The Doctor is in

Chapters

Chapter 1: this is were the fun begins
Chapter 2: cleaning day
Chapter 3: Who do you think you are?
Chapter 4: sins of the father
Chapter 5: 1 step forward, 20 steps back
Chapter 6: The thing's I've done and the ponies I've met
Chapter 7: Death by glamor
Chapter 8: Masquerade
Chapter 9: Reunion
Chapter 10: Learning to let go
protologue: Do I have your attention?

Chapter 1: this is were the fun begins

“You seriously can’t be thinking about going through with this?!” A bewildered Rocky road questioned.

“I know you don’t think this is a good idea Commander road, but it’s the best chance we have of taking down the dark moon legion.” Celestia pushed the door open to the throne.

It had been 5 days since Velvet night had been captured and Celestia hadn’t done anything about him since then. Rocky road and even a couple of guards had tried to convince Celestia to just execute the necromancer, but something about his offer gave Celestia a dilemma.

“I understand with the return of your sister that you are worried that the legion will do something. But you can’t be considering hearing that monster out, I mean, he said that he’s a member.” Rocky road said with desperation in his voice. Celestia stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Rocky road with a sympathetic expression.

“I understand your hatred for his type, especially what happened with your sister.” Celestia looked away when she said that, but turned her gaze back to Rocky road. “I have a good feeling that Velvet night is somehow telling the truth.” Rocky road closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.

“All I’m trying to say is…be careful please.” Celestia nodded at Rocky roads advice and continued walking to a door beside her, and now sisters, thrones.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sit in my borderline dilapidated cell, water dripping from a crack in the ceiling and rust on about anything you find, I also thought I saw a rat run by my cell door.

“I love Celestia to death…but she really needs to get these cells clean.” I rolled my eyes as my lovely cellmate slammed his…buggy…hooves onto the cell bars.

“Can you SHUT UP! I’m already starving over here, I don’t need a headache to add to my pain!” He then recoiled in pain as an audible rumbling can from his stomach. It had been like this since I got here, I voice a minor complaint and he gets all uppity about it.

“Well being a doctor doesn’t exactly mean I like dirty rooms. Also, can you please drop dead faster so I can examine your body?” I say in the most innocent way I could manage.

This didn’t seem to go over well with my insectoid friend as he gave me the most hilarious glare I’ve ever seen. He was about to attack me when the sound of the dungeon entrance being opened reached our ears. The sound of multiple hooves was approaching us, and when they stopped in front of my cell, I could help but smile in happiness.

“Velvet night, the princess requested your audience. Come quietly and don’t try anything.” The gold cladded gentlecolt ordered. I happily agreed and was let out of my disgusting cell, waving my insect friend goodbye.

It was a long walk but I could appreciate the nice clean walls of the castle interior as I walked down the marble white walls. We soon reached a seemingly random door and opening it up revealed a rather bland grey room with a table and 2 chairs on either side. I was told to sit in one of the chairs and wait for a pony to come and interrogate me, so I sat there bored yet again with nothing to do.

Luckily that boredom was swept away when an absolute beauty stepped through the door, the best looking pegasus stallion I've seen in my life. He was pink colored with a light blue mane, wore a cute little green turtleneck sweater, and had a cutie mark of a notepad and quill.

“You’re a cute little thing.” I used my hoof to prop my head up as I gave the cutie a flirtatious gaze. “Maybe when we’re done here, you can come see me so I can…examine you~” I licked my lips to add emphasis. The stallion looked flustered for a moment before he caught himself and sat down in the empty seat in front of me with a calm expression.

“While I do appreciate the…offer, that isn’t why I am here.” He used his wing to pull out a small rectangular device with buttons on it and press one of them. “This is a royal detective minty breeze. It is currently xx/xx/xx22 with interrogation case number 34.” He stopped talking to the thing and set it aside, then picked up a strange crystal with wires attached and set it on the table.

“What is this strange device?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“This is the latest model of lie detecting crystal technology to date. When you answer a question, it scans your brain waves to formulate if it was true or false.” Minty breeze gave a prideful smile that just warmed my heart, even if I didn't have a single clue about what he was talking about.

“Well isn’t that interesting? So do I just stick these to my head?” I ask while pointing to the wires attached to the crystal. I would hold them in my magic, but I would be in trouble if I broke their weak little magic damping ring they stuck to my horn. Minty nodded and helped me stick the wires to my head with tape and then sat back down and pulled out a notepad and pencil.

“Now to make sure the crystal works, are you actually 127 years old?” The stallion asked.

“Yes” I answered as the crystal lit up green. That seemed to make Minty a little shocked, but satisfied as he wrote in his notepad.

“Now that I know that it works, I’m going to be straightforward with you. Are you really an ex member of the dark moon legion?” Minty had some subdued fear in his voice that even an average pony could notice, which made me frown a little.

“No, as I said, I am not affiliated with those idiots anymore.” There was a slight pause, but the crystal lit up green. That made Minty breeze visibly relax as he wrote in his little notepad, the scene making my full smile return. We went back and forth with each other for about an hour as Minty continued to interview me, these questions were starting to bore me to death.

‘If only these stupid questions were over, then I could get a piece of the submissive stallion di-’ My thoughts were interrupted when Minty closed his notepad and removed the tapped wire from my forehead. He somehow stuffed all of his items into a pair of saddle bags he had with him that I didn’t notice.

“Well that concludes our interview-” He picked up the small rectangular device, clicked a button on it, and stuffed it into his saddle bag. “-It was actually nice to talk with you. But you’re going have to stay here, the princess will arrive soon." With that, the cute stallion left the room and also left my poor heart in shambles.

“He was such a nice young lad, the first stallion to peak my interest in decades.” I threw my hooves and shook them in anger as tears ran down my face. “GONE FROM MY HOOOVES!”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Few hours later*

"Princess, let me question the Necromancer by myself. You don't need to be in the same room as him." Rocky road pleaded as he and Celestia walked to the interrogation room.

"Commander Rocky road, I appreciate the concern, but I am fully capable of handling myself." Celestia retorted with annoyance in her tone. They reached the interrogation room, but Rocky got in in front of Celestia before she could open the door.

Rocky road gave her a pleading look, but Celestia shook her head as she reluctantly moved Rocky out of the way and opened the door to find a disgruntled Velvet night. The stallion in question noticed them and quickly got back into a proper position, both of his hooves on the table with an innocent smile on his face.

“Uh…Greeting your majesty, I hope you are having a wonderful morning?” Velvet asked with a bead of sweat going down his face.

“Well it’s actually the afternoon.” Celestia walked over and sat in the empty seat.” But yes my day has been fairly decent with the return of my sister and all.” At this, Velvet's eyes seemed to widen a little but otherwise stay calm.

“I…didn’t know your sister returned. I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to have your dear little sister be potentially targeted by a bunch of moon worshiping freaks.” Velvet put a hoof to his chest in an almost mocking way.

“Yes it is difficult to say the least, but that isn’t why I am here.” Celestia gave Velvet an intense stare, which seemed to affect the stallion a bit. “I got the results from Minty breeze and I have to say that you’re more trustworthy now. But I want to hear from your mouth, why do you want my help?”

The room was silent as Velvet seemed to be somewhat upset by something, but was doing a good job of keeping his smile for the most part.

“Ever since I and my brother were young, we’ve been obsessed with anything medical related. He wanted to become a pharmacist and me a surgeon and we studied for years on end. After going through the most prestigious medical schools at the time, we eventually achieved our dreams.” Velvet put his hoofs together and his smile turned into a deep frown.

“Life for us was good until… I found out my brother had ties with the dark moon legion.” Celestia and Rocky road were surprised to hear this, but chose to stay quiet. “He didn’t know, so I chose to not speak about it, then one day-”Tears started to form in the corners of Velvet's eyes. ”I found my brother dead in our own home, slaughtered like some common dog. I never found out why, but I suspected it to be the legions doing it somehow, so I discovered the art of necromancy, got a spot in the legion and quickly rose the ranks.”

“If you were so high up, why turn on them just to get my help?” Celestia interrupted.

“Because the leaders of the legion are well hidden, and if I go snooping around I’ll end up like my brother did.” Velvet's voice held such anger, his hooves started to shake in rage and face contorted into a sadistic grin. “I swear when I get my hooves on them, I’ll strangle the life out of every single one, resurrect them all and inflict every single imaginable way to torture somepony until the day I finally die, then torment their souls in the afterlife. Only then they will feel a fraction of the pain they caused me.”

Celestia and Rocky road looked uncomfortable from Velvet's borderline mental breakdown, with Rocky giving Celestia an uncertain look. The solar princess coughed into her hoof, which snapped the necromancer out of his crazed state and returned him to normal with his signature smile.

“That was certainly an interesting tale, but is there anything you can tell us about the dark moon legion?” Celestia questioned, Rocky read to write info down in his own notepad that he seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

“Nothing specific really, but I knew a mare that knows a pony that knows something about the leaders themselves.” Velvet said with a sly smile at Celestia's subtle shock.

“Can you tell me who this pony is?” Celestia asked, a little desperation in her voice.

“The fake name she had was sea breeze, but her name is actually lyra heartstrings.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luna and her sister were standing outside in the docking area for the royal guards chariots were stationed, Luna gave an annoyed huff as she saw Velvet being escorted into a chariot.

“We do not think this is a good idea sister. Do you think letting a Necromancer run wild in ponyville is a good idea, especially with thy students there.” Luna said with an irritated look.

“Firstly, Velvet night is going to be under observation from undercover ponies while he is there. Secondly I feel more safe if it was twilight watching him, I told him to make sure that my student is safe while he’s in town.” Celestia gave her sister a comforting smile, which only turned Lunas glare into one of confusion.

“Still, thou hasn’t told us why he is going there.” Luna pointed out.

“In his own words ‘you can’t just send a bunch of guards down there to catch her, know the mare, she’ll run off before we even touch the ground’. So I came up with a plan for him to stay with Twilight as he investigates this Lyra heartstrings, and my student already got sent a letter detailing her about the situation.” Celestia looked at the now exiting chariot, Velvet waving Celestia goodbye from the distance.

“We hope that thou judgment is right sister. Because if he does anything to Miss Sparkle, we will personally see that he gets banished to the sun.” Luna gazed at the distant chariot with an angry glare.

Celestia put a wing around Luna and nuzzled her affectionately.

“Don’t worry Luna, I’m sure Velvet night will behave himself.” Celestia said with a slight giggle.

Chapter 2: cleaning day

You know, I was actually excited to meet the Princesses student. After Celestia told me her little plan to send me into that backwater town I wasn’t expecting anything surprising. Sure, I would be spying and eventually catching a member of the dark moon legion/ ex-friend, but shivers go down my spine every time I thought about how dirty that place would be.

Said town came into my site line and I have to be honest, it was a quaint little place for what it was. I and my escorts landed on the ground and I was ‘politely escorted’ through town. Now I don’t pride myself in having dashing looks, I know I already have them, but the town ponies seemed to be a little skittish today. No wonder Lyra picked this place, these ponies looked like they would run away at the slightest noise.

I soon arrived at a tree, which ironically, was actually a Library. I don’t know what’s sadder, living in a library, or having paper books be sold in a tree. Despite my minor complaints, my escorts left me in front of the front door, dropped saddle bags at my hooves and left.

“Well that was quite rude.” I said with puffed out cheeks. I ignored the horrible attitudes, I turned around and knocked on the door. A small purple unicorn opened the door, her mane was a dark blue with pink highlights that matched her tail, and her cutie marks were some small stars surrounding one big star.

“Oh, um… I didn’t expect you to be here s-soon” The unicorn said with some nervousness.

“You are quite short for a unicorn your age.” I observed. She seemed to be caught off guard by my statement, and blinked a couple of times.

“What?” The unicorn blurted out.

“I’m sorry, I was thinking out loud, where are my manners?” I said with a laugh and shake of my head. “I'm Velvet night, sent here by her majesty herself to…check out something.” I finished off with my ‘kind’ smile, the sight apparently making the unicorn more nervous.

“What are you-” she stopped for a second, then gained a look of realization.”-Oh…Celestia did say you were staying for a reason.” The unicorn said with a sheepish smile. “Well, my name is Twilight sparkle and it’s…nice to meet you.”

“Do you mind if I come in please?” I tugged at my dress shirt collar trying to cool myself off from this horrid heat.

“I’m sorry, I guess we got caught up on talking.” Twilight apologized as she sidestepped to let me in.

“It’s alright dear, I'm sure you- SWEET MOTHER OF CELESTIA!” I yelled out in horror. The inside was an absolute disaster, the bookshelves were empty with the books stacked into piles NEXT to them, parchment was crumbled up and laying on the floor, and dust caked almost every surface I could see. Worst of all, Twilight had some scaly rodent sleeping on the couch!

I just felt dirty stepping in this dump! I slowly turned my head around to look at Twilight, the sound of scraping metal came from my moving neck. She recoiled in genuine fear at the sight of my hate filled glare, she also didn’t calm down when I also gave her a passive aggressive smile.

“Twilight…darling” I started off, barely subduing the anger in my voice.” Why in the ever loving Tartarus, Is your home in such ruin?” I said in a low tone.

The mare didn’t speak for a moment, anything she tried to spew out just became unintelligible babble. All Twilight did was slowly close the door behind her and took a deep breath.

“Well, I was up late doing some studies…and I guess I got a little caught up.” She responded with a sheepish smile.

“THIS is getting ‘caught up’ to you?!” I berated her, my noise apparently woke up the small lizard because he screamed in sudden fright upon noticing me.

“AH Twilight! don’t worry, I’ll save you!” The lizard ‘bravely’ proclaimed as he charged at me. The punches and kicks he inflicted onto me were pathetic at best, Tartarus, they made a bucking squeaking sound with every time they hit. The lizard was enveloped in a lavender mist as he levitated to Twilight, who had an irritated look towards the small thing.

“Spike, stop that! He’s the pony in the letter I was talking to you about.” Twilight explained.

“Oh…so he wasn't some intruder attacking you?” Spike asked, shrugging his shoulders.

“While it was rude that he was yelling at me-” Twilight gave me a quick glare. ”But he did have a point. I really need to get this place cleaned up” Twilight admitted as she finally set Spike back on the ground.

“Obviously, I’ll get the cleaning supplies while you start picking up books.” I instructed as I turned around to locate a broom closet, but the feeling of somepony tugging at my tail stopped me, and looking back, the lizard named Spike was holding onto my tail.

“You don’t have to help, I can do it by myself.” Spike proudly said while letting go of my tail.

“While I greatly appreciate your politeness, I would be a horrible guest If I just let you do all the work by yourself.” I said with a kind smile. Spike nor Twilight tried argued with me, so they started picking up books as I quickly located the broom closet.

‘I’m going to make this place look bucking fabulous.’

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minty breeze slammed his face into the top of his office desk as he let out a tired groan.

“Will this day ever end!” Came the muffled cries from Minty. There was a giggle that made Minty raise his head, upon seeing the owner of it, his mood lightened a little. She was a brown earth mare with a cotton candy pink mane, she wore a grey business suit with a black tie. The mare gave Minty a playful smile and set a stack of papers onto his desk, which re-dampened his mood again.

“I wouldn’t complain just yet Breezy, you still have a ways to go.” The mare said.

“You are the worst cinnamon twist, the worst.” Minty breeze scowled.

“Seems like something Is bothering you.” Cinnamon twist rested a hoof onto Minty’s desk. “You can tell me anything, ya know?” Cinnamon gave Minty a friendly smile.

Minty breeze shuffled in his seat uncomfortably as a faint blush appeared on his face. Cinnamon unfortunately saw this, and suspected the reason but stayed quiet in order to hear his reason.

“I…can’t give you specific details. But a couple of days ago, I met this…stallion…for questions and he was obviously trying to get a rise out of me by flirting…but.” Minty went quiet as his face was blushing even more now.

“Buuuut?” Cinnamon teased with a knowing look.

“For s-some reason I just c-can’t stop thinking about it.” Minty proceeded to slam his face into the desk again and ruffle his mane with his hooves. “It’s driving me crazy!” Minty cried out. Cinnamon only chuckled as she patted the distressed stallions back.

“If it is bothering you so much, why don’t ya write to him?” Cinnamon asked with a raised eyebrow. Minty raised his head with a exasperated expression.

“I can’t just write to him! We only met one time, I don’t even know him THAT much besides the questions I asked him during interrogation, plus…other things.” Minty said, looking away at the last part.

“Other…’things?’” Cinnamon questioned.

“Yes, ‘other things’. Now just leave me to my work and go…Do something else!” A flustered Minty shouted, gaining a giggle from Cinnamon.

“OK, see ya later love bug~” Cinnamon teasingly said, quickly shutting the door before a pencil hit her.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Please…no more!” Spike pleaded before he collapsed on the now polished floor of the golden oak library.

“Don’t worry, your pretty little head Spike dear, all the hard work is over now.” Velvet night said as he levitated cleaning supplies back into the broom closet. “Besides, Twilight is still holding up.” Velvet pointed a hoof to a passed out Twilight still holding a dust broom in her hooves.

There was a knock at the front door, which annoyed the necromancer a bit as he magically slammed the broom closet door close.

“Twi, ah got the others like you asked.” A southern voice called out from behind the door. Velvet groaned, seeing as Twilight wasn’t getting it, and teleported to and opened the front door to see a group of mares.

The front mare was an orange earth mare with a tide blond mane, wearing a cute stetson hat on her head. The two behind her were total opposites, one was a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane, and the other was a sky blue pegasus with a messy rainbow mane. Behind the white one, was a small shivering ball of pink and yellow that Velvet thought was a pegasus.

“Sorry but the Library is closed for today, go bother somepony else.” Velvet said rather rudely. This didn’t go over with the blue pegasus, as she flew up directly to his face with a glare that almost made Velvet laugh.

“Who are you supposed to be, huh?! Where is Twilight?” The pegasus demanded. Before Velvet could say anything, Twilight appeared between him and the blue pegasus.

“Rainbow, I'm fine. I was busy cleaning up the Library with Velvet night.” Twilight explained. Her friends gave her a questioning look before she realized her mistake. “Oh, this is Velvet night I told you all about.” She pointed a hoof to the annoyed stallion.

“I have to say, he is a little taller than I expected.” The white unicorn suddenly commented.

“Or maybe you all are just short.” Velvet jokingly said under his breath.

“Come inside girls, me and Velvet here were about to discuss something.” Twilight motioned her hoof to the door, allowing the others to enter. Once inside the others commented on how clean the library was, Velvet nights frown turning into a prideful smile. The other sat down on the nearby couch, while the ‘Rainbow’ chose to hover in mid-air. Velvet night walked into the kitchen and started to make tea for Twilights guests.

“So what is this thing ya’ll were goin’ to talk about?” Applejack question. Twilight sat on the floor and gave her friends a nervous glance as she gulped.

“Before we talk, I have something about Velvet you might not know.” Twilight said.

“What is it darling?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow. Twilight was silent for a minute but finally spoke, looking away with clenched eyes.

“Velvet night is a necromancer!” Twilight blurted out, expecting an uproar to occur. Instead there was silence and looking at her friends, they were rather calm despite the uncomfortable looks in their eyes.

“We already knew that, Celestia sent all of us a letter to warn us.” Rainbow stated as she landed on the ground. “Still doesn’t mean I trust the freak.” Her eyes narrowed toward the kitchen, where a quiet humming noise was coming from.

“Huh…that makes this a whole lot less awkward…for me” Twilight said, the last part being under her breath. Velvet night came out of the kitchen with a tea set in his magical grasp as he hummed a tune to himself. He set the tea set onto the table and poured himself a cup, everypony else doing so as well.

“Let's hope he didn’t poison it” Rainbow dash sarcastically spat out.

“Trust me honey, If i wanted you dead you wouldn’t even realize you're dead.” Velvet retorted as he took a sip from his cup. Rainbow only gave the necromancer a glare as the yellow pegasus shivered more. “I’m just going to come out and say that there is another necromancer in town.” Velvet revealed, taking a sip while everypony else spat theirs out.

“WHAT THE HAY!” The farm mare and Rainbow dash shouted in surprise.

“Yes it’s true.” Velvet poured himself another cup and took a sip.” She was an ‘old friend’ of mine, slippery little shit that's for sure.” Velvet said with disdain heavy in his voice.

“If you know who it is then, we should be out there catching her!” An exasperated Rainbow dash stated.

It’s not that simple Rainbow dash.” Twilight suddenly spoke up. “ I did some research into the dark moon legion a long time ago, and one of the things they're known for is being great at staying hidden.”

“And we also know how to get away when thing get rough.” Velvet added, setting an empty tea cup on the tray.

“Well if that's the case, then who is it we should catch? Depending on who it is then it won’t be too much of a problem.” A sudden voice asked behind Velvet, causing him to jump in surprise.

“AHH, who in the-?!” He turned around to see a VERY pink earth mare with a crazy mane and the widen grin he had ever seen in his life.

“Hi I’m Pinkie pie, I already know your name but I don’t know your favorite things like-” Pinkies mouth started to spout out words at a million words per second. Thankfully, Twilight used her magic to clamp the pink mare's mouth shut.

“I take it this is another one of your friends?” Velvet asked, using a hoof to dust off the part of his shirt Pinkie had grabbed.

