you go. We don’t hurt anyone with no reason.”

The scared griffon nodded in silence as a group of soldiers broke in showing their claws and knives as a warning.

“You are surrounded ponies! Surrender now or we’ll have to use brute force!”

The undeads exchanged a confused look.

“Oh! So that’s what the squeal was for!”

“Kind of clever.”

“We are losing our time here!” said Fleshy Smile. “Let’s be nice for once and ask directly!”

“Fine, whatever.” shrugged Undash.

Then Fleshy Smile turned to the guards. “We’re just looking for some information about the Knights of he Silence, we’ve been looking all over the place to find something about them but there aren’t any books about them.”

“Knights of the Silence?” asked the soldiers, confused.

The only one who seemed to recognize the word was the captain, a few years older than the rest of his unit.

“So you know!” said Midnight.

“What are you waiting for! Arrest them!”

The griffons jumped over the undeads, who simply jumped away eluding the attack. Then each of the undeads raised their hooves and the soldiers were immobilized by their own shadows, and then thrown away against the shelves.

Only the captain remained.

“Magic of Silence. I never thought I would see it again.”

Midnight smirked.

“What do you know about that?

“How do you know about that? We chased the knights to their extinction.”

Midnight rolled her eyes. “You obviously didn’t do a very good job. One of them escaped and recreated the Order in Equestria. Now Celestia, as weak and naïve as she is let them create their official academy despite all they’ve done.”

“They are worse than the plague, huh? Because their ‘education is for everybody’ philosophy there are always more of them.”

Midnight sighed. “Yes! And because they can read souls it is impossible to sneak among their lines. Really difficult, right? Now tell me why you chased them! They should have a dirty little secret.”

The griffon captain shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. I was a young recruit just joining the Army and followed orders. Never ask or cared, just did what I was told. This is how you climb ranks faster; you know?”

Midnight nodded, made sense.

“Who knows?”

“The old generals from that time, they’re all retired or dead now. Also the Royal Family.”

“Okay thanks. Undeads, we’re leaving!”

The six monsters nodded and began to walk away when the captain took a knife form his wings and threw it at Midnight with perfect aim. The weapon hit her right on the back of her head.

The other were about to react but Midnight stopped them. “We are invaders here, he is just doing his job. Anyway don’t bother. We are invincible.”

She ripped her own head off and regenerated a new one leaving the old one behind much to the soldiers’ horror.

“What we do now leader?”

“Inform the Royal Family. If the Knights of Silence are still active, they should know. Also, did you see what she did? I’ve seen this only once, and it was an undead creature. Sentient undeads? Knights of Silence? This is far beyond our league.”

Author's Note

And here it is a new chapter of the story where the undead try to get more information about their enemies. I hope you liked it as always,

Read ya’ later!