The Path to Transcendence

“I forbid it! Twilight, this is evil magic. Please, don’t make the same mistake Starswirl did. He was a brilliant and gifted unicorn just like you. He discovered more spells than even I know myself, but he became obsessed with necromancy. He wanted to create life, not just reanimate it. It is blasphemous to even think such things.” Said the tall white alicorn. Her stern look did not sway the young unicorn before her.

“But Princess! This is the greatest discovery of pony magic in recorded history! The ability to create life is not blashphemous, it is… magnificent. There aren’t proper words to describe such an unimaginably important advancement for ponykind!”

“No, Twilight, science should never create life. Even I can’t create a living being. It is only for nature to produce.”

“You just don’t get it! Dammit Celestia! Open your eyes! This isn’t the first era anymore. Ponykind could benefit from this knowledge. We don’t rely on superstitions or horoscopes like they did so long ago. We have science now. Why are you trying to hinder science?”

The monarch gave out a long sigh, “Twilight, please leave. Go back to Ponyville and forget this Necromancy. I will not have such evil magic in my kingdom.”

The lavender unicorn rolled her eyes and grunted before a bright white light consumed her body and she vanished before her mentor.

“Eclipse? Are you alright?” Ask a familiar voice. The unicorn shook her head bringing herself back to reality from the daydream she had been captivated in.

“Oh, yes, I’m fine Fluttershy. Just… remembering.”

“You’ve been standing there for an hour. I was starting to worry about you.”

The purple mare blushed hiding her face as she looked at the ground.

“Fluttershy… can I ask you something?”

“Yes, of course.” The yellow Pegasus’ face grew into a smile.

“Are you… afraid of me?”

“No,” she said, “I’m not afraid of you. I’m concerned about you.”

“Why are you concerned about me?”

“You been through so much and you haven’t shed so much as a single tear. When I look into your eyes I see sadness and regret, pain and anger, you’re hurting Eclipse and I worry about you. You barely sleep and when you do, I can hear you scream from the nightmares you’re having.” Fluttershy began to choke on the last words as tears built up around her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

A soft whimper came from the Pegasus and the unicorn nuzzled her neck gently.

“Thanks Fluttershy, for not fearing me. I don’t know if I could make it another day without you by my side. You make the world around me not as bleak and empty as it truly is.”

…………….

“Watch your step, the last thing we need is either of us to get poison joke on us.” Said the dragon as he crept through the forest floor slowly watching each step he made with his unicorn companion following close behind him.

The Everfree forest had become quiet and nearly desolate with Twilight’s rise to power. Her undead army cleansed the forest of most, if not all the inhabitants making them test subjects or more soldiers for her empire.

Zecora’s hut was one of the few places that wasn’t destroyed during the initial purging of Equestria. Only a few ponies knew how to get to it and most would not even dare to trek into the forest. It was dangerous during the day, and suicidal during the night. No pony wanted to face down Cockatrice or a Hydra.

“Alright, we’re here.” Said the dragon.

He approached the door and knocked three times and stood back. Several moments passed by before he knocked again this time harder as if he was pounding on the door.

“Darling, I don’t think she’s home.”

“Well we can’t stay out here all day. Let’s go in.” said the dragon.

Spike opened the door to peak in noticing it was pitch black inside. Not a single light could be found. He stepped inside as Rarity followed behind him illuminating the small hut with her horn.

Blood was splattered across the walls that had long since been caked over. The once fresh herbs and other medicinal plants Zecora collected were now wilted and frail. A single touch could cause them to collapse into dust. Broken bottles and shards of glass littered the wooden floor threatening anypony who wasn’t careful when walking.

“Gah! This place is a mess!” Rarity shouted and she began to levitate the broken glass and off the floor and pushing it neatly into a pile secure in a corner away from her hooves.

“It’ll have to do. Looks like they got Zecora too and quite a while ago at that if this place is this bad, but at least we won’t have to worry about Twilight’s goons coming here.” Said the dragon looking in the shelves for any sort of food.

He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. It must have been a week. He had been giving every scrap of food he could find to Rarity. It was only enough to feed one pony anyway whenever he found something to eat. And the gentledrake he was he couldn’t bear to see his lover in any state but perfection. Though, Rarity’s features were far from perfect.

Her hair had become disheveled and split ends were all over. Her pear white coat was caked in mud, dirt, and specks of blood, but that didn’t change his thoughts about the mare. She was still the perfect mare in his eyes.

Spike’s quest for food ended in failure. He would have to go out and forage in the forest for food as well as firewood.

“Rarity, I’ll be back. I need to gather up some firewood and food. If I’m not back in an hour, don’t look for me and get away from Zecora’s as fast as you can I don’t want you to get caught by those zombies.”

“Be careful,” said the mare as she watched the dragon walk out the door. She sat back on her haunches and stared up at the ceiling, “oh Twilight, what went wrong?”