“Sorry about that. Pinkie can be a little hyperactive sometime, especially when meeting somepony new.” Twilight explained with a sheepish smile.

“Just keep her on a tight leash alright? As for who we are going after-” Velvet noticed everypony finished there tea, and used his magic to levitate it to the kitchen.”-It is one Lyra heartstring.”

At that, the room went strangely silent . Velvet looks at the mares to see a range of shocked to distraught faces. The worst one of all was Twilight, who looked like somepony she loved just stabbed her. Pinkie didn’t have the magic shutting her mouth but with the sudden atmosphere, talking wasn’t a good idea.

“N-No, you’re lying. I’ve known Lyra was one of my friends when I was in Canterlot. I know I didn’t socialize that much, but…how?” Twilight said with a horrified face, she began to breathe heavily as rainbow dash and pinkie tried to comfort their friend.

“Unfortunately it’s true, Lyra is a long time member going on 8 years now. The good thing is that she isn’t dangerous…yet.” Velvet had a surprisingly somber look on his face.

“W-what d-do you mean…y-yet.” A shaky, barely audible, voice spoke out. Velvet looked at who owned it and was surprised to see that the shy mare spoke.

“What I mean is, she has the potential to become a problem, but against somepony like me, she wouldn’t even dare think of going up against me.” Velvet ominous said with a sinister smile, causing the shy mare to go silent.

“What makes ya such a special partner?” Applejack asked with some sarcasm.

“Heh, I can almost fully resurrect a pony.” Velvet revealed with a cocky smile. Everypony’s eyes went wide, especially Twilights. The purple mare almost forgot her old friend's betrayal and ran into Velvet at speed Rainbow dash was impressed by.

“That’s impossible! Even necromancers can’t resurrect the dead!” Twilight practically screamed into the necromancer's face, shaking his head back and forwards with her hooves at high speed. Velvet night used his magic to free himself from the crazed mare and set her onto the couch next to the shy mare. After a bit of swaying, Velvet fixed his long hair and tie.

“I didn’t say I can resurrect a pony, I said I ALMOST can.” Velvet scoffed. “Like normal magic, necromancy magic can be morphed and molded into whatever the user wishes. It’s that most necromancers use it to ‘take over Equestria’, or ‘become the lord of the dead’ blah blah blah.” Velvet tilted his head side to side as he spoke with a mocking tone.

“With me, all I ever wanted was to help others and not to satiate some idiotic desire for power. With my magic, I won't ever be haunted by the mistakes I made, no more mistakes…no more death.” Velvet explained with a sad frown.

Again, the room went silent as Velvet's speech sank in. Then to the surprise of everypony, Fluttershy spoke in a sympathetic tone.

“I know how it feels, every time I fail to save an injured animal it hurts a lot. But no matter how hard you try to bring them back, even if you succeed, you're still going to have those memories of your failures. The best thing to do is to come to terms with it.” Fluttershy said, a sad smile on her face.

Cold stone was strangely quiet, frown still on his face. He got up and walked to the stairs and before he went up, looked back at the others.

“It’s getting late, you all should head home.” Velvet instructed. He trotted up the stairs and went into the spare room before anypony could catch him. The others looked at each other, but decided to follow Velvet's advice and leave.

The others said their goodbyes and left Twilight alone in the golden oaks library. She would ask Spike to do his nightly chores, but Twilight sent him to bed as Velvet first met the girls, and also there was nothing for Spike to do because of Velvet. Twilight sighed and trotted up the stairs until she reached the spare room door and knocked on it.

“Mister Night, Are you ok? If what Fluttershy said offended you, she said that she was sorry.” Twilight spoke quietly, as to listen for movement in the room.

“Come in.” The muffled voice of Velvet replied.

Twilight slowly opened the door, and the first thing she saw was a big lump under the beds cover, Velvet's head poking out and facing away from the door.

“I know where she was coming from Twilight.” Velvet spoke before Twilight could. “It’s just, the reason I gave you girls earlier wasn’t the only one, and no, I don’t want to talk about it.” velvet went silent after that. Twilight didn’t want to push the subject any further and went to close the door. Before she did, Velvet decided to speak again.

“And I’m also sorry about your old friend.” Velvet night spoke. Twilight waited for a moment but the necromancer stayed quiet, so she closed the door and went back to her room.

Twilight passed a snoring spike and smiled at the sleeping drake as she tucked herself into bed. Before she shut her eyes, Twilight looked at the ceiling with a sad expression and tears going down her cheeks.

“Why lyra…why?”

Chapter 3: Who do you think you are?

An older looking colt trotted through the wooden halls of his fathers mansion with a stack of books in his magic. He turned a corner and saw a double door entrance at the end of the hall, a single door open with a faint light emanating from inside. With a sigh, the colt trotted all the way down the hall and opened the door the rest of the way to find his younger brother, Velvet night, hard at work.

“You’re up late again?” The colt said with some annoyance. This made the young Velvet night jolt in surprise as he turned around to see his older brother standing in the doorway.

“I should be asking you that, and don’t scare me like that Astral!” An annoyed Velvet said.

Astral only giggled as he walked towards and sat with his brother, setting the books he had on a random table. The older colt looked over Velvet's shoulder to see detailed studies about medical and biological information.

“I see you’re studying again. You shouldn’t push yourself this hard you know?” Astral put his hoof around his younger brother as he gave him a concerned look.

“Well, If I want to get into one of the most prestigious Medical schools I can’t waste-” Velvet yawned as the bags under his eyes became more visible.”-any time.” Velvet explained with low blinking eyes.

“Heh, you aren’t getting into anything if you’re not awake for it.” Astral said sarcastically.

He then picked up the tired Velvet in his magic, despite his short lived complaints, and trotted all the way to Velvet's room. Once inside, Atral tucked his brother into bed and turned around to leave when his brother tiredly spoke up.

“When are you going to let me see those friends you always talked about?” Velvet slurred out. Astra stopped in place as his eyes widened a bit, before turning pained.

“I’m sorry Velvet, but I won't be able to let you see them. I’m….going away for a while.” Astral admitted with his eyes narrowed in guilt.

Velvet quickly sat up in his bed and faced his brother with a bewildered expression.

“What! No, you can leave me alone. Especially with him.” Velvet begged. Astral turned around and walked in front of velvet, putting his hoofs on his younger brother's shoulders.

“Again, I’m sorry. But I have no choice in the matter.” Astral tightly hugged his brother as he fought back tears. “You need to be strong for me while I'm gone. I know you can do it alright, promise me.” Astral said with total seriousness.

“I-I promise brother.” Velvet agreed after a long moment of silence.
Astral let go of his brother and gave Velvet a warm smile, which calmed the younger colt's nerves. The older brother quickly got back up and left the room, leaving Velvet to silently cry himself to sleep.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Don’t go!” Velvet yelled as he shot up in his bed with heavy breathing and sweat going down his face. Looking around, he calmed himself instantly realizing that he was still in the spare bedroom Twilight gave him.

Velvet laughed at himself and got out of bed. Walking over to the small bathroom his spare room had, Velvet took off his black vest and white dress shirt from yesterday and got to work cleaning himself. The hot water from the shower washed all of the sweat and grime from yesterday as he hummed a little tune to himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0_y0v28zyA

Once out of the shower, the now clean necromancer used his horn to cast a spell on himself that instantly dried his coat and mane. Velvet huffed in slight irritation when he noticed his mane was doing a good impression of the Pink mares and levitated a brush over to himself and began brushing.

“I haven't had a dream in decades, so why now?” Velvet thought with a grimace on his face. “And why about him…”

It had been years upon years since his brother's death. That night his brother left was the last time he saw Astral alive, and knowing of his affiliation with the deranged cult, it had to be them…he knew it. It took Velvet many years, but he had a position as a high ranking member of the dark moon legion. He even traded his mortality in order to get closer to the top ranks. No matter what it took, his life, his body, his sanity, No price was too high in order to get revenge for his brother.

A snapping sound brought the necromancer out of his thoughts as looked over to see the brush he had in his magical grip broken in two. Velvet did what he did best and laughed it off with a smile and threw the broken brush into a nearby bin, noticing his mane now smooth and long.

Velvet trotted back into the spare bedroom and was about to walk out the door, but stopped when he realized his glasses. Using his magic again, the round silver rimmed glasses appeared on his face, making Velvet apply his signature smile as he left the room. The necromancer immediately made his way to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast, and the others some too of course. Upon arriving, Velvet saw that spike wearing a white and pink apron and cooking pancakes and hay bacon on the stove.

The small drake noticed Velvet's imposing figure standing in the doorway and nearly fell off the stool he was standing on.

“Oh it’s just you, heh, ya scared me a bit there.” Spike said with a claw on his chest as he used his other claw to remove the skillet from the stove.

“Ponies often say I should be wearing a bell.” Velvet said with a giggle. He made his way to the table and sat on one of the chairs, waiting for Spike to serve breakfast. Spike placed a plate with three pancakes and a couple slices of hay bacon in front of Velvet.

“Thank you for the meal.” he said politely. “Say, young spike is Twilight up?” Velvet questioned, using his magic, held a slice of hay bacon as he ate it.

“Twilight is still in her room. I think what you said about lyra really messed her up.” Spike answered, a sad expression on his face while he cleaned up. “Do you think you can talk to her please?” Spike asked with a little desperation in his voice.

“I’ll do all I can young spike, don’t you worry.” Velvet gave a reassuring smile to the small drake which made Spike give a thankful look.

The necromancer continued to eat the rest of his morning meal, he found it to be delicious despite not being a fan of this type of food. He soon finished eating and set his empty plate in the sink and left the kitchen. Making his way up the stairs, Velvet soon reached Twilight's room and knocked on the door and put an ear up against it. There wasn’t any sound for a while, besides the quiet shuffle and sniffle from the other side, so Velvet decided to test to see if the door was locked. To his surprise, it was unlocked, so he slowly opened the door and made his way inside.

“Twilight darling, spike made breakfast and you should get some while it’s still warm.” Velvet spoke softly. The blanket covered Twilight didn’t respond, causing the necromancer to sign in mock irritation. “I know it’s hard to accept it, but your old friend is a crazy moon lover so I suggest getting over it.” Velvet rudely said, already getting tired of Twilight's mopiness.

“How dare you…” Twilight silently spoke underneath the blankets. Velvet didn’t hear her and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Can you say that again dear, I didn’t hear you.” Velvet said. Twilight suddenly threw the blankets off herself and glared at Velvet with the most hateful glare that almost made him lose his smile.

“HOW DARE YOU! I FIND OUT OF MY OLDEST FRIENDS IS A CULT FOLLOWER AND PRACTICES A TABOO MAGIC, AND YOU SAY TO JUST. GET OVER. IT!!” Twilight screeched at Velvet. She used her magic to throw a book, seemingly pulling from nowhere, and threw it at Velvet.
Unfortunately, he didn’t dodge it in time and it resulted in him hitting his face. Velvet fell to the ground and was dazed for a moment before he regained his vision, when he did, he noticed his glasses were missing. It didn’t take him long to find them as they were broken and shattered across the floor. Twilight saw this too and gasped in horror at what she had done.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be just-” Twilight immediately stopped talking upon seeing the absolute restraint Velvet had on his face. The look in his eyes suggested that he was trying to hold back from blowing up at the studious mare.

Twilight was about to apologize again when Velvet night sighed and held up a hoof to stop her. Then he used his magic to pick up the broken glasses and its pieces and, with a flash of dark purple light, they were fixed.

“It’s…fine Twilight.” Velvet said in a neutral tone. “I’m sorry for offending you. I’ll be going out for a walk.” The necromancer gave a little bow and left Twilight in her room.

Velvet night closed the door and went down the stairs and out the front door as quickly as he could, ignoring Spike on his way out. As he trotted down the dirt path, Velvet did not care for direction nor the fearful glances from the ponies around him. All he could think about was how Twilight broke his brother's glasses, the last thing he gave velvet before he died. He didn’t want to hate Twilight for something she didn’t know would happen, but at the same time a nagging voice at the back of his mind said overwise.

“She didn’t know, I shouldn’t hate her, I’m not that pony anymore.” Velvet repeated in his head, not knowing his speed increasing into a gallop.

No matter how much he repeated those phrases the negative voices only got louder and louder, taunting him with their horrible words. He was so deep into an internal struggle, that he slammed into somepony making them and himself fall to the ground.

“Ah, watch where you’re going, you ruffian!” A recognizable posh accent yelled out. Seeing who the voice belonged to, Velvet regained his smile, not out of interest, mostly to keep up his image.

“I’m sorry miss, I didn’t see you there.” Velvet apologized as he picked himself up from the ground. Rarity realized who it was and gave him a pleasant smile.

“Oh it’s you, Velvet night, is it.” Rarity asked, Velvet nodded in response.” Also just call me Rarity, miss makes me sound old.” The fashionista playfully rolled her eyes and she got up from the ground.

“I say, what are you doing out this early?” Velvet questioned.

“I was going to the post office to pick up some supplies I ordered from griffon stone, you’d be surprised how soft their silks are.” Rarity had a dreamy look in her eye as a hoof rested on her cheek.

“You’re a tailor?” Velvet asked with mild surprise.

“Close, but I’m actually a fashionista and a pretty good one at that.” The posh mare corrected, putting her hoof to her chest.

“Iff that’s so, do you mind if I come along?” Rarity was surprised by Velvet's request but the necromancer continued. The clothes I had yesterday were the only pair I had and I was wondering if you could make me some?” Velvet gave the fashionista a polite smile. Rarity had a unsure look about her, eyes shifting side to side, finally she sighed and gave the necromancer a small smile.

“I guess so, it wouldn’t hurt to design stallion clothing.” With that, Rarity and Velvet night trotted down the dirt path and turned a corner in time for Twilight to miss them.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minty breeze sighs as he walks down the crowded streets of Canterlot with a flustered look on his face.

Ever since his conversation with Cinnamon twist, she hadn’t stopped bringing up every chance she could, even almost mentioning it when his boss was nearby. Minty got away from her now and was on his way to meet with his family like he does every other vacation day.

Mintys mother was the only one left beside his older sister, whose father died of an illness they couldn’t afford to cure. His family wasn’t the wealthiest one in Canterlot but they made due with what they had. Before, Minty and his family lived in a two room house located in the slums and had to sleep in one of the rooms together.

Minty giggled to himself remembering the times he and his older sister would play pranks on their parents and fight who would get the best mattress. Now with him being a sudo- detective, and his older sister owning her own business of selling imported goods, Minty and his remaining family lived in the upper middle class with plenty of bits to spare.

Speaking of which, Minty breeze stopped in the front of an expensive looking two story home. Entering the front gate of the home, he walked past a beautiful looking garden his mother cared for herself. Minty knocked on the door three times and waited until it opened, revealing a elderly rosy red coated, blue haired pegasus mare with a happy smile on her face.

“Minty, honey, how good it is to see you! Come in, I made you some coffee and biscuits.” Mintys mother stepped out of the way to let Minty in, which he did. On the inside, this newer home wasn’t as nice as the upper class home, but compared to his old house it was a hundred times better.

It had 10 rooms in total, five on the first floor, five on the second floor. Most of those rooms were either the kitchen, bedrooms, guest rooms, there was even an indoor pool and greenhouse. The main room Minty entered was also lavish as well, cabinets holding china plates and painting decorated the sky blue walls. The couch that Minty sat on was made of a new developed brown material called pleather, a replacement since the ban on leather products.

“Thank you for the food mother, how have you been doing? '' Minty asked his mother while using his wing to eat a biscuit.

“I’m doing well.-” The elderly mare sat on the couch across from Minty. “I finally finished that window garden I was making.” Mintys mother gave him a proud little smile. “So minty dear, how are you doing this day and age?”

“Same ol’ same ol’, doing a little interrogations here, solving a murder there, the usual.” Minty said with a little giggle.

“You make that sound boring.” The elderly mare said, a cheeky smirk on her face.

“I guess you're right.” Minty looked into his half empty tea cup with a sad smile.” But there’s another reason I came here besides to talk…” The elderly mares ears perked up as she listened in silence. “There's this…pony…I interrogated a while ago, he isn’t that bad and is quite…charming. But for some reason I can’t get him out of my head and my co-worker says to write to him like some love sick school filly. I can’t anyway since there is an operation to bust a secret cult location and I'm going to be busy all week.”

Minty never really cared for anything relating to love before. Sure, he had a crush or two back in school like everypony else, but never a genuine desire for somepony. On top of that, he never believed to be gay himself, even thought the stallions at his work place looked kind nice. Velvet Night was the first time Minty ever “obsessed” over anypony despite only being with each other for a couple of hours.

whatever it was love at first sight, or Minty breeze was that desperate for that special somepony, it is driving him mad.

“I see your problem.” Mintys mother giggled, causing Minty to look from his tea cup.” I was like that when I first met you father. I bumped into him while getting supplies for my floral shop and the moment I laid my eyes on him, I fell for him.” The mare took a sip from her cup with a longing smile.” Obviously he didn’t feel the same way, but I found and got in touch with him, we talked, went to places with each other, and soon we started to date. The rest is history.”
“Not to sound rude, mother, but what does this have to do with my problem?” Minty asked.

“Look Minty dear, I don't care that much if you love stallions, mares, or both. The fact of the matter is that you shouldn’t worry yourself over this.” Minty’s confused reaction allowed the mare to continue.” Did he seem fond of you when he first met you?”

“Well he did compliment me at first and throughout the interrogation, he didn’t stop giving me…the look.” Minty looked away with some blush on his face.

“Then it makes things easier. You can write to him if you want or meet up in pony, the fact that he is interested in you makes those options possible.” Mintys mother revealed. Mintys eyes widened in realization.” As a word of advice, If he tries to go 3rd base without you two going on a date, then run as far as ya can.” The elderly mare laughed.

Minty heavily blushed, knowing what his mother meant. She did have a point though, stallions do have a tendency to one night stand a pony then never see them again. But Velvet night was different, he seemed to be the charming mysterious type, not the arrogant jackass that would abandon Minty.

“I should send at least one letter right. What’s the harm of that?” Minty said with a confident smile.

“That’s the spirit dear. Now, tell me more about this stallion you’ve met.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I turned around in a circle, looking at myself in the mirror as I examined my new clothing.

It was more akin to a suit one would wear to the grand galloping gala or a wedding. There was the typical white dress shirt with golden fetlock cufflinks, the suit itself was made of a rich black wool Rarity got with the silk that came from griffon stone.

“I have to say Rarity, you are a master at your craft. This is the best suit I’ve worn in a long time.” I turned myself around to face the satisfied fashionista with a happy smile.

“Oh you’re too kind” Rarity looked away waving a hoof in a flattered manner.

“So how much do I pay you?” This caused Rarity to face me again with a surprised expression. “ I don’t have a lot of bits on me right now but I'll pay you later.” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

“You don’t have to worry about Velvet, even if I didn’t consider you a friend, every first order a pony request is free of charge.” Rarity gave a polite smile as she used her magic to put away her supplies.

While it was quite generous of her to give me these garments for free, I was more confused than surprised. Although that policy was a genius idea to get customers in, she loses a huge amount of bits over time with said policy. I decided to let it go as I was about to head to the front door, when it suddenly swung open, nearly breaking the wall.

“Rarity! Have you seen Velvet?! I’ve been-” The frantic Twilight screamed, stopping mid way upon seeing my form. To be completely honest, she looked like a mess. Her eyes looked slightly red and puffy, her mane was unkempt and all over the place, and she was sweating like a pig in the middle of the desert

“Um… Twilight darling..”

“Um… Twilight darling..” both Rarity and I said at the same time.

Twilight stayed quiet as she practically teleported into me without using magic, sending me stumbling back as she held me in a bear hug. The frantic mare smothered me with apologies over this morning's incident to which I awkwardly patted her head, giving Rarity a pleading look.

“Twilight dear, what’s got you troubled?” Rarity asked with concern clear in her voice. Twilight finally got off me, tear stains now ruining my brand new suit.

“I-I hurt Velvet even though I didn’t mean to. I was m-mad because of what he told me yesterday night and I threw a book at him and I broke his glasses.” Twilight sniffled while wiping tears from her eyes.

“Twilight sparkles.” The crying mare turned to me with a fearful look. “ While it was uncalled for to throw something at me, I understand your pain. Nothing hurts more than a close friend betraying you, I should know because lyra did the same.” Twilight's eyes widened in shock when I finished speaking.

‘W-what happened?” Twilight simply asked.

“Nopony in the Dark moon legion actually knows I’m betraying them…besides lyra. Knowing Lyra and her big mouth, she probably told a couple of low rank members already.” Twilight and Rarity gasped. “So on top of getting info out of her, I need to see to it that she is…silenced.” At that, Twilight's eyes grew even wider.

“Wait…you don’t mean…kill her?” She said slowly. I nodded slowly, which caused her to have a mixture of anger, fear, and disturbance on her face.” Y-You're joking right? Killing her won’t solve anything. You don’t even need to go that far!” Twilight yelled.

“One thing I’ve learned in the Dark moon legion, when a member goes behind your back, you make them disappear to prevent any problem.” I tried to reason, but the coldness of my voice disturbed me for some reason.
“But that's insane Velvet!” Rarity spoke up. “ Like Twilight said, there isn’t any reason to go that far. The right thing to do is hoof her over to the guard once she’s caught.” The fashionista said.

I was about to start arguing with her when the front door to the boutique busted open. In came a short stature stallion cladded in black leather armor covered with steel plates. He had a high shirt collar and, for some reason, a top hat hiding all of his face except his eyes, which were rich golden color with no pupils.

“Might I ask why you rudely barged in here. Depending on your answer I might not break every bone in your body.” I threatened in a low tone, giving the intruder an irritated smile.

The arrogant cunt only pulled out the claymore and pointed at me and ,without saying a word, dashed straight towards me. I practically scoffed as I turned around, reeled my back leg, and bucked him head on, sending the stallion flying through the boutique wall. The only reason Rarity was screaming my head off was because she and Twilight were still recovering from the initial shock.

I quickly moved and stepped out the shop through the stallion shaped hole in the wall to find its creator lying on the ground. That didn’t last long before he jumped up and landed on the ground perfectly, picking his claymore in the same deep golden colored magic.

“For the crimes of betraying the legion, upper rank Velvet night, I shall have your head.” The stallion said in a hoarse, monotone voice with a hint of anger.

From then on, the gears of fate started to turn.

Chapter 4: sins of the father

As the two necromancers stood off, Rarity and Twilight looked on in shock at the display of strength by Velvet. Twilight shook herself out of her stupor and rusted forward to help Velvet when he held up a hoof.

“I suggest you don’t get involved, just one look at this freak tells me he is out of your league.” Velvet warned.

“That rich coming from the likes of you. The mysterious necromance laughed. “Hypocritical of you to be calling me a freak. If I told those mares I knew the thing you’ve done, they would die from fear before I even got half way.” The mysterious necromancer pointed his sword towards Twilight and Rarity with a sneer.

“Lucky you won’t be around to say it!” Velvet roared, his eyes rolled back into his head as his jaw unhinged and black smoke began to spew from it. The necromancer wasn’t expecting it as he tried to back away but the smoke covered the area around him faster than he could run.

The smoke was suffocating, the necromancer could hardly breath. If he didn’t have his shirt collar the way it was, he would’ve died seconds ago.

“Now, I’ll say aging-” Velvet's voice somehow echoed around the necromancer. “What is your name?”

“My name-*cough*-is Arctic specter!” Arctic yelled the best he could into the smoke. “Now come out and face me, coward!” Arctic swung his sword in a random direction hoping to hit something.

When the higher ups had a request to off somepony in a small town named ponyville, he never imagined it to be HIM. Sure, he had good fighting skills and was the strongest in his rank, but going up against the devil of the dead was considered to be suicide at Artics level. Suddenly, Two hooves came out the smoke and bucked Arctic in the head, sending him flying towards the town itself. Unfortunately his landing wasn’t the stand selling pillows, Instead, it was the market stand selling cactuses and other pointy plants. Ponies in the marketplace were surprised and frightened and started to run in all directions away from the ruined stand as Velvet teleported in front of said stand

“You’ve got the gall to barge in uninvited, nearly hurting my new friends, making me ruin one of my friends' buildings, AND ruining my new suit!” Velvet angrily yelled at Arctic as he pulled on the dirty suit for emphasis.

“BLOOD RED MOON!” A giant blast of red energy blasted out of the ruined stand, nearly hitting velvet as he teleported back just in time. Arctic got out of the wreckage with his top hat missing now. His fur color was a icy blue, snow white mane, and a sharp horn like Velvets but with colors matching the young stallion.

“You got spunk, colt.” Velvet got back into a proper posture and gave Arctic a sly smirk.” I’m feeling nice today, so I’ll let you go right now if you surrender-” Velvets horn lit up a sinister purple as his smirk turned into a sadistic grin.”Or i’ll kill you.”

Arctic replies by swinging his sword with surprising speed and hitting Velvet as he backs away, a clean gash appearing on cheek. The young necromance wasted no time and dash forward, ready to pierce Velvet but missed when he dogged to the side. Arctic blocked as Velvet raised a hoof and punched him into some food stalls. AArtic grabbed some of the smashed food and threw it at the older necromancer, causing him to once again dodge.

Velvet's eyes widened when Artic appeared to his side and blasted the same attack earlier, barely able to block it in time as he took a direct hit. The older necromancer went flying and crashed through several buildings before slamming into a sugar cube corner, making a small crater in the wall.

“I guess everypony was exaggerating a little too much.” Arctic smirked to himself as he sheathed his claymore. He turned around to leave when his ears picked up something in the distance.

“Death symphony!” Arctic was confused for a moment before his eyes went wide in horror at whose voice it was. From the direction he sent Velvet flying, a group of purple translucent pony skulls flew towards Artic at high speeds, a terrifying shriek coming from them.

Arctic was caught off guard as he tried to grab his sword in his magic. The skulls reached him before he could and impacted into him with tremendous force, breaking a couple of ribs in the process. The young necromancer fell back in pain as he felt Velvet vile magic run through his veins, the feeling of his muscles and skin withering as it did.

“W-What the Tarturas!” Arctic screamed in shock, not noticing how hoarse and rough his voice sounded. The magic disappeared and it allowed him to stand up.

He tried to stand back up but between his broken ribs and an aching pain in his back and hips made that action agonizingly slow and painful.

“Aww is grandpa trying to tough?” A voice cooed in a mocking way. “As a doctor, I don’t recommend physically pushing yourself and getting plenty of rest once you’re dead.” Arctic looked up to see Velvet standing over him, burnt and damaged flesh slowly regenerating, his horn glowing brightly.

“H-How?” Arctic eye’s widen even more upon hearing his aged voice. He noticed Velvet holding a mirror in his magic and looking into it, Arctic couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His once smooth, clean skin was now wrinkly and dried. Arctic's horrified eyes were sunken in and his hair looked to be falling out.

“Don’t worry, gramps, I won't kill you…” A now fully healed Velvet mocking cooed again. “I’ll just put you in cold storage until I’m ready to play with you~” He put a hoof to his chin with an almost lustful gaze.

Arctics face contorted in a look of pure anger has his horn let out a bright flash blinding Velvet in the process. The older necromance rubbed his eyes but was sent flying back again when Artic kicked him with surprising strength. Velvet slammed his hooves into the ground stopping himself and was able to see again after blinking a couple times.

“BLOOD RED MOON!” Arctic appeared beside Velvet and blasted the red beam. Velvet dodged this time and returned the attack with some basic magic shots, to which Arctic blocked with his sword.

Throughout the whole town, buildings were damaged or outright destroyed in the ensuing battle. Ponies that got caught in the crossfire received injuries from minor cuts and scratches, to broken or missing limbs despite Velvet attempts to keep others safe. Finally, Velvet had enough and charged all the strength he had into his back legs and bucked, the now middle aged, Arctic above town hall. Jumping after him, Velvet used his momentum to slam his front hooves Arctic and send him crashing through the roof of town hall, hitting each floor all the way down.

The pair quickly reached the bottom floor, their impact demolishing the wooden surface and kicking up huge dust clouds. Due to the lack of ponies in the building, the air was still and silent for the longest time before a battered and broken Velvet crawled out of the mini crater.

“Dear Celestia, that’s going to take a second to heal” Velvet hissed in pain as his broken limbs slowly healed. As he laid on the ruined wooden floor, Velvet felt strangely calm for somepony who sent himself falling through multiple floors.

‘Brother…how long has it been…how long must I keep going like this until I get my revenge?’ Velvet thought to himself.

He thought about the multiple decades he has been alive, the multiple decades of needless bloodshed. It would have been a simpler time if his brother hadn’t joined the dark moon legion. His brother would become a loving father someday, Velvet would be able to properly pursue his dream of being a true doctor, and maybe his father would be proud of them.

Tears ran down the left side of Velvet's face as he thought of the ‘what if’s’ in his head. He was only brought out of his depressing thinking to the sound of something grunting. Looking up from his lying position, Velvet was surprised to see Arctic crawling out of the crater as well, looking far worse then what Velvet looked like before. Velvet gained his sadistic smile once again as he finished healing and stood up, walking slowly towards the broken necromancer while chuckling.

“I must say, I haven’t had that much fun in a while~” Arctic noticed Velvet standing over him. With disbelieving expression, he pathetically threw any tiny pebbles and wood chips around him in a vain attempt to attack. Velvet just gave a mocking scoff and pressed a hoof down onto one of Arctic broken legs, his screams of pain filling the room.

“Now you can tell me what I want to know or I'll kill you, simple as that.” Velvet said darkly. Instead of immediately responding, Arctic spat at Velvet, hitting in the chest.

“S-Screw y-y-you.” Arctic sneered. Velvet rolled his eyes in annoyance as he charged up his horn and stabbed it into the side of the broken necromancer, then removing it. Soon, a searing pain filled throughout Arctic’s body, causing him to rive in pain with his screams echoing out once more.

“I call this little trick sentient infection.” Velvet began, sounding like a teacher lecturing his students. “Ironically enough it’s not actually sentient unless I’m powering, but that's besides the point. The point is, think of it as a million tiny magic bugs crawling around inside your blood vessels. I can make them heat up, cool down, heal you, or tear you from the inside out.”

“Right now, they are at the point of causing you heat stroke, and the symptoms are showing.” Velvet looked over Arctic's body, his fur and skin shined with a cold sweat, he had an unfocused look in his eyes, and could feel the heat coming off him. “So you can either die of heat stroke or simply tell me what I want to know.” Velvet explained with a hoof raised to his side.

For a while, the Arctic didn’t respond. It got to the point where Velvet thought that his spell already killed him. But after all that waiting, Arctic nodded weakly and Velvet smiled as he dissipated the spell.

Arctic eyes widened as he sucked in a deep, refreshing breath of air. He laid there in silence yet again, taking in breaths as the sweat of his body did the best of cooling him off.

“Now, who was it that sent you after me?” Velvet angrily asked.

“It…It was the council.” Arctics answered in a raspy and dried voice.

“Not what I meant…” Velvet's horn faintly glowed, to which Arctic flinched. “I mean, who sent in the request?” Velvet demanded this time, his horn glowing a little more brightly.

“It was…” Arctic was about to answer when his eyes rolled back and back arched, letting out silent screams as blood flowed out of his eyes. Velvet sighed in exhaustion and total irritation as he used his magic to levitated the suffering stallion in the air.

“Honestly I should have seen this coming.” The magic around Arctic glowed brightly for a moment before going dim, the stallion going unconscious with his chest slowly rising and falling.

Velvet levitated Arctic onto his back as he left the building where a crowd of ponies were waiting. The elements came dashing out of the crowd and ran up to him with concern on their faces as applejack spoke up.

“Mr. Night, are ya ok? Twi told us what happened.” Applejack noticed the unconscious stallion on Velvet's back and gave him a glare.” Is that the varmin that’s been causin’ all this trouble?” She asked with a sneer.

“Indeed he is my dear farmer, but he isn’t a problem for the moment. I’m going to get him to a hospital and treat him myself whether or not they allow it. ”Velvet looked over to twilight with a soft smile. “Twilight my dear, would you be so kind as to write to the princess for me?” The studious mare nodded, Velvet giggled at her awkwardness as he walked off.

“I’ll follow him to make sure he isn’t doing anything…weird.” Rainbow dash whispered to her friend, rocketing off into the sky quickly after

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Damn, that brat is stronger than I realized.” An old, gruff sounding voice angrily said to himself.

He stood up from a fancy looking stone chair as he trotted over to a metal railing. On the over side was a large rounded area, candles and bonfires lit the area as hooded ponies drew a complicated summoning circle onto the floor with white chalk.

“I need him out of the way before the time comes for him to rise.” The stallion put his front hoofs on the railing as he looked down at the working ponies. “I will not have another accident.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a chilly night at the docks of manehattan as Minty breeze sat not too far away from a sizable crowd of lunar guards. It was the night of the bust and to say everypony was nervous would be an understatement. Minty was the worst off of the bunch, he had never been a fighter in his life and being in the middle of a potential fighting zone terrified him.

The feeling of somepony wrapping their hoof around him caused him to jump and yelp in fright. Looking over, it was Commander Rocky road, who had a cheeky grin on his face.

“DON’T DO THAT SIR, YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!” Minty angrily yelled, giving his best angry pout that only made Rocky laugh.

“Sorry Mr. Breeze, I saw an opportunity and took it. Besides, you have nothing to worry about.” Rocky said with a confident smile.

Seeing the usually stoic Rocky road smiling was kinda weird for Minty, but not as unusual as the solar commander leading an operation with the lunar guard. The Lunar guard Commander came down with a sickness not too long ago, so Celestia put Rocky in charge for the time being ,much to his already messed up sleep schedule.

“You say that, but you're not the one who has to interrogate the scary necromancer after words.” Minty weary argued, to which Rocky only laughed again.

“Cheer up Minty, I’ve always believed in you to be strong in these types of situations. Like that other Necromancer you talked to, we got a lot outta him because of you.” Rocky road smiled as he lightly punched Minty’s elbow with a hoof.

Minty gave a small smile at Rocky road confidence. He has been with Rocky for a long time now, ever since Minty started working as a royal interrogator/ detective. Since then, the solar Commander has been something of an older brother figure to Minty, always there to pick him up or give advice when needed.

Rocky road got up and walked through the crowd of lunar soldiers until he stopped at the edge of the hill that was overlooking a brick warehouse. Minty joined by his side as 3 lunar guards flew in up to them, their powerful leathery wings blowing back Mintys mane a little.

“I want a status report, are there any traps or unseen sentries we should know about.” Rocky asked, now with his usual stoic expression and tone.

“Nothing from what we saw sir. The other scouting groups said the same thing, no traps or look outs.” The bat pony reported a slight grimace appearing on his face.

“It sounds suspicious alright.” He turned around to face his stallions as he raised a hoof to the sky. “Gentle colts, we will process as planned but with extreme caution, do you understand?” Rocky ordered, the crowd all saluted and responded with ‘yes sir!’ as they all started to move in.

Minty watched Rocky lead the lunar guards to the warehouse with extreme concern. Cinnamon twist, now in a trench coat matching her fur color, sat beside Minty with a cocky smile.

“Don’t worry Breezy, Like Big and brooding said, you're one tough cookie and got nothing to fear.” Cinnamon said while patting Mintys back.

Minty only responded with silence as he stared at the night sky. He didn’t know how long he sat there, minutes, hours, he didn’t know until he felt Cinnamon frantically shaking him. Minty snapped out of his thoughts and the first thing he noticed was the warehouse that was currently going up in flames. Minty’s eyes widened in horror, not even noticing Cinnamon shouting at him as he got up and ran towards the blazing inferno.

Once there, Lunar guards and hooded ponies fought each other, swords and spear clashing, magic bolts flying through the air, and pegasi falling out of the sky. Minty ignored it all as he spotted Rocky dash into the blazing warehouse, followed by another hooded figure.

Minty ignored his fear and ran as fast as his leg would let him. He busted past the broken doors to see Rocky road looking around, not noticing the hooded figure about to stab him with a dagger. The sudo-detective steeled his nerves and ran full force into the hooded pony, sending him crashing into a pile of crates, the sudden noise getting Rocky’s attention.

“Minty, what in Tartarus are you doing here?” A bewildered Rocky asked.

“I saw…this place burning up…got worried…saved you” Minty said between heavy breaths, a hoof pointing at the knocked out hooded figure that tried to attack him. “I should be asking you that question too.” he said with a worried look.

“When me and the lunar guard got here, the place suddenly exploded and these necromancers started to rush out, blades swinging. Right now I’m looking for the fire alarm so I can activate the sprinklers.” Rocky said, pointing to said fire switch that was blocked by rubble and fire.

Minty started to formulate a plan in his head, it was the least he could do. A couple of moments later a bulb went off in Mintys head.

“I got a plan.” He said with a determined expression. He expanded his wings and took off towards the fire switch, shocking Rocky, but not for that reason.

“MINTY WATCH OUT!” Rocky yelled with panic heavy in his voice. Minty looked back for a second before a spear was thrown by a trapped legion member stabbed through his wing, causing him to crash land in a clear admiss of destruction.

Rocky rushed through the rubble, dodging falling scaffolding and metal, until he fortunately arrived at Minty.

“S-Sir, you’ve got to throw me to the switch.” Minty weakly said.

“Are you insane, in your condition, I can’t just throw you!” Rocky road yelled in disbelief. He looked around for a way out until Minty’s hoof rested on his chest.

“I’m fine, like you said, I’m strong when times get tough.” Minty stood up, grunting in pain from his injured wind that hung limply at his side. “NOW THROW ME!” Minty screamed.

Rocky road wanted to argue, but at this rate they’d both be crushed if he didn’t do something. So gritting his teeth, He picked up Minty in his right foreleg and twirled around at fast pace, letting go at the right moment sending the injured pegasus ‘flying’.

Minty landed near the switch with a thud and pained grunt. It took a minute for the spinning vision to stop, but Minty got back up and limped to the fire switch. Suddenly, the roof above him started to collapse, Rocky road noticed this and started to rush for Minty, who didn’t hear his cries through the consistent ringing.

Eventually, Minty reached the fire switch and pulled it down with his one good wing and collapsed to the floor. Alarms blared as water sprayed from the ceiling and putting the fires out. Unfortunately, the rubble above gave way and fell, inching closer and closer to Minty. The last thing he saw before passing out was the figure of a stallion covering him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a long afternoon for velvet night. He sat in a nearby chair next to the operating room and he helped save ponies lifes, including the necromancers. Surprisingly, after a bit of yelling and a couple of light threats, Velvet was allowed to assist in operating as a surgeon after Twilight confirmed his abilities as a stallion of medicine.

Or maybe it was because the hospital was under staffed due to the destruction he and Arctic caused. Whatever it was, Velvet didn’t find any excuse that would make his guilt disappear. He tried his hardest to keep others away from the destruction, but in the end it was for not.

“Brother, I could use your advice right about now” Velvet said under his breath, a sad smile plastered on his face. The halfway door to the operating room was opened by Twilight, who quickly spotted Velvet and walked up to him with a happy grin.

“How are you doing Velvet?” She asked, a faint look of nervousness in her eyes. Velvet noticed this and giggled at her, which Twilight flinched at. “What’s so funny?” A flustered Twilight demanded.

“Oh nothing-” Velvet looked down at his hoof, which was covered in mostly dried blood.”-I think the look of blood doesn’t suit me either. Certainly doesn’t feel like it.” Velvet grimaced in disgust.

“S-Sorry.” Twilight sighed in embarrassment. “Let's go back to my place and you can get cleaned up there.” she offered.

Velvet only nodded with a neutral expression. Twilight was slightly off put by his less cheery attitude, it reminded her of the time pinkie got the same way, but just chalked it up to him being tired.

“Well, when you’re ready to leave, I’ll be waiting outside.” Twilight said, quickly leaving the hallway to give Velvet room.

‘I’m not disgusted with the blood, I'm disgusted with myself.’ Velvet thought as he slowly made his way out of the hallway to clean up in the bathroom.

Chapter 5: 1 step forward, 20 steps back

“Velvet…Velvet…wake up.” A soft voice sofly called.

“Astral…Is that you?” Velvet mumbled. He opened his eyes not to find his dead brother, but Twilight with a confused face.

“Um…who’s that?” Twilight raised an eyebrow waiting for Velvet to answer. He didn’t respond and sat up in his bed, rubbed his face with his hooves, smoothed his messy hair, and gave Twilight a smile.

“No one dear.” Velvet got up and made his way to the bathroom, followed by Twilight. ”Now why would you wake me up this early?” Velvet asked with some irritation in his voice, noticing the sun that barely rose above the horizon.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight gave a sheepish smile and awkward giggle. “But we got a lot to do today.” She answered with a determined look.

Velvet raised an eyebrow at this and put down his replacement brush back onto the counter.

“Pray tell, what does this day have in store for us?” Velvet asked with mild interest. Just then, the small purple and green drake walked into Velvet's view, in his had a sizable rolled up parchment that Spike could barely hold.

“Well today we are going shopping for my usual supplies, helping rarity get new sewing supplies, weekend chores, etc.” Twilight listed off.

Now Velvet prided himself in being a hard working stallion. He could take on any task that came his way. But between the list and what few things his landlord listed off, this would be his biggest challenge yet. With a sigh, Velvet used his magic to teleport his round glasses, his white dress shirt, and dark red vest onto himself.

“Sounds like a WONDERFUL time darling, but can you do me a favor…” Velvet asked. Twilight gave him a confused look, signaling him to continue. “I need to write to a…friend of mine. Not legion affiliated of course.”

“If that’s it then I’ll allow it. Only if you allow me to read it before you send it out?” Twilight said, flashing him a serious look.

“Of course dear, we are friends after all, friends don’t lie.” Velvet said with a smile. Twilight was happy with this answer as she took the list from a spike in her magic and trotted out of Velvet's room. The small drake gave the necromancer an awkward look as he ran out of the room.

“I swear…” Velvet sighed as he went after the studious mare.

It wasn’t long before the trio made their way through the streets of ponyville. As they went from stand to stand in the marketplace, Velvet was met with mixed reception. Some gave him fearful and even hateful glares at him when they thought he wasn’t looking. One pony even tried to speak their less than filly appropriate thoughts to Velvet but was shut down when their friend dragged them away.

Surprisingly, those incidents were out-shined by the praises of gratitude and thankfulness for defeating a necromancer and helping with the recovery. Some of the stand owners even gave discounts because a relative or loved one was saved because of Velvet. The overwhelming positive feedback overwhelmed Velvet, to the point where he had to sit on a nearby bench to take a break from keeping his kind smile.

“I don't know what will give me first. The intense shopping or these consistent compliments.” Velvet huffed out. Spike patted his back as Twilight gave him a worried look.

“You never got this much attention…have you?” Twilight smiled a bit at Velvet's state, not in a bad way of course, as he looked over at her.

“When you’re a necromancer, any attention you get isn’t goo-” Velvet was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a solar pegasus guard landing in front of them. On his backside was a set of saddlebags but the guard said nothing as he used his wing to dig in the bag. The guard then pulled out a regular letter with the royal seal on it.

“Request from the princess to a Velvet night.” He said, hoofing the letter to spike and flying off.

“That was weird, wonder what it- HEY!” Spike yelped in surprise when the letter was snatched out of his claws by Velvets magic.

“You shouldn’t be snooping in other ponies' mail.” Velvet said with a huff.

He opened the letter in his magic and started to read it. As it went on, his pleasant smile turned into neutral, then into minor shock, and finally a look that made Twilight and spike spines shiver. To any normal pony, it would seem his expression would be one of indifference if it weren't’ for the look of absolute rage in his gaze.

“Um…Velvet dude…are you ok?” Spike warily asked, jumping back when velvet's angered gaze looked at him.

“I must go.” Velvet's voice was one of complete neutrality. Twilight wanted to ask what was wrong , but Velvet's horn shined brightly as he disappeared in a flash of purple light. Once Spike and Twilights eyes stopped blurring, they looked at each other with concerned looks.

Spike noticed the letter Velvet left on the floor and picked it up to read. Once he quickly skimmed through it, one thing caught his eye.
“Um Twilight…do you know who ‘Minty Breeze is?”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia felt awful for doing this. After the operation in manehattan, several high ranking Necromancers were brought into custody by Rocky road. This should have been great news to the solar diarch, but after hearing what happened with Minty, she couldn’t help but feel bad for the Commander.

Celestia already knew about Rocky and Minty’s brother-like relationship. So she put the heavily injured pegasus into the medical section of the castle so he could recover, he had yet to wake up still.

Ever since, Rocky had been late to work, mostly spending his nights staying by Minty’s bedside. Celestia excused these absences so far, but somepony had to interrogate their prisoners.

Then Celestia had an idea, some of the captured necromancers mentioned a certain Velvet night during battle, according to some reports. They spoke of him as somepony to be feared rather than respected like some boogey mare. If she could get Velvet to visit and question the prisoners, then it would serve as…encouragement…for them to talk.

There was one problem though.

Velvet night didn’t seem like the type to bother himself with this type of ‘activity’. Then another, terrible, thought came to Celestia. The day Velvet was interrogated by Minty breeze, the pegasus gave reports and detail about their conversation as usual.

What struck out as odd to her was how Minty behaved when mentioning certain comments or remarks Velvet made towards him. Minty would act more reserved than usual, and would constantly mumble during these parts. She wasn’t sure, but Celestia had a theory that Velvet took some interest in Minty, so if she mentioned him in the letter she sent to Velvet, he would show up.

Suddenly, there was a flash of purple light and the Stallion of the hour appeared, a disturbing expression on his face. He Immediately faced the solar diarch. It may have been an unusual ,or even cruel, way to convince Velvet this way, but crucial to have him here.

“Take me to the colt of a bitch.” Velvet ‘calmly’ demanded. Instead of greeting, Celestia sighed and stood up to walk out of the throne room followed by Velvet himself.

As they made their way down the marble halls, Celestia decided to inform her guest.

“As stated in the letter, We believe that the pony I’m taking you too was the ringleader of the group Commander Rocky road captured. She spoke of you… saying that you’ll punish them if they didn’t complete their mission.” Celestia said with some curiosity in her voice.

“Was an overseer before you captured me.” Velvet simply replied.

There was an awkward silence between the two as they finally reached the dungeon entrance. Passing through the iron and wooden doors, both went down a couple flights of stone stairs and reached the lowest containment zone. Rounding a few more corners Celestia stopped in front of a heavily armored door and turned to face Velvet.

“In here is the ringleader. I know how you must feel right now, but you must not cause any injury that results in death. Do you understand?” Celestia gave the necromancer a serious look.

Velvet only nodded in agreement. Celestia used her magic to open the door and let Velvet inside, giving him a list of questions before he entered. Once he was in, she teleported to a nearby room that watched over the interrogation room, only being separated by a one sided mirror.

The ring leader in question was a healthy unicorn mare, yellow fur and gray mane, and a cutie mark depicting a wrench lying on a book. Upon seeing the enraged Velvet, her eyes widened and her hooves started to shake.

“M-Mr. Night…w-what are y-y-you doing here? Don’t tell me they got you to!” The mare jumped back when Velvet slammed his front hooves onto the table, denting it a little.

“I suggest you keep your mouth shut.” The mare's mouth did just that. “And no, I didn’t get captured by them…I betrayed you.” Velvet said, putting emphasis on the betrayed part. The mare looked to become more bewildered, then she started to laugh in a joking way.

“I-I didn’t know you were such a jokest-” She was cut off when dark purple magic clamped her mouth closed.

“Didn’t I tell you to sit quietly?” Velvet questioned, anger evident in his tone.

The mare’s shaking was more apparent now as tears started to come out. The dark purple magic dissipated as Velvet stabbed her foreleg with his horn, causing the mare to yelp in pain. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, the mare started to scream in pain as she clutched the stabbed foreleg close to her.

Celestia was horrified to see, from what she could, that the mare's foreleg was starting to become a sickly green, losing fur, and the skin started to sink in.

“W-WHAT IS THIS?!” The mare screamed in agony.
Celestia charged her horn to teleport in to stop Velvet, but when she did, the spell didn’t work for whatever reason. So instead, she ordered guards to open the door to the interrogation room but they found out it was nearly impossible to open due to the purple hue keeping it locked.

“What your foreleg is going through is called decomposition.” Velvet explained.

“W-what?” The mare asked through her pained grunts.

“I’ll put it in a way your simple mind can understand. My special magical ability, infection, is able to enter a pony’s bloodstream to the point where I can manipulate it. But, if I put just a little more magic into it, I can go further. Your nervous system, brainstem, other organs, bone marrow, etc, and I can do whatever I want to you.” Velvet pointed to the mare's foreleg as he continued.

“What my spell is doing right now, is recreating the process of decomposition by replicating certain enzymes and bacteria found in said process. There are other factors but I don’t want to explain it all.” Velvet rolled his eyes before grabbing the mare rotting arm in his magic and pressing it hard onto the table. “What is going on with your limb, can happen to your entire body. I can also increase or decrease the time it takes for your cells to decompose.” he leaned in closer to the mare, her trying in vain to back away while locked to the chair. “And I can make it as slow as possible so you get to feel every. Single. Cell. die. So you better start talking.” He darkly said.

“OK OK I’LL TALK, JUST MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!” The mare cried out. Velvet hesitated for a moment before his horn flashed and the mare's foreleg was back to normal.

Velvet sat back into an empty metal chair as he started shooting off questions. Most of them were met with ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I can’t say’ and there every little she did answer. From what the mare could answer, she was ordered to set up a ritualistic sacrifice to ‘The great one’, the name made Velvet rolled his at the blandness of it.

All in all, it was a huge waste of time and Velvet was left with nothing but a shitty name and minor details. He opened the door to see Celestia and guards standing on the other side, The solar diarch having a disappointed frown.

“Can I talk with you for a second, Velvet?” Celestia asked. Velvet walked out, but stopped instantly when he heard the mare whisper something to herself.

“Those impure ones deserve to die, I was doing them a favor.” The mare bitterly said under her breath.

Velvet's vision went red as his horn charged up, a powerful blast of energy came out and hit the mare in the face. She fell over with a scream as he pounced on her. Again and again, he smashed his hooves into her face, bones broke, cuts opened, and screams of pain were overshadowed by ones of anger. The mare's face became nothing more than a small pile of brain matter, flesh, and bones, but he didn’t stop there. He kept at it to the point the concrete broke and his own hooves were starting to break.

“Velvet…Velvet”

Tears ran down the side of his face. How DARE she say things like that, how Dare she take away somepony he actually cared about. Even if he didn’t know the stallion well, he was going to change that before SHE showed up!

“Velvet…Velvet!”

Velvet jumped a little in surprise, looking over to see Celestia looking at him with concern. He turned around to see the door to the interrogation room already closed.

“Are you okay?” Celestia softly asked.

“Yeah…” Velvet looked down with an empty look.”...Just fine.” Velvet turned and walked off, only to be stopped by Celestia.

“You need to tell me why you acted that way.” Celestia asked sternly.

“...I was in a bad mood.” Velvet answered with a dry tone without facing Celestia. Then he continued his walk and soon disappeared into the dimly lit hall.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was pretty unfortunate to find out I wouldn’t be able to fly again. The spear that pierced my wing hitted just in the right spot separating the tendons and nerves. I’m not really bothered though, never used my wings much, at least not to the point I’m not depressed right now.

“Just my luck, huh? Heh, mother always said I was an earth pony at heart.” Minty I joked to myself. I wasn’t the one to get sad often, anything unfortunate that happened to me I just laughed off, too bad this time I couldn’t laugh it off.

The door to my room opened to what I expected to be Rocky road. He’d been coming around all sad and moopy about and no matter how much I try, he won’t cheer up.

To my surprise, it was that necromancer…IT WAS THAT NECROMANCER!!!

My heart started to race from anxiety, face redden from embarrassment, and eyes scanning over his tall and luscious bo-

‘This is not time for that brain!!!’ I internally yelled. During my panic, the necromancer…Velvet…had took the usual spot that Rocky sat, a seat next to my bed, and was looking down at me with a small smile.

“U-u-um h-hi M-Mr. V-Velvet!” I loudly stuttered out. Velvet only giggled, adorably, at my embarrassing star.

“I know…It’s a shame we have to meet like this.” Velvet's voice sounded happy, and even…sad? I stopped my awkward rambling and looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Are you ok Mr. Velvet? You seem a little sad.” I asked. It might be weird to say this, but the lowered ears and somber look on his face hurt me on the inside. “I-I’m sorry if I said something wrong!” I frantically said, hooves raised to my side in a defensive manner.

“No…No it’s fine. I’m just-” Velvet put a hoof on Minty’s bedside and looked away. “-Tired.”

In situations like this I would have no trouble. But those types of situations were with foals or fillies, not handsome immortal necromancers. His mannerisms and tone worried me, I can’t help but feel like he’s not tired in an exhausted sense.

“I probably have the right to ask this…but…you can tell me what's wrong.” I offered with a comforting smile. Velvet turned his gaze back over to me, his ears lifting back up.

“For a long time now, I’ve been searching…for a way to get revenge on the ponies who've wronged me. I have been alive for so long and no matter how hard I try, I feel like I take one step forward and 20 steps back.” Velvet's grip on the beds rail got tighter as his eyes watered. “I try so hard to be like my brother…to be positive and see things through to the end…but I’m just so tired.” Velvet looked down as his body started to tremble.

Even if I don’t know this stallion's full story, I can clearly see what's going one. I’ve seen something like this before. Young soldiers who come back from their first battle suffering from the loss of a close friend or ally, blaming themselves for not saving them, that they could have done more.

I gently put a hoof on Velvets in a comforting manner. He looked back up at my sad smiling face with mild shock and tears running down his face.

“I may not understand what you’re feeling, but what I can understand is the feeling of hopelessness. No matter how hard you work, there’s always something to block your way. But, the important thing is to never give up hope even if things seem bad. Because in the end there will be others to pick you up in the end.” I ended my mini speech with a determined smile, which seemed to cheer up Velvet to some degree.

“I’ve made it this far without anypony. Besides, who would help somepony like me?” Velvet's mood seemed to drop again as he whipped tears from his face.

“I could help you.” At this, Velvet's ears perked up as he stared at me with a shocked expression. “At heart I can tell you’re a good stallion.” To my surprise, Velvet started to laugh like he just heard the funniest thing in his life which made me flustered. “W-what's so funny?” I shouted.

“Sorry, heh, you really do sound like my brother. Maybe that's why I like you so much.” Velvet laughed. I blushed slightly at him as I joined in on the laughter.

For the most part we talked about ourselves. I told him stuff about my family that was mostly my mother and sister, my job, hobbies, and just general interest. Velvet told me a bit too. Apparently he isn’t too big on books, mostly the adventure and non-fiction type, says they’re just foal stories meant to entertain fillies for a few hours. I hope he doesn’t say that around my sis, she is a big fan of that daring-doo series.

Velvet yawned into his hoof and blinked the tiredness out of his eyes. I looked over to the wall clock to see it’s just about eight at night, though looking out the window and seeing the moon was a good indicator too.

“It was a pleasure to speak with you Minty.” Velvet smiled as he sat up from the chair. “But I must be going, I’m sure Twilight might be worried about me.” His horn glowed a dark purple as he looked over to me with a flirty look. “I’ll write to sweetie.” Velvet winked and disappeared in a flash of purple, leaving me slightly flustered.

“Umm…you ok?” A familiar voice asked, making me jump in surprise. Looking over, Rocky road was standing in the open doorway to my room with a confused look.

“DID I TELL YOU NOT TO DO THAT!?!”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Velvet night appeared right in front of the door to the Golden Oaks Library. He used a hoof to fix his mane and get rid of any evidence of his little talk with Minty.

He liked Minty, but he wasn’t ready to get the elements involved in his irrelevant emotion. With a sigh, Velvet wore his usual smile as he opened the door with his magic to see Twilight, Spike, and their friends all sitting with each other, worried looks on all of their faces.

Upon entering, they noticed the towering necromancer and the mood did a 180, with pinkie slamming into him at breakneck speeds almost breaking his neck in a tight hug.

“OH Velvey, I were sooo worried about after what Twilight told us. I mean, she said you got all scary and ran off somewhere to do CELESTIA knows what! And I was like-” Pinkie rambled off as Twilight thankfully yanked her off with her magic as she approached him.

“So like the pink one said, I guess you were worried about me?” Velvet said with a sly smile.

“Yea we were.” Twilight gave Velvet a stern glare. “What was that anyway, I thought something was wrong!” Twilight said with irritation.

“You girls have nothing to worry about. I was just…doing a favor for the princess.” Velvet explained as he walked to and up the stairs, eventually disappearing into his room, leaving the group of mare confused.

Velvet used his magic to take off his clothes and glasses, throwing the clothes onto the ground out and putting his glass on the pile. Right now, he didn’t care about being clean at the moment as he climbed into bed and putting the cover over himself.

For the first time in a while, Velvet fell into a peaceful sleep as his eyes closed, a peaceful smile on his face.

Chapter 6: The thing's I've done and the ponies I've met

Rain poured down from the night sky in ponyville. Shops and stands were empty or closed, and rats and other street creatures took refuge in the allies. The town was mostly empty except for a cloaked mare trying to unlock a door.

“Stupid Bon Bon, why did she have to get these brand-new locks?” The mare cursed under her breath. The key in her golden-colored aura continued to miss the keyhole, the mare looking to her left and right in a panic.

Thankfully, the key made its way into the hole; the mare wasted no time going through the door and slamming it closed. She sighed in relief and threw her soaked cloak off to reveal her sea foam green coat and white and light blue mane. The mare used her golden magic to put the key into a pair of saddle bags on her flank, walking through the house's halls.

"Hey, Bon Bon!" The mare called out. "I'm back from Sugurcube Corner. They didn't have some of the stuff you wanted, but I was able to snag most of what you asked for." The mare turned a corner and found herself in the kitchen, proceeding to place the stuffed saddlebags onto the old table.

A bumping sound from deeper in the house made the mare turn to it in surprise.

"Um, Bon Bon, you alright?" The mare poked her head out of the doorway of the kitchen. There came no response. Fear built in the mare's heart as she slowly made her way to the origin of the noise, the main room.

She reached the room in no time; the only problem was it was too dark to see anything. The light illuminating the room was only the moons, its soft glow allowing the mare to see something lying on the ground.

The mare slowly made her way to it, only to jump back in surprise when it started to squirm around, a soft muffled scream coming from it.

"Finally, I was starting to get bored waiting for you...Lyra."

The mare's, or Lyra's, blood went cold at the familiar voice. The room was suddenly lighten up by a lamp behind her. The first thing she saw only resulted in her blood running even colder. On the floor, tied up with rope and cloth gagging her mouth, was a cream-coated mare with pink and dark blue hair with tears coming out of her pleading eyes.

"Sorry I have to do this, but she was screaming a storm when I broke into your home. Also, I love what you did with the place, though your room is horrendously messy." The voice sarcastically cooed.

Lyra slowly turned her head around, her vision starting to blur slightly. Upon seeing the grinning stallion in the corner foreleg chair, Lyra took a few steps back towards Bon Bon.

"W-What are you doing here?" Lyra muttered under her heavy breathing.

"Oh, There is no need to be afraid, my darling." A dark purple aura wrapped itself on the handle of a teacup. "If you don't mind, I need to ask you a couple of questions." The stallion took a sip from the cup and set it back with the rest of a tea set situated on a coffee table.

Lyra thought she never had to see HIM again; that was the reason she moved to Canterlot. Moving to Ponyville was even better; cause who would look for her in some backwater town in the middle of nowhere?

But here she was, talking to the one pony that she couldn't meet right now.

"Please, you don't have to involve her!" Lyra pleaded with a hoof pointing to the tied-up Bon Bon. "Just tell me what you want and Leave!" Lyra's mouth was forcibly shut by the stallion's dark purple aura as he tch'ed.

"Now-Now, there isn't any need for shouting." The stallion scolded. "My problem isn't with your whore; it's with YOU." The magic around Lyras's muzzle dragged her towards the scowling stallion, stopping just before him. Lyra tried to get away, but no matter how hard her hooves dug into the ground, she couldn't move an inch.

The stallion's magic disappeared from her muzzle, now appearing around her whole body. Lyra was levitated into the air as her stomach churned from the sudden weightlessness.

"Let's see what you know, Lyra." The stallion giggled as thunder boomed in the night sky.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're being difficult to work with right now, dear." An irritated Velvet night sneered at the bound and bedridden Arctic Specter.

Arctic Specter, who was now back to his original age, had his hooves bound by cuffs, a muzzle-shaped cage, and an anti-magic ring locked to his horn. The young necromancer glared at Velvet with silent hatred, to which Velvet sighed and trotted out of the room.

"Nothing?" Twilight's voice asked. He looked at the mare, who stood by the hospital room door with a worried look.

"No." Velvet sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his muzzle with a hoof.

"I don't get it." Velvet looked over to Twilight with a questioning look." Why would somepony want to do something like that?" The sad mare sat on her haunches and looked at the floor.

"Sometimes...we necromancers are like that." Twilight looked up at Velvet, her saddened expression still present. "We become bitter and angry ponies; ponies who only desire for others to hurt because of our pain." Twilight's expression turned into one of curiosity as she stood back up.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked. Instead of answering, Velvet turned and walked off, stunning Twilight for a moment before she caught up with him.

"I don't think you need to worry about that now, dear." Velvet gave her a small smile, which Twilight noticed to be more tired than usual. "Aside from our long and tedious attempted questioning, is there anything else to do today?" Velvet asked.

It had been a hoof full of days since Velvet visited Minty. Artic specter woke up not long after, Immediately put into custody in his Hospital room; moving his injured self could harm his recovery. Since then, Velvet had taken it upon himself to interrogate him personally since the royal interrogator/ detective, Minty Breeze, was obviously in recovery.

So far, there had been no results. Every time Velvet tried to question the young necromancer had only resulted in nothing but snarky remarks and silence.

"Well, Pinkie Pie said she had a surprise for you," Twilight said with a sudden happy tone. "She said to come by Sugar cube corner by 5 pm."

"Hmmm, I never was one for surprises." Velvet muttered under his breath. "But I'm not one to shy away from new things." He smiled at Twilight. "Say, you know what the time is?" Velvet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sure it isn't that late. We got a lot of time until- AHHH" Twilight shouted in shock upon looking at a nearby wall clock.

Velvet was distracted by her sudden outburst and ran into an earth pony nurse, causing the two to fall onto their behinds. They both shook their heads and looked at each other; the one Velvet knocked into looked at him with surprise.

"Hey, aren't you that-" The mare was interrupted when Velvet was grabbed by his shirt collar by a purple aura and dragged off through the front entrance.

"There's no time to talk; we're late!" The panicked and distant voice of Twilight shouted.

The nurse looked at the distant forms of the two ponies disappeared with a confused look. She looked down and was surprised to see a small, pocket-sized notepad lying on the ground.

"Mister Velvet must have dropped this." The nurse guessed. "I'll take an early leave to return this; it's a slow day anyway." She sighed, grabbed the notepad with her mouth, and walked off to her office.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ugh, where's Twilight? You would think she'd be the first one here." An irritated Rainbow Dash whispered.

"Shush Rainbow, Ya gonna give ourselves away." Applejack hissed. Rainbow dash only rolled her eyes as she, Applejack, and a small crowd of over ponies waited in the dark.

"I hope he doesn't get mad." Fluttershy's voice whispered under her breath, jumping a little at the feeling of a white hoof touching her back.

"Don't worry, darling. I'm sure Mr. Velvet will be delighted to have a party." Rarity Comforted.

"Everypony quiet! He's coming!" Pinkie quietly shouted, pointing out the wind at the approaching Twilight and Velvet.

Outside, Velvet was finally let go as he fell to the ground face first, kicking up a mini dust cloud. He picked himself up with a groan and fixed his hair and attire. Thankfully, his glasses fell off at the last moment; Velvet sighed in relief and used his magic to replace them on his face.

"You didn't have to do that, you know!" Velvet scolded Twilight, who was panting in exhaustion.

"S-Sorry, I... panicked." Twilight panted out. After a moment, she corrected herself a walked until she was just in front of the door. "Here we are; you can go in first." Twilight wearily smiled at Velvet, which meant that she was hiding something.

"If you insist." Velvet sighed as he walked to the front door.

Opening the front door to the bakery shop, he faced almost complete darkness that slightly unsettled him. Taking a few cautious steps in, Velvet had to shield his eyes when the light came on.

"SUPRISE!"

The sudden noise startled Velvet as he froze up with a shell-shocked expression on his face.

Magic bolts flew through the air; his comrades fell like flies despite their sured victory. They were missing limbs, entrail laid by their owner's corpses, and the sympathy of agonizing screams filled the air. Velvet looked over when a fellow necromancer clung to his blood-stained shirt with a pleading look on his face.

"Dr. Velvet, Dr. Velvet, Please, you got to help me! I can't feel my legs!" The injured mare said. His vision got blurry as a ringing sound filled his ears. Tears formed in his eyes as he repeated useless apologies to his comrade.

"Velvet, VELVET!" Twilight yelled in his ear.

The ringing in his ears stopped, and his vision became clear. The inured mare was gone, only replaced by Twilight's worried face; there was no war-torn battlefield, only the inside of the Sugarcube Corner filled with confused and worried ponies.

"Velvet, is everything alright?" Twilight asked with visible concern.

Velvet tried. He tried his best to put on a usual smile and say everything was okay. But after seeing a repressed memory he NEVER wanted to see again, he just stood there in horrified silence.

"I...I'm-" Velvet tried to respond, but all he could do was wordlessly mouth his mouth. Suddenly, his face gained a green hue, causing him to gallop out of the bakery.

"Is his tummy not feeling well?" Pinkie pie asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

Twilight followed Velvet out the door and looked around to find him. She quickly spotted him with his face in a bush dry heaving. When she approached him, his head rosed from the bush, the sight only filling Twilight with more concern.

In only 20 minutes, he went from a healthy-looking stallion to looking like a ponies with the worse case of cold she had ever seen. His skin was a sickly pale, his eyes were bloodshot and exhausted looking, and thrown-up stomach contents were on his lower lip, which he wiped off with a hoof.

"Velvet, you have to tell me if something is wrong!" Twilight firmly said. The necromancer faced the studious mare with an uncomfortable gaze.

"I assure you I am-" He was interrupted by Twilight stomping a hoof into the ground.

"Don't give me that! You're lying to me. I can see you aren't fine!" Twilight shouted in his face.

Velvet flinched back in surprise at the mare's sudden anger. Velvet stared at her after the sudden outburst and, after a few moments of staring, just sat down where he stood. Twilight soon joined him by sitting right next to him.

"You're right, Twilight...I'm not. " Velvet began. "I've been keeping...things...from you for a while." He looked away from Twilight with a guilty expression.

"You can tell me what's bothering you." Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. "My friends and I are here to hear you out." She smiled at Velvet, who just turned his head to face her with a look of confusion.

"Why do you mares even care?" Velvet jerked his shoulder, which caused Twilight's hoof to remove itself. "I'm a necromancer; you normal ponies are supposed to hate my kind. So why are you all not disowning me?" Velvet's voice was strained and filled with exasperation.

"You have a point," Twilight admitted, shocking the necromancer." We didn't think you were going to be pleasant to be around. Rainbow dash was the worst; when she got the letter, Rainbow couldn't stop ranting about how bad of an idea it was and that she wanted to kick your flank." Twilight gave a small giggle at the memory.

"When you arrived at my home, I expected some brooding, darkly dressed pony with a terrible attitude. Sure, the cleaning you made me a spike do was torturous," Twilight cringed. But shook it off and continued to speak. "Besides that, I could tell you were a good pony at heart if a little strange." Twilight rubbed the back of her head as she gave him a kind smile.

Velvet sat there and looked at Twilight with mild surprise. Either she was a complete fool, or what Minty said was true, and he was that transparent. Sure, he talked and acted that was considered weird; even back then, ponies gave him creeped-out glances.

But here were ponies like Twilight and Minty seeing right past that. They see past the charade, the weak and pathetic pony he thought he was.

"My brother was murdered a long time ago." Velvet said with zero hesitation. Twilight's eyes went wide with shock but kept silent as Velvet continued. "My father didn't care; he never did, so I ran away at a young age. For years, I lived on the streets fending for myself, met many great ponies, I even met the pony who taught me necromancy."

"But in the end, they all went away or died. Because of that, I became the type of necromancer I hate now. I was bitter, cold, and filled with unending rage towards the world and everypony in it. I also joined the Dark moon legion at this point to get to the leaders but made no progress in doing so because of my anger." Velvet looked to the ground with a dark look.

"It was like that for a while until..." Velvet went silent as his dark expression turned into dread as he spoke. "One day, when a bunch of my comrades and I had sent out, we were ordered to take over a royal outpost. It wasn't a large one, about over 800 guards stationed there, but when we fought..." Velvet started to shake visibly; as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

"Velvet, y-you don't have to continue if you don't want to." Twilight interrupted with her concerned voice.

"I had to lead a squad," Velvet ignored her. " We were confident that this fight would be easy...but we were wrong. Even though the fight went well, I got too cocky, and my team..." Tears fell from Velvet's eyes. "They all died because of me." Velvet held the sides of his head as his breathing became erratic.

Memories flashed before Velvet, memories of his fellow necromancer begging him to do something to help them live through this.

"I was assigned a medical role after some of our medics got caught in the crossfire. My superiors knew of my medical knowledge because I told them; that only hurt my mental state even more. The feeling of blood is still on my hooves; I just wanted to cut them off to get rid of it." Velvet stopped talking when Twilight latched onto him with a tight hug.

"You don't have to continue." She said softly, burying her face in his hair.
Velvet wanted to ramble on; not like she cared, right? He didn't care. He didn't plead for forgiveness nor cry his eyes at the moment. All he did was sit in silence and embrace Twilights hug, his mind going blank and his breathing slowing considerably.

For what felt like hours, they sat in silence as the only sound was the muffled party sounds from the Sugarcube corner.

Both looked over when the sound of a door swinging open alerted them. In the open entrance were Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, the latter having a piece of red velvet cake on her back.

"You guys alright? You've both been out here for a while now." Rainbow dash informed but became confused upon seeing velvets condition.

"Yeah, all the cake is almost gone, and Velvy, you're missing out on HIS party!" Pinkie appeared next to Twilight with a wide-eyed look.

"Hey, Pinkie, I think me and Velvet are going back to the library for tonight.

Velvet ignored the mares as he sat there looking at his hooves. The blood of those he sent to their deaths, the ones he was supposed to help, the ponies he had to operate on in those dirt-filled trenches, their blood was on his hooves.

He blinked and was shocked to find himself suddenly walking down the dirt road, Twilight closely next to him.

"When did we...?" He quietly said, getting the attention of Twilight.

"Did you say something?" She asked with a curious look.

"Nothing." Velvet muttered.

For a while, both walked in silence, thunder and lightning going off in the distance. Twilight muttered something about unexpected rain tonight.

"Twilight," The mare in question looked over to Velvet." Do you hate me? Did the things I told you to make you want to despise me?" He said with a depressing tone.

"No, as I said before, you're a great stallion at heart despite the things you did. And I don't believe you should punish yourself because of past mistakes." Twilight had a comforting tone that Velvet felt like he had heard before.

"You are a weird mare, Twilight." Velvet lightly chuckled, some semblance of his smile appearing on his face. The rain started to pour down from the sky as Twilight cursed under her breath. But something caught Velvet's eye that made him stop walking.

From Velvet saw, he and Twilight weren't far from the Sugar cube corner, about a dozen houses or so away. Entering the bakery, the mare Velvet was here in ponyville in the first place.

Lyra.

"Twilight, go back to the library." she turned around, finally noticing his stillness, and faced him with confusion.

"Why? Are you sure you're okay to be out like this?" Twilight started to approach him, but the sudden feeling of fear, similar to when Velvet teleported away, appeared again.

"Yes...go now." Velvet ordered in a monotone voice.

In a flash of dark purple light, Velvet had disappeared, leaving Twilight in the rain.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Velvet appeared with a flash and immediately looked around his surroundings. Just as quickly, he wished he hadn't due to its messy and disorganized nature but ignored it anyway.

"Lyra, are you still up there?! I told you I need those ingredients for my shop!" A sudden voice came from beyond the room's door.

There were more important things at hoof.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"H-How did you even find me?!" Lyra angrily shouted.

"Could you please keep it down; my head is killing me. Besides, I think you remember the emergency communication crystal we necromancers carry with us." Velvet's magic levitated a small blue crystal attached to a string from his shirt pocket. "I mean, they have a specific magical wavelength only we necromancers know." His sinister smile only grew at the sight of Lyra's dreaded look.

"I'll tell you anything...please, don't get Bonnie involved." Lyra pleaded.

"I didn't want to anyway," Velvet set the crystal next to the tea set. "I didn't even want us to meet like this if I was being honest. But you have a track record of being a slippery little bastard." Velvet glared at Lyra for a moment before his gaze softened.

Lyra was abruptly released from Velvet's magical grip and dropped to the floor. She wasted no time and crawled over to Bon Bon and protectively stood in front of her.

"I'm going to ask you this once. Do you know where Iron hoof is?" Velvet asked in a low and tired voice.

Chapter 7: Death by glamor

Royal guards surrounded the home of Lyra and Bon Bon, and yellow and black caution tape blocked any outsiders from getting close. Rocky road finished speaking with two solar guards, both trotting off towards a large transportation cage.

Rocky looked around the semi-crowded area in search of somepony. It didn't take long before his eyes locked onto Velvet and, with an annoyed grimace, walked towards the necromancer.

As the Commander came closer, he couldn't help but feel uneasy about the unmoving stallion. Velvet just sat there staring off into nothing as an umbrella he had received protected him from the rain. It didn't even look like Velvet knew what was happening around him.

"Honestly, I've got to thank you, Velvet." Rocky reluctantly said. "My stallions and I have been trying to catch this one for a while now." Rocky pointed a hoof behind him at Lyra, locked in the cage with a downcast look on her face.

Velvet flinched at Rocky's voice but recovered by giving him a kind smile. "Commander Rocky, it's a pleasure to meet you. You don't have to thank me. It was a coincidence I even managed to locate her here." Velvet stood to his full height to 'face' the short stallion.

Rocky huffed and looked off to the side. "I guess you're right. Still-" He turned around to face Lyra, who was finally being hauled off through the sky by pegasus guards. "I always knew something was wrong with her."

Velvet looked at Rocky with a raised eyebrow. "You knew Lyra?" He asked with mild surprise.

"Not personally, But when Twilight would sometimes visit me, she talked about her. Always bringing up the mare's weird obsession with these 'Human" creatures." Rocky sneered at the description Twilight had given him many years ago.

"These creatures sound interesting." Velvet looked at the cloudy sky with a thoughtful look. "I wonder what one looks like on the inside?" He muttered under his breath.

Rocky sighed as he looked back up at Velvet. "Still, I need to know what info you gain from her." He then pulled a notepad and pencil out from under his armor.

Velvet looked back down at the commander with a bored expression. "All I needed to know from here was the location of Iron hoof." Velvet said. The deadpanned look from Rocky made him roll his eyes. "He was the only one besides Lyra that knew I betrayed the Legion. Unlike Lyra, he doesn't have a problem with me, but we separated a long time ago due to...personal complications." Velvet said, looking away in embarrassment at the end.

"That's a nice story and all," Rocky sarcastically interrupted. "But why do you even need to find him?" He asked, writing down information on his notepad.

"Because he knows where the legion leaders of the Legion are. " Velvet couldn't help but give a sly smirk seeing Rocky's shocked face.

Rocky laughed dismissively for a second before suddenly grabbing Velvet's shirt collar and pulling him in close.

"You shouldn't joke like that necromancer. Nopony knows where the leaders are! Not us, the necromancers we captured, even the princess doesn't know!" Rocky shouted angrily, getting the attention of the solar guards.

Velvet scoffed, slapped the commander's hoof away with his own, then fixed his shirt collar. "Firstly, don't you dare touch me like that, you overgrown colt." Velvet noticed a couple of guards watching them, and when he looked at them, they trotted off.

"I don't care." Rocky angrily stated. "I don't believe some random pony knows the location of the leaders of a highly secretive necromancy legion."

"Well, this 'random pony' is the right hoof stallion of a legion leader," Velvet pointed up in a matter-of-fact way. "One out of three." Velvet's hoof returned to the ground as Rocky put his notepad away.

"If that's true, I'll have to send a squad out to get him." Rocky looked up at Velvet. "Where did Lyra say he was at?" Velvet didn't answer and walked past Rocky, who was understandably annoyed by this and followed Velvet.

Velvet opened the front door to Lyra's home and walked down the hall, not paying attention to Bon Bon, who was crying on a sofa in the main room as guards tried to question her. Going up the stairs, Velvet and Rocky walked a short distance until they found a door with the words 'keep out' written on it.

Opening the door, Velvet still felt the need to cringe at the sight of the messy room. Mythology books and pieces of parchment lay across the ground, Pictures of poorly drawn biped creatures plastered on the walls, and the only furniture was a bed, desk, and nightstand with a lamp on it.

"She swore she'd had no idea where Iron hoof was." Velvet's horn lit up as some books and parchment levitated into neat piles. "The only useful tidbit she gave me is that he was in Manehattan the last time she'd heard from him." Velvet looked at the 'human' drawing on Lyra's wall with a confused look.

Rocky road scoffed as he kicked a crumpled parchment. "Just our luck, the most important pony we need is hiding out in one of the most populated cities in Equestria." He turned his head toward Velvet upon hearing him giggle.

"I knew you were the type to focus on the bad things, commander." Ignoring the glare from Rocky, Velvet levitated the same blue crystal in front of his face. "I would like to inform you that I have this." Nudging his head to the crystal on a string.

"I'm supposed to know what that is because...?" Rocky deadpanned.

"In short, assistant crystals are used only in emergencies. They can send out a quick message in no time over long distances. The best part is they have a trackable magical wavelength only we necromancers know." Velvet put the crystal away in his shirt pocket and walked past Rocky road until he reached the door. "All I have to do is wander around until I get into the wavelength range, which is 3 kilometers, and move on from there. So don't worry about sending out your stallions," Velvet opened the door and walked out. "Because I have to do this." He muttered under his breath.

Rocky road tried to follow Velvet, but a flash of dark purple light from the hall told him it was too late. Sighing, Rocky road went downstairs and ordered some guards to check Lyra's room.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Velvet appeared in front of Twilight's Library with a flash of light. He walked forward, but his foreleg buckled and caused him to trip into the mud, with the umbrella joining him soon after.

"Ugh, I've been using too much magic that my body is being affected. Just my luck." He grumbled.

Getting up from the ground and wiping mud from himself, he entered the front door to see that the Library was empty. Velvet set his umbrella by the door and walked further in until he reached the kitchen. He was surprised to see Spike in his usual cooking attire making some daisy sandwiches on the counter.

The small drake perked up to the sound of Velvet entering the kitchen. "Velvet, you're back finally." Spike greeted with a smile, but that smile turned into a glare that caught Velvet off guard. "Twilight was worried about you, you know? She told me you just left her in the rain after she was trying to help you back here!" Spike berated.

"I guess you're right," Velvet sighed. "I wasn't in the right mind yesterday evening, so I acted out of line and hurt Twilight. I apologize."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to." Spike pointed upwards to the general location of Twilight's room. "It's her." Spike lowered his claw, finished the sandwiches, placed them onto a plate, and held them out to Velvet. "Give these to her; they're her favorite, it’ll be like a peace offering."

Velvet took the plate of sandwiches in his magic and nodded. It didn't take long for him to leave the kitchen and find the mare's bedroom. Once there, Velvet stood before the door, thinking about last night's events. He shook his head of those thoughts and knocked on the door, particularly weakly, on the door and took a deep breath.

"Twilight dear, are you in there?" A shuffling noise came from behind the door. Then, it opened to reveal Twilight herself with a messy mane and unkempt coat.

"Oh, Velvet, you are-" Twilight covered her mouth and yawned loudly."-back." She gave a small smile, to which Velvet presented the plate of sandwiches.

"Spike said to give you these as a 'peace offering' to make up for...late night." Velvet looked away with a guilty look. Twilight moved out of the way, letting Velvet step inside.

By his standards, Velvet found Twilight's room quite homely. The room consisted of 2 floors, the bottom section only having a study desk, a table with a plant sitting on it, and obviously, bookcases lining the walls with tomes inside them. The top section wasn't much different besides fewer bookcases and a single, large bed right next to a window. Velvet was about to sit on the floor when Twilight spoke up.

"I'm sorry I don't look my best. I woke up a little bit ago." Twilight said with a little chuckle.

Velvet couldn't help but laugh a bit as well. "It's alright, dear, I should be the one saying sorry after all."

"True, but I heard about what happened with Lyra. I understand why you did that. I forgive you." Twilight smiled at Velvet but went away when he only frowned more.

"You shouldn't forgive somepony that easily. My arrogance and anger got the best of me...again." Velvet looked away but was bewildered when he felt Twilight hugging him. "Why...Why do you continue to overlook my mistakes?" Velvet tried to pull Twilight off, but it was no use due to the mare's surprising strength.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "because those are mistakes that I shouldn't hold against you. I'm not the type to hold grudges," Twilight gave a sheepish smile." often."

They sat silent for the longest time, feeling each other's body heat as the rain pelted the bedroom's window. The sound of magic activating rang out, and the plate of sandwiches appeared in front of the studious ponies.

"Want one?" Twilight offered a daisy sandwich with her magic.

Velvet huffed in amusement and took it in his magic. "Sure, even though I heard that daisies are bad for you, it's not like I care right now." Velvet took a bit as Twilight levitated some books by his side.

"I don't know if you'd care, but you seem the type to like these, so I'd like to give them to you as a 'Welcome to Ponyville' gift." Twilight blushed a bit as she looked away, an embarrassed look on her face.

Velvet raised an eyebrow in confusion. But when he lifted a random book from the pile, his muzzle gained a wide, mischievous grin.

The book's cover depicted a pair of faceless ponies cuddling each other, held close together with a deep red ribbon. The title said, in bold silver letters, '50 shades of red'. The cover alone gave Velvet an idea, but the title only served to solidify that idea.

Velvet looked through the pile again. All books belonged to the risque genre of literature.

"50 shades redder."

"Her desire."

"Sweet nothings."

Every novel in the entire pile related was some form of an erotic novel. Velvet had read some of them before; some were good, others not so good, and some cheese romance books for good measure.

"My, my, Twilight sparkle. I didn't take you for THAT kind of mare." Velvet teased.

Twilight's face then turned redder than one of Applejack's apples as she glared at Velvet. "I-It's not like that! They were gifts from Rarity and for some reason thought that a Public library needed inappropriate books." Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled. "So I'm giving them to you since-"

"I seem to like the type to read them." Velvet interrupted with mock disappointment.

"No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that! It's just that the way you'd act suggested that-" Twilight's ramblings had cut short when Velvet put a hoof over her mouth.

"Honestly, I appreciate it. All my pass-time reading material had been left at my shop when Celestia captured me." Velvet looked away from Twilight but kept a sly side glance towards her. "Along with my research."

Then and there, it was like somepony flipped a switch in the mare's brain as she was suddenly up against him, talking at speeds to rival Pinkie Pie herself.

'Maybe Minty darling would like some of these.' Velvet thought as Twilight begged at his hooves.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Honestly, sir, this place could use a little more color." A voice whined.

"Higher 1, I did not order you here to comment on the summoning rooms look. I have a mission for you." The gruff voice sneered in annoyance.

"Well, I don't blame you, sir. It probably requires the best." Higher 1 said arrogantly.

The owner of the gruff voice only rolled his eyes at Higher 1's attitude and just turned around, overlooking the half-completed summoning room.

"I received some intel on the traitor. He and the elements of harmony will be seated on a train to Manehatten." The gruff voice owner turned around towards Higher 1. "I want you to get rid of them, don't fail me as Higher 5 did."

Higher 1 only chuckled. "Don't worry, boss." the sound of a chain rang out. "I'll give you the most fabulous performance of a lifetime."

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ach, I got mud on my hooves!" Rarity cried out.

Rainbow dash rolled her eyes. "It's not that muddy outside. Besides, it's not even that much." Rainbow pointed a hoof at Rarity's hooves which were barely messy.

"That's easy for you to say." Rarity closed her eyes and turned her head away from the pegasus. "You're flying around; you can't get messy."

"She's gotta point, Rarity." Applejack said. "It ain't even that muddy out. Besides, I'm doin' all the heavy liftin'." Applejack argued. Rarity only scoffed as she looked back at the farm mare carrying a small wagon full of suitcases, most of them filled with clothing.

"Well, of course, applejack dear, a lady shouldn't have to carry such a heavy load." Rarity brushed away her mane with a hoof, revealing her freshly applied make-up.

Pinkie pie bounced along as the group walked, but she suddenly appeared next to Fluttershy, causing the timid mare to 'Eep' in surprise.

"I can't wait to get to Manehatten! We'll have so much fun! Do you think the ponies there like parties? Well, of course, they do, but what type!" Pinkie began to babble on again until Fluttershy cleared her throat, which got the attention of Pinkie Pie.

"Um, could you keep it down...please?" Fluttershy mumbled out. Pinkie just bounced along, giving Fluttershy a blank stare before grinning.

"Okay!" Pinkie shouted, causing Fluttershy to recoil as Pinkie went back to bouncing forward in silence.

Velvet and Twilight were in the front of the group, both having a look of either boredom or seriousness. Twilight turned to Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity with an annoyed look.

"Cut it out, girls. Princess Celestia wrote that this mission was going to be super dangerous. So we need to be on the watch for anything to happen." Twilight turned her head back to look at her checklist, most of the box retaining central items like food and bits.

"You didn't need to lie about their attendance, you know?." Velvet whispered. "I already told you I don't need help." Velvet's front right foreleg gave out momentarily, causing him to falter. Velvet looked back to see that no pony noticed, but when he looked at Twilight, she gave him a 'ya sure' look.

"I don't think so. You are not in peak performance yet. I shouldn't even be allowing you to go. But this mission is important, and I think you would go even if I told you no." Twilight scolded. She then sighed and looked forward, the train station not too far away. "I know how you feel, but let us help this time, okay?" She asked.

Velvet looked frustrated before his face turned into an expression of mock amusement.

"If you are so confident, sparkle. Then try to keep up." Velvet said with some irritation in his voice.

It wasn't long before the group reached the train station. Applejack and Velvet loaded the luggage onto the train while the rest took their seats. It was hard for Velvet to move around in the cramped car of the train, but with only three head bumps, he eventually got into his seat.

The train's whistle hissed as steam emanated from the locomotive. With a slow start, the train was down the track.

Equestria's landscape passed the window, leaving Velvet in awe at the beauty of this unseen land. His eyelids got heavy, and with a yawn, he rested his head against the vibrating window, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

There was nothing but darkness all around him. No matter how hard he tried, nothing he did allow him to move his head. That was until he blinked and was suddenly in a place he hadn't been to in a long time. Magic shot overhead from both sides as a griffin/pony soldier dropped like flies to the necromancer's power. Velvet felt shaken by his left shoulder as he looked to see a young unicorn stallion.

"Commander night, what do we do? The enemy is falling back; should we pursue them?" He asked with a serious tone.

Velvet wanted to scream, 'run back, run back, it's a trap!', anything to sway them away from what came next. But what came out of his mouth only filled him with dread.

"Chase down those light side bastards!" Past Velvet said with a confident tone in his voice. He then jumped out of the trench, closely followed by 50 stallions.

Suddenly, on the other side of the battlefield, golden armored guards popped out and sprayed down the battlefield with powerful magic bolts. Velvet's past self could only watch with horror as the many mares and stallions got caught in the surprise attack. Blood painted the dirt, their bodies blasted to shreds, and limbs and broken bodies decorated the land as Velvet jumped into a pre-existing crater.

Velvet stayed in that crater for hours, occasionally screaming in agony over his lost comrades. He hadn't moved a single inch until nightfall came as the sounds of war went silent.

He had only been found in the crater by a search party. They were collecting the dead for cremation until they came across him huddled with a wide-eyed, terrified look on his face.

Velvet blinked again as he felt himself be shaken awake by Twilight, who had blood and scratches on her face.

"Come on, wake up, Velvet. I need you!" She desperately cried out.

Velvet opened his eyes and looked around to see the train car he was resting in was lying in pieces around him and Twilight. Luggage and unconscious ponies laid about everywhere, as Twilight's friends were, thankfully, awake with minimal damage. All except Rainbow dash.

"What happened?" Velvet asked groggily.

"I don't know. We were all fine for one moment. Next, we knew, the train jolted hard, then the entire thing tipped over and crashed." Twilight looked back to her friends as a pained cry from rainbow dash rang out. "I think Rainbow Dash hurt."

Velvet was quicky to his hooves as he approached the circle of friends. They moved out of the way to reveal the rainbow mare with an open fractured wing. Velvet got to work looking over the wing; it wasn't too bad from what he could see.

Besides the protruding bone and gushing blood, the wound didn't look all that bad. Barely any risk of long-term damage and no sign of damage that could affect Rainbow dash's flight.

"I can fix this; just give me a moment." Velvet's horn glowed a dark purple. "Be ready, Rainbow dear. It is going to hurt." Velvet warned.

Before the rest could ask why, Rainbow dash had her wing enveloped by Velvet's magic. The sound of a snap came as her wing was forcibly moved back into place, causing Rainbow dash to cry in pain.

"Whatta think ya doin'!?" Applejack grabbed his shoulder with a hoof, but Velvet barely responded as he worked.

The flesh around her fracture point fused until it had been fully healed. Rainbow dash stopped crying in agony when the sudden relief of pain washed over her.

"What, how did you-?" Rainbow dash sputtered out. Velvet yelped in pain as blood ran down his nose and his coat shined from a cold sweat. Velvet was visibly shaking, and it looked like he was about to pass out cold.

"What the hay happened to him?" Rarity shouted in an un-ladylike way.

"Magic exhaustion." Twilight moved past her friend with her horn glowing purple. "As the name implies, he had used too much magic. Probably from that fight a couple of days ago." She put her horn to his chest as purple magic poured into him.

"But that was like forever ago!" Pinkie pie interjected. "Shouldn't he be fine right now?" She asked with a confused look.

Velvet coughed up blood but was beginning to look better. " I've been teleporting more recently, and not short distances either. And considering my magic wasn't full after that fight, it wasn't doing much for my health. I used the last of my available magic to heal you." Velvet flashed Rainbow dash a smile before coughing up more blood.

Rainbow dash felt extremely thankful and was about to say so when a sudden bang, and moving chains, caused the group to look towards it.

"My My Velvet night, you're looking worse for wear." A voice said with mocking sympathy. Velvet's eyes widen in shock upon seeing who it owned to

The stallion looked to be almost Velvet's height, give or take a few inches. A coat that was golden in color and a mane consisting of rainbow colors similar to Rainbow dash's mane. The armor on his body was also colorful, most of it covering his upper half. His face was the weirdest part, decorated with strange lines and marks that made the word 'glamor' on his forehead.

On his back were two large curved blades connected by a long black chain. The blades themselves had gorgeous engravings separate from each one. Rarity would be awed by them if it weren't for the stallion's creepy wide smile that reminded Rarity of Pinkie Pie's, except more cheery.

"It's sad to see you die in such a pitiful state." The stallion drew his blades. The chain made a 'clank' sound when hitting the train car wreckage he was standing on. "But for a traitor, I'll make an exception." The stallion pointed a blade at the group as his wide smile went wider somehow.

"I'll give you the most fabulous death for trash like you!"

Chapter 8: Masquerade

The mares and Velvet stayed in stunned silence, the elements of harmony giving the stallion a confused look.

"Uhh, Velvet, do you know this creep?" Rainbow dash whispered to the terrified stallion.

"Run." Velvet whispered out. Rainbow dash was about to ask why, but Velvet shot up to his hooves with his horn glowing brightly. "YOU NEED TO GET AWAY!" He yelled, looking back at the even more confused mares.

The bright stallion giggled. "What's the matter, Velvet? I always find a performance to be more enjoyable with an audience." He said ominously.

"He's one of the higher five; you all are no match for him!" Velvet shot off a magic bolt directed towards...nothing. Suddenly, Velvet was kicked in the stomach by an unseen force and sent flying back into the wreckage.

Twilight could only watch the scene unfold in silence as her mind was puzzled. 'I didn't feel any magic cast from that stallion. So how could that pony teleport without magic?' Twilight questioned in her head.

She felt herself get tackled to the ground; a strong gust of wind passed over her. Looking up, Rainbow was on top of her with an un-Rainbow dash-like grimace. To the side, Twilight was shocked to see the colorful stallion in a striking stance, facing away from her.

The stallion began to laugh as he turned around, a mix of annoyance and pure amusement on his face, staring at Rainbow dash.

"I'll give you kudos, for a gross insult to color itself, you managed to barely out-pace my attack." The stallion got into a fighting stance once again, weapon in magic. "Your friend would have been dead if you weren't quick enough. You have gained your gods' attention."

The stallion disappeared again. Rainbow dash was about to fly Twilight away when a blade was about to cut her. Luckily, a powerful blast of dark purple magic hit the stallion's side, causing him to become disoriented. It didn't look like the attack did much to affect him, but a frightened Rarity managed to spot some wrinkles on the colorful stallion's face.

"Death's...symphony."

Velvet climbed out of the wreckage in a not-so-favorable condition. Pieces of wood and metal protruded from his backside, half of his skull fractured, and a lacerated chest accompanied by multiple cuts and gash spewing blood.

"Velvet, you need to -" Twilight shouted but abruptly stopped when she and her friend were all surrounded by a dark purple aura and disappeared with a flash of light.

"Awe, I always heard you were no fun, but I had doubts." The colorful stallion slouched as he sighed. "That's what I get for keeping my hopes up.

"Enough games Blacklight. There is no need to get violent." Velvet tried to reason, which only got him a scoff in response.

"It's your type I hate the most; All about saving the dying instead of rejoicing their internal peace." Blacklight held out a hoof with a sly grin. " You can still join us, Velvet. I can see you have potential. That aging spell you used is taxing on your already drained magic reserves, yet it's still effective in slowing my movements even with my immortality."

'I need to think of something fast.' Velvet got into a low fighting stance. 'I don't know if I should use THAT. I barely have enough magic for basic bolts, but I have no choice. I got to hold him off until she gets here.' Velvet's horn glowed brightly; a small crack appeared going from tip to base.

Blacklight madly smiled as he dashed forward with a burst of speed. A blade swung on a chain as he rabidly approached, and when he reached Velvet, it went in for a horizontal slash.

The blade was less than an inch away from Velvet's face when a flash of light blinded the colorful necromancer, his weapon hitting nothing but thin air. Blacklight was stunned for a moment before looking around his surroundings.

He was in a lavish circular ballroom with the most elegant design he'd ever witnessed. The walls were decorated and adorned with pieces of beautiful art surrounded by black and gold stone carvings. The most surprising part for Blacklight was the stallions and mares in suits and dresses surrounding him.

All of the stallions and mares looked exactly alike. Stallions wore a simple black suit with a black bow tie, their faces covered by a mask with an expression of total anguish. The mares weren't as different as they wore white dresses, which were dirty at the bottom, and they too wore a mask, except they depicted an expression of anger.

"Illusion magic, huh? You're one cocky stallion; I'll give you that." Blacklight got into a defensive stance as he looked around the crowded ballroom. The masked poines were practically rubbing shoulders with how packed they were, so moving past them would be too much trouble.

"MASQUERADE OF THE GRIEFING SON!" Velvet's voice echoed off the walls as the masked poines started to spin in place, then they all circled Blacklight.

Blacklight continued to look around, perking his ears to find any sign of an incoming attack. Then, a faint whistling reached his ears as he spun around and nearly dodged a flash of purple. It quickly disappeared into the crowd again as Blacklight returned into a defensive position.

He laughed in amusement. "I see what he's doing, trying to distract me with the mask poines while using his speed to attack from the crowd, very clever Velvet," Blacklight smirked as the whistling came from his left. Instead of blocking, he turned and recoiled his leg and kicked, hitting Velvet in the stomach, a cracking sound emanating from his ribcage. "But not good enough."

The kick sent Velvet flying back, the illusion fading back into the train car wreckage like before. He landed in a pile of broken rubble with his head smacking a bent metal plate. Velvet's mind was in a daze, the edges of his vision darkening as Blacklight trotted towards him, sighing in disappointment.

"It's a shame. Such a great mind like you, reduced to nothing more than common trash." Blacklight raised a blade into the air, the sunlight making the weapon glowing in the light. "I changed my mind. You can die like common trash." The sword swung down at Velvet as Blacklight grinned wildly.

Fortunately, a magical, golden bolt impacted Blacklight's blade, launching it from the stallion's magic grip. Blacklight's eye's widened in surprise. He looked to where the attack came from; the sight filled him with fear and anger.

Celestia was flying straight to their position. Behind her was a small platoon of solar guards, some even pulling chariots. All Blacklight could do was scoff in annoyance as he glared at the now unconscious Velvet night.

"You got lucky, trash." He spat out. Turning around, he noticed the group of mares in the distance rapidly approaching as well, so he wasted no time gripping his blades in his magic and teleporting away.

For Velvet, everything was shutting down. His eye had dark spots in his vision, his beaten body felt broken and weak, and the feeling of something warm ran down his face from his forehead. He didn't even hear the cries of the elements of harmony or Celestia as they reached him, their voice only coming out as muffles as he eventually blacked out.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, bro." Astral specter called out; Velvet turned his gaze to his brother, who was sitting at the same dining table, eating a bowl of fresh salad. He had a look of subdued confusion as he stared at his meal.

"Was it Astral?" Velvet asked innocently.

Astral looked at Velvet, a small smile on his face. "You study that medical stuff, right?" Velvet nodded. "Well, I want to know what you think happens after death."

The question had caught the young colt off guard as he looked at his brother with a bewildered expression. "What kind of question is that?! You don't just ask somepony that out of the blue!" Velvet berated.

"Quiet, you're going to wake him up!" Astral yelled in a hushed tone, pointing a hoof in a seemingly random direction. Although, the sudden call out made Velvet go quiet as he sat back into his seat. "Just answer the question."

Velvet sat silently with a far-off look as Astral finally took a bite from his salad. Eventually, Velvet perked up as he gave his older brother a confident smile.

"I believe after we die, we all go into the clouds and be able to reunite with our loved ones." He said with a puffed-out chest; the scene gave Astral a sad smile.

"That's what you think, huh?" Astral asked, poking his almost finished salad with his fork.

Velvet's confident visage turned to concerned confusion. "Big brother, is there something wrong?" He asked, getting out of his chair and approaching Astral.

"Nah, it's just..." Astral went quiet as he finished poking at his food. "Don't worry about it." He replied before getting out of his seat and walking away.

Velvet held out a hoof with a strange sense of desperation; it felt like if he couldn't catch his brother, he would disappear. The young colt tried to call out for his older brother, but nothing came from his throat as his vision turned black.

'That's right; you can't diverge from a memory.' Velvet thought.

His body felt light and weightless, any direction he tried to move in wouldn't work, and it was an arduous task even to think without falling asleep.

'I think back on that day sometimes. Back then, I didn't know what he'd meant, so I just told him what my father gave me about the afterlife. Looking back now, I think I knew why he asked. At least it's peaceful here, I don't have to worry, and I don't need revenge.'

'I can finally rest knowing I'm here with you, Astral.'

Suddenly, a bright light shined onto Velvet with a warm glow. But instead of feeling relieved, the feeling of despair filled the stallion's heart as he tried anything to get away from the light.

'No, please! I finally have peace! Why do you keep on torturing me like this?!' Velvet angrily thought as the feeling of being pulled came from his chest, the light becoming brighter and brighter.

"JUST LET ME DIE!"

Velvet shot up in a hospital bed, wires and tubes hooked up to his foreleg and the sound of the heart monitor rapidly going off filled the room. He soon regretted his actions as a nauseating feeling came to him and, finding a trash can, quickly grabbed it with his hooves and threw up.

There was a tight pressure in his head, his stomach felt like yak shit, and the light and sudden change in his environment made him confused and dizzy. Thought that didn't matter to the stallion as he flopped back down into his bed and covered his eyes with a foreleg as tears poured down his face.

"Why won't you let me die?" He whimpered to himself, crying silently to himself as two nurses entered his room.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a while since Minty visited Manehatten; the busy streets always gave the grounded pegasus chills just thinking about it. Right now, he'd just left his sister's hospital room after their monthly visit.

Minty's sister came down with an illness not too long ago: the kind that bedridden you until you're better. So far, she was making good progress late and would be able to start physical therapy soon. Good thing that she had some f-you money in her pockets.

Turning the corner, Minty saw that a door that had slightly left opened with light emanating from the room behind it. Minty thought it was a nurse tending to some patient or a custodian to clean the room, but he went to look out of curiosity; besides, he was going in that direction anyway.

Minty reached the door in no time and poked his pink and blue head through the door, only to be shocked. On the bed was Velvet night with most of his body and horn wrapped in bandages and Iv tubes attached to his forelegs.

"Velvet!" Minty shouted in surprise. Velvet jolted and winced in pain as he grabbed the side of his head with a hoof. "Sorry." Minty apologized meekly.

Velvet looked too minty with wide eyes. "Minty, dear, what are you doing here?" He asked with a bit of tiredness in his voice.

"I should be asking you that." Minty trotted into the room and took a seat by Velvet's bed. "You look like you were in an accident." He said with concern in his voice.

Velvet chuckled darkly. "I kind of was." Minty's eyes widen in shock. "I was on the train with the elements, I fell asleep and don't know what happened, but the train got derailed by a Necromancer." Velvet had to lean back a bit as Minty leaned toward him.

"Wait, a Necromancer derailed a train?!" Minty shouted in disbelief but covered his mouth quickly. "I'm sorry, but that's hard to believe." Minty giggled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't exactly believe that they did it themselves." Velvet agreed but noticed the lack of a wing on Minty's right side. "You got rid of it?" He asked with a frown.

It took Minty a second to realize, but when he looked down, he noticed what he was pointing out.

"Oh, yeah. The doctors couldn't save it." Minty smiled and shrugged a little. "It's not like I flew a lot, so I don't feel bad about it."

Minty was surprised and caught off guard when Velvet sat up and wrapped his forelegs around Minty's body and pulled him into a hug. The ex-pegasus blushed with embarrassment and naturally tried to wiggle out of the necromancer grip.

"I wish I was more like you." Velvet whispered but loud enough for Minty to hear. Minty stopped trying to get out and sat looking at Velvet with concern.

"What do you mean?" Minty asked, hugging Velvet in return.

Velvet hugged Minty a little tighter as his eyes went glossy. "I wish I could be as optimistic as you, to have a smile on my face, no matter the situation. Except, I'm just some hate-filled stallion who can't let the past go." Velvet sniffled as his body began to shake. "I'm just so tired."

The room was silent, the only noises being the heart monitor and Velvets sniffles and occasional whimpers. Then, as gently as he could, Minty pulled Velvet away and looked at him with a determined look.

"That's not true." Minty started. "About you and me. Sure, I can be happy and encouraging when I need to be, but sometimes even I can be sad. And with you, I and any other pony can see you aren't some 'hate-filled' stallion. You're a kind-hearted and gentle soul who got the short end of the stick." Minty looked into Velvet's eyes with a smile on his muzzle. "You don't have to bottle these emotions up: it's alright to be angry or sad. Just because you feel that way doesn't mean you're bad; you need a shoulder to cry on when you feel down."

The room was once silent again as Velvet stared at Minty with widened eyes. Suddenly, Velvet shot forward and pressed his lips against Minty's, which made the pegasus make a double take. Velvet, thankfully, didn't let it last as he leaned back into his bed, a faint blush and smile on his face.

"Thanks." He said with a small smile.

Minty didn't respond as his face turned bright red; Velvet could swear that smoke came out of Minty's ears, as his eyes rolled back as he passed out and fell onto the floor.

Velvet giggled. "Maybe there is a reason to stick around a little longer." He said to himself, pressing a red button with a white exclamation mark on the side of his bed.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blacklight was hit and sent flying back, slamming into the wall with a large crack forming behind him as he fell to the floor.

"USELESS GARBAGE!" The gruff voice roared. An organic tentacle of bone and muscle retreated under his dark robe. "I told you to kill Velvet and the elements of harmony. It was such a simple task, yet you failed me!" The gruff voice's owner approached Blacklight, who was now getting up.

"My apologies, master, but Celestia arrived before I had the chance to finish him off." Blacklight stood back up but was knocked to the ground by the gruff voice's owner.

"I don't care if that whore interrupted you. Your job is to fight to the end, no matter what." The gruff voice pressed a hoof into Blacklight's back and leaned down. "I thought the great Blacklight conquered his fear of death, so why retreat like a coward?" He sneered.

Blacklight scowled as his back ached from his master's hoof, but the pressure released from his back as his master walked away.

"I'm feeling generous today. So don't disappoint me again." His master sat on his throne with a deep scowl. "Dismissed."

Blacklight got back up and bowed deeply before disappearing in a flash and reappearing on a large, open balcony overlooking an expansive forest.

Blacklight shook with anger and, with a roar, took out his blades and started to swing them wildly at the stone floor. Gashes and cuts decorated the floor as chunks of rock flew in every direction. Then his blades turned a deep red as he jumped into the air with his weapons pointed to the ground.

"FINAL SUNRISE!" He yelled as the blades of his weapons impacted the ground. The result was a giant explosion that shook the entire castle below it. Smoke and dust covered the area but slowly dissipated to reveal a pissed of Blacklight trembling with anger.

"I swear when I get my hooves on you, Velvet, I'm going to make you know true pain."

Author's Note

Hey everyone!

I hope you are enjoying my story and continue to read it. Also, thanks for support, I really appreciate it.

On another note, my upload schedule might not be as consistent (not like it was in the first place) mainly because school is starting up again. But I will try my best in order to write as much as I can in my spare time.

Hope you have a good day and to keep reading.

Chapter 9: Reunion

Velvet took a sip of his cup of tea and placed it back down with a satisfied sigh.

"I have to say, Celestia, you know how to make tea." Velvet levitated the teacup on the table next to his hospital bed.

Celestia giggled and took a sip from her tea as well. "I appreciate the compliment." She gave a kind smile before setting her cup down next to Velvets. "How are your injuries fairing?" She asked.

"After two days, I can say that my magic reserves are mostly back up, my horn and bones fully healed; other than that, I'm fine." Velvet smiled. But that quickly turned into a disappointed frown as he held his head up with a hoof. "I'm afraid you aren't here for friendly conversation, are you?"

"Yes indeed." Celestia straightened her back and faced Velvet with a look of seriousness. "I need a detailed account from your perspective. I've got Twilights and her friends. Now all I need to ask you is a few questions."

"You may proceed, Princess." Velvet said with boredom.

Celestia cleared her throat, "As you stated in that emergency spell a few days ago, an unidentified necromancer of high rank derailed the train and proceeded to attack you and the elements. I need you to tell me everything about this necromancer.".

Velvet grinned as he giggled. "Celestia, dear, that necromancer was one of the most powerful in the legion just under the leaders themselves." The twitching from the princess's eyelids spoke enough to Velvet. "There is one thing, though, higher ranking members know little of their existence beyond rumors and speculations. Even I know little, despite being a candidate for the higher five." Celestia perked up at the end of Velvet's speech and gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Higher five?" She asked with confusion.

Velvet sighed and pinched the bridge of his muzzle with his hooves. "To make a looooong story short, The higher five are a group of the most powerful necromancer in the legion, minus the leaders, who all represent the five stages of grief. Tacky if you ask me." Velvet rolled his eyes but continued to speak. "Luckily, we have a member of the higher five, Arctic Specter."

Celestia's eyes widened a bit with surprise. "Sorry if I sound rude, but you had a high-ranking necromancer sitting in ponyville." She asked, some irritation in her voice.

Velvet held his hooves up in defense. "In my defense, I didn't put two and two together before the raid on Lyra's house. Also, if you're wondering, he represents the stage of denial, so he wasn't a strong member, but I'm not saying he was weak." Velvet grimaced, remembering the carnage that he'd failed to prevent. "I could tell as we fought, even when I threw the most power attacks I had, he never backed down." Velvet looked down in silence. But he had been stopped when a gold-covered white hoof held his chin.

"You don't need to burden yourself with your mistakes. Because in the end, you help my little ponies recover and heal afterward." She lifted Velvet's head and greeted him with a kind smile.

"I know that, Princess." Velvet leaned away from Celestia's hoof and laid back in his hospital bed. "It's just an uncomfortable memory for me." He chuckled.

Celestia smiled as she stood back up and levitated the empty tea cup in her golden magic. "Well, seeing as you are still recovering, I'll let you rest now, then you can send me any more details in a letter." She gave a little bow before turning and walking off, but before she passed through the door, she turned her head towards Velvet with a cheeky grin. "But, I have one thing to ask of you."

Velvet tilted his head in confusion."What is it?"

"On the day we first met, I could tell your 'admiration' for me wasn't fully true, was it?" She asked.

Velvet huffed in amusement and pulled the bed cover over his body. "While I have a lot of respect for you, I was a little desperate not to get thrown into Tartarus. So I had to butter you up anyway I could." He admitted with a blush of embarrassment.

Instead of being angry, Celestia giggled as she turned to leave. "Very well, good day to you." With that, Velvet was alone to take a well-deserved nap.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A stallion grunted as a small red crystal vibrated on his desk. With a sigh, he placed down a book he had been reading and blew a cloud of smoke into his shop's air. He picked up the crystal, then the horn on his head glowed faintly as a green aura surrounded the crystal. The crystal stopped vibrating as a holographic image of a cloak mare appeared.

"Yeah-" The stallion coughed into his hoof for a moment before clearing his throat."-what do you what now?" The scratchy voice of the stallion asked, irritation in his voice.

The mare on the other side didn't seem fazed by his rude attitude and held up a piece of parchment with her magic. "Due to the recent happenings. All necromancer members must be on the lookout for one Velvet night. Any information will-" The mare's voice cut off when the small red crystal was smashed to tiny shards by the stallion's hoof.

Picking up and taking a drag from a joint with his magic, the stallion coughed and swiped the crystal shards off the desk.

“So, you finally got ratted out, huh? Bet it was Lyra, that yellow belly snake." The stallion chuckled, his voice making it sound more like wheezing in reality. "Guess I'll be getting a social call soon: better clean up." The stallion stood up from behind his desk when there came a knock at the door.

"Hey, Herbal, open up!" A voice shouted beyond the front door. "A couple of friends and I got to talk with you." His voice sounded shifty to the stallion, and a bead of sweat ran down his face.

"Just fucking great." He mumbled under his breath. The stallion sat behind the desk again with a strange clicking sound.

The door to his shop busted open, and two mares with a single stallion appeared on the other side. In the center, the stallion had a crimson coat, a black mane, and blue eyes. The mares on each side of the stallion were identical twins with silver coats, white manes, and purple eyes.

"The dipshit and the twin freaks, what can I do for ya?" Herbal sighed as the three barged in without closing his door.

"There's no need for calling names." The crimson stallion walked up to Herbal's desk and slammed a hoof on top of it. "I just want to know something, that's all." He said with a condescending tone.

Herbal sighed and put out his joint in an ashtray on the right side of the desk. "What, you need something to get it up in bed?" Herbal snickered as the crimson stallion leaned and grabbed Herbal by the neck with his magic, a deep scowl on his face.

"Don't get smart with me! I know you have something to do with that traitor! You always talked about how you two were such great friends back in the day!" The crimson stallion's horn lit up as he inched closer to Herbal's smirking face.

Herbal frowned and rolled his eyes. "Come on, He and I fell out decades ago. Besides, why the hell would I help a monster like him?" Herbal spat with disdain.

"Don't Yak shit me! I know you got something to do with him. So I'm going to drag you back to HQ right now-"

'BANG!'

The crimson stallion's threat was cut off when an explosion sound went off the top of the desk broke...along with the top half of his skull. The body of the furious stallion fell to the floor as bits of bone, blood, and brain flew across the shop. The twin's eyes' grew wide as they quickly took cover behind the shop's wooden aisles.

Herbal sighed in relief as he raised a medium size object from below the remainder of his desk. "Good thing this didn't blow up on me." The metallic item rose from the ruined desk, held in Herbals magic

The item split in two as a small, cylindrical tube of brass flew out and landed on the floor with a hollow ping, smoke rising from the hole it came out of. Herbal levitated a similar one, with a pointy silver tip, from under the desk and reloaded the weapon.

“Alright, girls,*cough* I suggest you get out of here while ya can!” He shouted.

Suddenly, one of the twins came out from behind the aisles and threw a small blade at the sickly stallion. Herbal fell back, dodging just in time as it stabbed the wall behind him. He quickly got back up, aimed at the retreating mare, and shot at her, directly hitting the back left leg. The mare screamed in pain as she clutched her left hind leg and writhed on the ground.

Luckily her sister came out of hiding as Herbal was reloading, grabbed her sister, jumped out of a nearby window, and teleported away.

"Ah shit," Herbal said, kicking the crimson stallion's corpse. "Guess I gotta start packing." He mumbled. Then he looked at his ruined front desk with a sad look. "That was my favorite too."

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm glad to see you up and about, Velvet, but you need to slow down, darling." Rarity worryingly warned.

Velvet only ignored her and kept walking at a rushed pace. Due to his size, it took all the elements, minus Pinkie and Rainbow dash, all they had not to fall behind the grimacing stallion. The sidewalk they trotted on was somewhat empty, only a couple of ponies sprinkled out.

"I'm sorry, dear, but I've wasted too much time recovering." Velvet stumbled a bit, but Twilight came beside him to support his side.

Twilight sighed and looked at Velvet with pleading eyes. "That's not a good excuse for discharging yourself early. You can return to the hospital; the girls and I can deal with this, okay?" She asked, a hopeful look in her eyes. That didn't last as Velvet grimaced even more, either from the pain or his attitude.

"Ah agree, Twi. He's in no condition to be movin' around like this." Applejack shook her head with Fluttershy silently nodding in agreement.

Pinkie was about to speak before being interrupted by Velvet stopping and facing the group of mares with an irritated scowl.

"While I appreciate the concern, I like to inform you this is no time for arguing. My self-healing magic will function soon then I'll be good as new. End of discussion." Velvet looked away as he approached a seemingly random store with a sign that read, Herbs and spices, and entered through the front door.

Twilight and her friends shook themselves out of their minor shock and quickly followed him inside.

The first thing that came to them was the pleasant smell of different herbs and flowers of varying sweetnesses. The origin was apparent to the group, especially Rarity, upon seeing the many products on display. The items ranged from candles, lotions, flowers, perfumes, and obviously herbs.

The fashionista pushed past the group and b-lined for the products, Fluttershy slowly joining her also.

The walls also held their own products, this time being spices, cooking equipment, and recipe books. Applejack shrugged and trotted to a random spot, with pinkie pie doing the same.

Rainbow Dash scoffed and waved a hoof in front of her muzzle. "I'm going to wait outside," Rainbow Dash turned around. "It stinks." She grumbled as she left and closed the door behind her, causing Twilight to flinch.

Twilight sighed and decided to trot up to the front desk. It wasn't special looking, just a metal cash register with a golden bell beside it. She was about to tap the bell when she noticed the smell of smoke coming from a door next to the front desk. Her eyes widened in panic as she rushed around the desk and barged through the door.

An awful smell of smoke hit Twilight's nose, causing her to shut her eyes and cover her muzzle with a hoof to keep the stench out.

"Dammit, who in the Tartarus are you?!" A scratchy voice yelled in shock. Twilight opened her eyes to see a middle-aged-looking stallion with a mossy-green coat, a dirty blonde mane, and red eyes. He wore clothes similar to Velvet, who was standing next to the sitting stallion but instead a black long-sleeve shirt with a white vest.

"Twilight, you know it's rude to barge in on a conversation like that." Velvet said, his original sly attitude back once again.

Twilight uncovered her nose and waved a hoof in frantic dismission. "I'm sorry, I thought there was a fire, and since you were gone, I figured-"

"No pony gives a shit. What I want you to do is get the heck out!" The sitting stallion yelled while pointing a hoof at the door Twilight had entered.

Velvet rested a hoof on his foreleg and lowered it with a low chuckle. "Now, Now, Herbal, She is one of my allies. So there is no need to speak to her in that way." He said in a semi-threatening tone.

Herbal only scoffed as he leaned back into his chair and took a drag out of a joint he levitated to his mouth, blowing smoke as he placed it back onto an ashtray. "I don't care about your friend's feelings. What I do care about is your flank being in my store."

"*cough* Is it necessary to be smoking that?" Velvet fanned a hoof at the cloud of smoke.

"Got back pain," Herbal smirked as he took another drag." I made this stuff to deal with it."

Velvet rolled his eyes as he trotted towards Twilight. "I think introductions are in order; come now, Herbal, it's time you met the rest." Velvet smiled as he passed Twilight.

Herbal scoffed as he got up from his chair and followed the tall necromancer, making sure to bump Twilight on the way out.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You know, I thought when I had to switch to my other hide-out in the city, I hoped I'd be wrong and actually run my wife's business in peace. But here I am, sitting at my front desk as these mares and Velvet sit in front of me like I'm some school teacher. That lanky bastard already told them I’m a member of the dark moon legion, so if they suddenly try to kill me, I won’t hesitate to blow his brains out.

"I should start by saying my name is Herbal; this is my shop/necromancy hide-out. No, I don't care to know your names, so don't try." I smoked my "medication", and I looked to see the rainbow one giving Velvet the stink eye.

"So, mind telling us who this guy is?" She said in a snarky tone.

I was about to tell her off until Velvet interrupted me." My friend here, Herbal, is a dedicated pharmacist that makes medical concoctions."

"more like an over-glorified nurse for the idiots that get tiny scratches." I spat out sarcastically while blowing out smoke.

The white one apparently didn't like that. "Could you please not smoke in here? It stinks in here." The white one said as she hacked and waved her hoof in the smoke cloud.

I rolled my eyes, "Look, missy, I need this more than you," I held up my medication with my magic. "either you deal with it or wait outside." I glared at the white one when the rainbow-haired one got into my face.

"Who do you think you are talking to, my friend, like that?" She practically snarled. I was about to reach for my new invention when a familiar overwhelming aura filled the room.

I looked over to see Velvet giving both of us a death glare practically tailored to him to entice the most fear in somepony. I had a grimace on my face while the rainbow one looked like she was going to piss herself on the spot and decide to back away from me.

"I know we aren't getting off on the right hoof here. But I would like for this meeting to go on without any physical violence. So let's all calm down." He said in a condescending tone with a sinister grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes and put out my mediation onto my desk. "Whatever, so, what did you track me down for?"

Velvet's aura disappeared and the usual sly smirk returned. "Well, we would like to know if-" He was interrupted when the purple unicorn appeared in front of me looking directly at my invention with wide, sparkling eyes. I nearly fell off my desk from the sudden shock.

"NEW THING, NEW THING, NEW THING!" The unicorn chanted repeatedly. I looked to Velvet for an answer; he just sighed.

"I would like to introduce you to one of my friends, Twilight sparkle." He said while shaking his head. "She's my landlord, so to speak, and an even bigger bookworm than I am." Velvet lightly chuckled.

I gave him a look of disbelief and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "No shit? I never thought I'd see the day somepony out read your flank!"

"Can you tell me what this is? I have never seen anything like that before." She asked while pointing at my weapon, which was in a black felt holster I made for it.

I was about to tell her off, but a sudden surge of pride filled my heart seeing the mare's gaze. I smirked as I levitated my weapon just in front of me. The purple one, her friends, and even Velvet had some range of interest in it.

"Feast your eyes on what I like to call the hoof canon." I dramatically presented it; even some mysterious ray of light shined on it momentarily. "It's something I made in my spare time. As the name suggests, it fires rounds like a cannon," I levitated a brass round from my pocket, to which the purple on awe at it.

"Please, you got to show me how it works!" She practically begged.

A lightbulb, whatever that is, went off in my head as I cracked open the canon and took the existing round out of it. I coughed into my hoof and got the attention of the purple mare as I gave her my weapon.

"Knock yourself out, kiddo, just don't take it apart. I got blueprints in the back, so take you and your friend into the back room so Velvet and I can talk." I couldn't help but smile as the mare beamed like a filly on hearth's-warming day as she ran into my office/backroom, soon joined by her friends.

"Do you think that was a good idea?" Velvet glanced at the shut door behind me with some concern.

"Ahh, it'll be fine. The thing isn't loaded anyway." I waved off his concern as I lit another one of my medications and huffed it. "Now, what do you want from me this time?" I asked with annoyance.

Velvet giggled and shook his head. "Always the one to rush. Why can't we sit down and have a friendly chat?" He flashed me a friendly smirk, but I just scoffed.

"Because you never want to 'chat' with me. I picked you off the streets after dear old dad didn't want you, and all I get in return is you asking me for favors!" I shouted. Unfortunately, Velvet forcefully pushed me to the ground and stood over me with a pissed-off expression.

"DON'T YOU DARE EVER MENTION HIM!" He yelled in my face. After a few moments, his eyes widened, and he quickly got off of me and backed off. "S-Sorry, just don't bring that stallion up."

I pushed myself up from the ground and stood on my hooves. "I forgive you, kiddo. All I ask for is compensation once in a while."

Velvet scoffed in amusement and looked out of a window near the front of my store. "If it means anything, I'll avenge your dead wife in exchange for your assistance." Velvet flashed a smirk upon seeing my shocked expression.

"How do you intend to do that?" I ask with some hostility.

"I got connections, Herbal. I even caught one of the higher five." Velvet said.

I looked at Velvet with a look of disbelief. "I never took you as the joking type, Velvet." Velvet's smirk never let up as he looked back at me with a knowing look.

"I'm not joking, Herbal." He leaned in closer with a wide grin. "Now tell me, what do you know about the leaders' location?"

Chapter 10: Learning to let go

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as Herbal stared at his old friend, looking at him with a troubled expression. To break the silence, Herbal levitated another joint and lit it with a fire spell.

"I don't know what to tell you," smoke escaped the old stallion's lips as he grimaced. "there ain't much to go off of."

It was a harsh truth. Even after everything, Herbal still couldn't find anything all this time. He expected Velvet to lash out, scream, yell at him, anything! Instead, the younger necromance just looked at Herbal with a far-off stare, lips moving wordlessly as his mind tried to comprehend what he'd just heard.

Then, a faint smile made its way on Velvet's muzzle as he chuckled in disbelief. "G-Good one, Herbal, Y-You always was one to joke around." Velvet warily said with a shaky voice.

Herbal sighed and huffed his joint, "I was never one for jokes, Velvet, you know that. Besides, the only information I've got is that the leader's location is between the crystal empire and Cloudsdale." Herbal went to take another huff, but with the sight of the disturbed necromancer in front of him, he decided to place it down in an ashtray. "That's all I got."

Velvet's unhinged smile seemed to grow morse as he stumbled back, almost falling over but catching himself on the edge of the desk.

"T-That's g-good, t-t-that's good. All we have to do is pinpoint the location, walk up, and slaughter anypony that gets in our way! Then I can finally finish the total resurrection spell and-"

Herbal's hoof slammed against the desk, causing Velvet to stop mid-sentence and look at the glaring Herbal with mild confusion. "You still on about that damn spell?! You know damn well it doesn't work!" Herbal yelled.

"N-No! I almost have it completed. All I need is one more thing!" Velvet got to his hooves and took a step towards Herbal with a pleading look. "I can even bring back your wife!" Velvet's smile wavered with tears building in the covers of his eyes.

Instead of yelling, Herbal sat there with a face of pity as the room once again filled with silence.

"I-I can bring her back, memories and all. I can even make her immortal too. You both can spend the rest of your existence happy together. Then I can bring him back. We all will be happy in the end!" Tears ran down the face of the frantic stallion as he stepped closer.

Herbal inwardly sighed as he picked the joint back up and huffed it, trying his best to suppress a cough. "When my wife died, I nearly broke. I would wake up in bed every morning thinking she would be beside me, but no. And I would be lying if I said I never thought about joining her as well."

Velvet got a hopeful look as he held out a hoof. "So you agree then? So let me-"

"I don't want her back, Velvet."

The room's silence was almost deafening as the hopeful look and smile instantly disappeared, replaced only by one of shock and confusion.

"W-What?" Velvet muttered

Herbal sadly chuckled as he put out the joint directly on the table. "What I mean is, I don't want to go through that again. Even if you somehow got her back AND made her immortal like us, It would change much." Herbal sat on the ground and continued looking at Velvet with a half-stern stare. "You know we're immortal as in we can't age. Just because we don't get old wrinkles doesn't mean we are invincible. So I would spend every second of the day worrying if something would hurt or kill my wife again, and I don't think I could go through with that again."

Velvet's confusion only worsened, with a scowl developing on his face. "Then keep her locked away! She could be safe that way, and you would never have to worry!" The frantic necromancer argued.

"Sweet Luna, do you even hear yourself?" Herbal growled in frustration.

"If you'd listen and help me, I can bring down the dark moon legion and bring our loved ones back!" Velvet sneered as the faint sound of hushing in the background fell on deaf ears.

"The thing is, colt, I was just like you once. I chased after that same spell to bring my wife back and found nothing." Herbal's glare softened into a knowing look. "You haven't found anything, have you?" The reluctance in his voice was heavy, Herbal hated this, but the young necromancer would have to come to terms at some point.

Velvet growled as more tears of frustration fell down his face, his horn suddenly glowing. "SHUT UP!" He roared. A weak shock wave blasted out of his horn, knocking Herbal down with a forceful push. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!" Velvet repeats, with hooves holding the side of his head. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! I CAN BRING HIM BACK; I KNOW I CAN!" Velvet fell to the floor, hooves held against his ear, mumbling incoherent ramblings.

Herbal pushed himself off the ground just in time to see Twilight and the other peaking through the door with worried faces. Herbal was quick enough to give them a look that said "stay back", to which they reluctantly agreed. The older necromancer slowly approached the frantic stallion, carefully picking him up and wrapping his forelegs around Velvet's body. Of course, he tried to escape the Herbals grasp, and in response, the older stallion hugged him tighter until he huffed.

"You gotta let go, Velvet. I know that feeling of loss, and I sure as shit know that it hurts a lot. But no amount of magic is going to bring our loved ones back, and you should know that out of anypony. The best thing we can do is to keep moving forward and live the best life we can in honor of our lost loved ones. You're only causing yourself more pain, and as a somepony who sees you as a son, it also hurts me." Herbal hugged Velvet gently as tears formed in his own eyes. "Move on, and then you'll find happiness with the ponies you have now. Carve a path to a better future." After Herbal's speech, Velvet couldn't hold it anymore and started to wail like a newborn foal in the forelegs of his mentor/ second father. It might have been seconds, minutes, or hours. But that didn't matter to the crying necromancer.

Velvet sniffled and looked down at the floor. "I-I don't want to be that stallion anymore. I know I should move on, but the thought of my brother being with me again won’t go away. Every time I get close to some semblance of happiness, there's something that always ruins that for me! I don't deserve anything for being so pitiful!"

Herbal stroked the back of Velvet's head while quietly shushing him. “Don’t say things like that, Velvet; they ain't true. You're just a lonely colt that’s been tough for too long. Anyone could tell that you’re a good pony at heart.” He said with a small smile.

Velvet’s eyes widened at those words as the events of Minty and Velvet’s meeting a couple of days ago played in his mind.

“With you, I and any other pony can see you aren't some 'hate-filled' stallion. You're a kind-hearted and gentle soul who got the short end of the stick. You don't have to bottle these emotions up: it's alright to be angry or sad. Just because you feel that way doesn't mean you're bad; you need a shoulder to cry on when you feel down."

‘That day, I didn’t know what I did. At the time, I chalked it up to being the heat of the moment I kissed him. But now I see that my thanks weren’t a lie.’ Velvet thought as a sad smile appeared on his muzzle.

“I’ve been a fool this entire time.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sky slowly dimmed as its once bright blue-hued color changed into vibrant orange as the sun lowered beyond the horizon. Velvet stared out the train car window as The Elements and Herbal sat in their seats.

It had been a few hours since Velvet and Herbal’s talk. Twilight and her friends came out and revealed they had been listening to them the whole time, the fact petrified Velvet as he tried to hide his face in shame. After a little more coaxing, they eventually got Velvet to calm down and in a more stable mood. They had all figured that they should talk about life stories or events to pass the time.

The subject of Herbal’s hoof canon came up, and when Twilight gave it back, Herbal nearly had a heart attack upon seeing it. Somehow, the studious unicorn fashioned the weapon with A SECOND BARREL, a new pink and purple color scheme, and glitter practically caked the thing!

For 2 hours straight, Herbal cursed Twilight and her partners in the “crime”, being Pinkie and rarity, demanding an explanation. Twilight’s reason was that she “got carried away” and reverse-engineered the Celestia damned thing. Pinkie and Rarity’s reasons were practically childish compared to the studious unicorns, in the sense that they thought it looked bland and bleak, so they decided to “spice it up.” as they said.

As punishment, Herbal forced Pinkie and Rarity to clean it back to the way it was. Twilight didn’t get one; instead, she got thanked by the old stallion. Now the group was making their way to the train station with Herbal in tow, something about needing to lie low for the time being.

“Hiya Velvy!”

Velvet jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of the party mare with a friendly smile on her face. “Hello to you too, Pinkie.” He replied with a smile of his own.

“So how are ya feelin’? Is that frown of yours upside down yet?” Pinkie said as she used her hoofs to stretch Velvet's face into something resembling a toothy grin. Velvet gently pushed her hooves away, the taste of birthday cake still in his mouth, and chuckled at the mare's enthusiasm.

“Heh, I’m faring much better now, thanks to you and your friends.” Velvet tiredly smiled at Pinkie but was surprised when she frowned at him.

“Something is still making you sad, isn’t it?” She said with concern.

Velvet frowned as he faced away from the party mare. “It’s just cart lag, my mind is trying to process the last few hours. I’ll be fine in a little bit.” He flashed a reassuring smile.

Pinkie was strangely silent for a moment before a light bulb went off in her head as a wide grin found its way onto her muzzle. “Hey, Velvy, wanna hear a joke?” She said with a sly expression. Velvet got nostalgic at those words, and he raised an eyebrow.

“Suuuuure?” He cautiously agreed.

“Why did the fish have a bad fin?” Pinkie asked, trying to suppress a giggle. “Because they had carp-altunnel!” Everypony in the train car overheard the awful joke and collectively groaned as Pinkie almost fell to the floor laughing.

But what shocked the group and stopped their sounds, was that Velvet was laughing almost as hard as Pinkie was. It was to the point he would cough from how hard he was laughing at the awful pun. Velvet finally stopped laughing and wiped a tear from his eye, now noticing the strange looks from his friends.

“Sorry everypony, It’s just that I have a soft spot for puns. My brother would always tell me whenever I felt bad.” Velvet turned to pinkie with a grateful smile. “Thank you, I needed that.” Velvet only smiled as the pink mare's mood seemed to skyrocket at the comment, then a devilish smirk came to his muzzle. “Hey, pinkie dear, would you mind if I told some jokes?”

Pinkies gasped with stars twinkling in her eyes as she got close to Velvet with a big grin. “Would I ever!” She loudly said.

Unfortunately, the rest of the inhabitants of the train car were filled with dread and soon subjugated to several hours of non-stop puns from the two. Herbal considered shooting himself but chose to take a nap in the back car. Twilight used a sound-canceling spell. Rainbow dash uselessly covered her ears. Rarity stuffed cotton she had into hers, and Fluttershy listened to the two and giggled at some of the jokes.

But to the groups, except for Velvet and Pinkie, relief, the train soon arrived in the small town as Luna's night had fully covered the sky. Twilight was stopped by two bat ponies wearing black and purple armor as she trotted off the train.

“We were given an order for one Velvet night.” One of the stoic guards spoke. Twilight was about to introduce herself when Velvet trotted right next to her. “Are you Velvet night? You fit the description.” the guard asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You are correct my good sir, but if I may, could you tell us who you are?” Velvet gave a suspicious look as the second guard stepped closer.

“We’re both parts of the lunar princess's newly established night guard. Our orders were to escort you to ponyville central hospital.” The bat pony droned out. Before Velvet could ask, the two guards turned around and started heading to the hospital without speaking. With some confusion, Velvet followed but stopped when he noticed the rest following him.

The younger necromancer sighed and faced the group. “It’s been a long day for all of us, so I suggest you all go home.” Velvet looked at Herbal, “You can go with Twilight, Herbal, I am sure she can get you someplace to rest for tonight.” With that, Velvet trotted off before anypony could argue, so Twilight and her friends parted ways.

To be honest, Velvet was annoyed by this sudden request so late at night, even more so that he had to abandon his friends. So it had better be good or so help whoever called him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I trotted down the halls of ponyville hospital, I couldn’t help but undress the two bat-like ponies in front of me with my eyes. From the outside, they look to be just another form of pegasi, just with new features. The exciting thing was; that if bat-ponies WERE part bat, then it would be a scientist's wet dream to study these creatures.

I was so captivated by them that I failed to notice they stopped walking and were now standing before a familiar door. “In here, sir. Commander Rocky road will fill you in on the rest.” One of the guards said. Then as fast as I met them, the two trotted off before I could do anything.

‘interesting as they are, I’m afraid they run off before I'd catch one if that is how they all act’ I wrap my magic around the handle and open the door to see a tired-looking Rocky road sitting with his back facing a large window. On the other side, Arctic specter was still restrained and locked to his hospital bed, albeit looking better now. I trotted to Rocky with a friendly smile.

“Good evening, Commander. I hope you find yourself in high spirits?” I greeted with a raised eyebrow.

Rocky sighed and stood up to face the restrained Arctic. “To be honest, I’m not. While you and your friend were out in Canterlot, my stallions and I got stationed here to keep an eye on this guy,” Rocky tapped a hoof on the reinforced glass, with Arctic not reacting. “We tried to question him, but every time he would stay silent and speak only three words,” Rocky road turned to Velvet with a serious expression. ”Bring me Velvet. That’s all he would say.”

I stayed silent to process what he had told me. Why would he suddenly want to talk now? And why with me, especially? The first time I tried to question him, all he did was curse at me and act like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum. All of this sounded fishy to me, especially what happened only a few days ago with the train. I huffed and trotted over to the door connecting the two rooms, and before I opened it, I looked at Rocky.

“I’ll talk to him.” Rocky nodded. I opened the door and was now face-to-face with a higher 6, denial. We gazed at each other, dark red eyes meeting icy blue ones. “It’s flattering that you’d want my audience, but it’s getting late, and I had a long week. So don’t waste my time.” I spat with annoyance.

The red colt remained silent, with barely any anger coming from himself. “Why?” He muttered under his breath.

“Huh? Could you say that again? I couldn’t hear you.” I asked with a confused look.

“Why, why am I not dead yet?” The venom in his voice was heavy as a slight glare aimed at me. “Is it because you need an answer? Then you’re out of luck because I barely know anything higher than my rank. Still, should a necromancer like me be dead on the spot?” His eyes drifted down, a somber expression now on his face.

Usually, I would come up with some snarky response, maybe even a white lie. But right now, I don't know what to say. He had a point. Why wasn’t he dead yet? With me, I struck a deal with the princess and was lucky enough that she wasn’t in a bad mood that day. With Arctic, He made no deals or pleas for his life and was probably only around for an answer before they killed him. That’s when memories played in my mind, over and over of how the friends I have now warmed up to me, how a monster such as myself was able to feel love again with Minty, and how Princess Celestia trusted me when nopony else would.

” Because I think you are a good pony.”

Arctics' eyes widened as he stared at me with disbelief. “W-What?” he muttered in shock.

“When I joined forces with Celestia, I didn’t think I’d last a day before getting executed. But, she trusted me and allowed me to make allies so that I could achieve my dream. During all that, I kept fearing that any mistake I made would result in my demise, and sure, they distrusted me at first. I still think that a pony like myself doesn’t deserve them, and maybe that is true.” I looked at the Arctic with a smile and determined look. “But still, I have others I can rely on to help me forge a future where we can all live happily. Where I can let go of my past deeds. And maybe yours too.”

I trotted to the stunned Arctic’s bedside and unlocked the restraints around his hooves, only leaving the one on his horn. He sat up slowly and rubbed his sore joints with a confused scowl. “Are you stupid or something?” He spat.

“Heh, Heh, most likely. You remind me of myself in my younger days, so full of spit and hate that you’d burn the world before being taken down. But I believe you can change as I have, to grow beyond what you are now and make your happiness.” I wrapped my forelegs around the young stallion and pulled him into a hug. “Aren’t you tired as well?” I softly spoke.

We were quiet for a moment before I felt Arctics' head nod slightly. “Yeah, I am. When I was young, my parents and I worked and lived at a family-owned lumber mill. Life was good until a forest fire was burning the mill to the ground. My parents rushed in to save anypony that was trapped inside. Luckily, everypony got out safely, except my mom and dad.” I felt a set of hooves rest on my back. ”Since that day, I’ve been lying to myself, believing that they disappeared because they were mad at me, that I didn’t attempt to help them. So I joined the legion to find them, but deep down, I knew they were dead.”

“To answer your question again, I’m tired.”

A smile came to my muzzle as I backed away from the colt; tears ran down the young stallion's cheeks despite his stone-faced look. “That’s good. If you answer my questions, I will be able to talk with Princess Celestia to see if she would give you the same trust as I have.” I said with a warm smile. I place my left hoof back onto the ground with my right held out to Arctic. “Let’s carve a path to a better future, to make our happiness with the ones around us.”
Arctic specter stared at my hoof for a second before he smirked. ”You’re not as bad as they say.” The Arctic grabbed my hoof with his own. “I’m sick of taking orders from some edgy old stallions; let’s kick their flanks and rise!”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Sir, what should we do about Higher 6?” A robed servant bowed before the leader

He looked down at them with an annoyed glare. “I want the trash exterminated; no secrets are allowed to be revealed yet, not when I’m so close.” He snarled and slammed a hoof into his stone throne.

“Would you like me to send a group to do the job?” The servant asked with hesitation.

“Yes, I would. In addition, send Higher 2 and 4. I want to make sure the traitors are dead.” The leader spoke with heavy disdain.

“U-Um, sir? Higher 4 is having one of her…um, episodes again. Are you sure-”

The glare from the leader silenced the servant in an instant. “I don’t care. Tell her if she doesn’t comply, her brother gets the chopping block.” An evil smile came to the leader's muzzle as the servant nodded silently and teleported away.

“You and that sister of yours won’t stop me when my plans are complete, not even the royal sisters would be able to face me. Those visions will be proven wrong.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There, that’s where the HQ should be. I don’t know the location exactly, but if you’ll find it.” Arctic pointed at a spot on a map, provided by Rocky road, between the crystal kingdom and Cloudsdale, as Herbal said.

I nodded, folded the map, and put it into my vest pocket with my magic as I got off the bed. “Well, it was nice having a chat with you Arctic, dear. But I must go, seeing that it is almost 2 in the morning.” I smirked and pointed to the wall clock with the same time. “I’ll make sure to speak with the princess first thing in the morning. Goodnight.” I was about to open the door when Arctic spoke up.

“Hey, wait!” I stopped and looked back at the young stallion, a grateful smile on his muzzle. “Before you go, can I tell you something?” I nodded and he looked away with a blush of embarrassment. “My name isn’t Arctic specter, It’s chestnut.”

I giggled, which caused the young stallion to look at me with an angry expression and his blush to darken. “S-Stop laughing, you asshole!” He yelled.
“Sorry, it’s not a bad name; it’s cute.” A sly smile crossed my lips as chestnut stared blankly and proceeded to lay back in bed, pulling the covers over himself as he did. I giggled again and left the room quietly, noticing that Rocky road had fallen asleep on the other side of the window.

I shook my head as I left. And as I was trotting back to the library, a yawn escaped my lips as my eyes went heavy. It didn’t take long for me to reach my destination, going through the front door, all the lights were off, and I could hear loud snoring from the basement. Walking up the stairs, I entered my room, threw my clothes and glasses onto the floor, and collapsed in the bed, soaking up the softness of the sheets.

As my eyelids started to close, a smile came to my lips as darkness consumed my vision.

protologue: Do I have your attention?

Terrified ponies fled back into their homes, the sound of thundering hooves went through the air, and the frantic shouting of command rang out in the small crowd of royal guards.

In a small town just outside of Equestria laid a small clinic, it was painted white with a simple wood red cross as a sign. On the outside, it was nothing more than a clinic, but inside, that is what the guards were for.

“I want a current report about our suspect.” An elegant voice commanded. The voice belonged to the legendary Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and she was talking with an orange coat, blue maned earth stallion in golden armor.

“So far, nothing. Our unicorn team hasn’t picked up any signs of magic use, and our ground team hasn’t detected any hidden escape routes. So at least our perp hasn’t made a run for it.” The orange stallion said with an annoyed grimace.

“That is worrying commander, usually necromancers try to flee the moment they are caught.” Celestia said, giving her own grimace when she finished, Rocky road giving a nod of agreement. Guards surrounded the small clinic on all sides, even pegasi covering the sky, every single one looking with mixtures of fear and hatred. Celestia was about to approach the build before the orange stallion put a hoof in front of her.

“With all due respect Princess, I don’t think you should go, this bastard may be too dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.” The orange stallion said with a serious look.

“I understand your worry Commander rocky road, but I think I’ll be able to handle myself.” Celestia gave Rocky road a confident smile. The Commander was hesitant, but moved his hoof out the way, allowing the Princess to walk forwards to the Clinic.

When Celestia stopped a couple of meters away from the door, 10 guards approached and circled the Princess in a protective manner as the front guard slowly opened the door. The waiting room was overly simple in design. It was lit by a single ceiling lamp, chairs lined the walls with only decorative plants separating them, and the opposite wall to the front door only had another door off to the right with a bookshelf next to it, and a large open rectangle window in the middle for a receptionist.

In said window, there was a single stallion with lanky proportions, pastel purple coat, long tied back hair, a pair of round shaped glasses with a black frame, a white dress shirt covered by a black vest, and a sharp spiral horn on his head. Commander Rocky road walked past Celestia with a gaze of pure hatred and spoke with a voice of barely contained rage.

“The building has been surrounded, come out with your hooves up and sit on the floor.” Rocky road yelled out his command, the response he got only furthered his already boiling hate.

“Greetings~, I hope you all are having a good night? Also, there is no need for yelling…so shut it you low life.” The stallion said with a sly smile, a small bit of sweat going down his brow. Rocky road slammed his hoof into the hardwood floor and the guards surrounding the princess entered the room, pointing all their spears at the necromancer.

“If you don’t comply, I’ll have to use force” Rocky said in a low threatening tone.

“Heh Heh, oh you're so funny” the necromancer laughed. “But there is no need for violence, I was actually waiting for my beloved princess to show herself~.” he said with an almost lustful glee.

Celestia was surprised by this, most Necromancer's despised her and what she stood for, to have one genuinely praise and expect her filled The princess with…worry.

“What is it that you wish to talk to me about?” Celestia asked with a little hesitation. The necromancer's smile seemed to widen a bit more as he teleported out of the reception area, in front of her, him being about matching with Princess Luna in height. The sudden action caused the guards to panic and point their spears at his neck, which didn’t seem to bother the overjoyed stallion.

“I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time.” he tried to bow, but the spear only allowed him to give a small nod. “ If I may be so…bold to ask…but can I escort you to my lab?” The necromancer asks with an almost childlike pride.

This certainly sent off red flags in Celestia, a necromancer who doesn’t hate her guts AND wants to reveal there secret operating space, it was too unreal for her.

“How do I know you won’t lead me into a trap?” Celestia said in an accusing tone and a suspecting look. The stallion's smile disappeared and was replaced by a appalled look.

“I would never stoop so low as to do something like that to you. I would chop off my own legs with a rusty saw before I ever thought about doing that.” The necromancer said with a hoof over his chest.

Celestia always had the ability to read others' expressions to find out others true intentions, either this stallion was the best lair on Equus, or he was actually telling the truth, the tone of his voice and his expression seemed to be believable. To the guards confusion, The princess raised a hoof to order the guards to stand down to which they reluctantly complied. With the spears away from his neck, the necromancer's smile returned in full.

“I’m so happy you agreed. Although I wish to talk with you in private, I understand your uncertainty, so bring as many lap dogs as you need.” The Necromancer walked over to the bookshelf to neck to the door, and pulled on one of the books. There was a ‘click’ and the floor opened up to reveal a hidden stairway. He started to trot down the stairway, Celestia and the guards quickly following after.
The stairway was long and dark, the only light source being torches that lined the wall. The group soon reached the bottom, only to face a stone wall, the necromancer walked over to a torch and pulled on it, causing the stone wall to rise up and reveal a hidden chamber.

The chamber itself had a huge round interior with a high ceiling, the walls were covered in dark oak cabinets and bookshelf with tomes, a broken stone altar on the opposite side of the room. In the center was an operating table with lights and surgical equipment accompanying it, the most shocking thing was the rotted looking corpse of a mare on top of it.

The Necromancer teleported to a section cabinets, bringing the Princess and guards out of their horrified state. Guards started to move into the chamber and some even came close to the corpse, but the Necromancer wiped his head around and gave them a death glare that made them think stop in their tracks.

“I wouldn’t recommend getting close, I’d break you if you dare touch my work.” The necromancer said in a passive aggressive way.

“What in Tartarus is this, you monster!” Rocky road demanded.

The necromancer ignored him and simply teleported to the side of the operating table, now with vial and jars encased in a dark purple hue. He set the containers down on a separate table with tools on it and levitated a scalpel and a small grey jar over to his side, as he pour a unknown green liquid on the body, and started to gut on the area with the scalpel.

“My name is velvet night, I am 127 years old with several medical degrees in almost every field of medical practice. Due to an…unfortunate… cause, I became an ex member of the dark moon legion.” He finished making his cuts and used opened the fleshy flaps to reveal the rotted insides of the mare's corpse and began to work on what's left. “The only thing I want right now is your assistance, your highness.”

“Is there a reason you’re telling me all this?” Celestia questioned in a cautious way, this seemed to make the necromancers smile waver a little.

“There is no need to be nervous Princess, as I said before, I wouldn’t think of hurting you. As for the reason why…I want to help you bring down the dark moon legion.” Velvet night continued to work as the stunned silence of Celestia and the guards filled the room.

“You’re lying! Stallions, cuff him!” Commanded Rocky road. His guards responded almost immediately, they started to slowly approach the necromancer, then froze in place when his sharp horn glowed a dark purple.

“I lied a little when we first spoke. Yes, I do hate setting traps and taking hostages like some coward, but this is one time I will allow it.” His smile was gone, now replaced by a scolding look. “I rigged this chamber with deadly nightshade bombs that will go off once a certain spell activates. If the poisonous gas doesn't get you, falling rubble will, So I suggest you all sit still while the adults speak.” Velvet night said while looking at the princess with his signature smile.

“Is this game to you? There is no need to go this far.” Celestia retorted with a scowl. Velvet night gave a sad chuckle as he sewed up the corpse.

“My majesty, life is a game that ponies take too seriously. Besides, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to know almost everything about the most notorious necromancer group in Equestria.” His horn suddenly flashed a blinding white light, causing everypony in the room to jump back and cover their faces in surprise. Once the light faded, everypony looked back at something that made their eyes widen in shock.

Everypony knows that Necromancers can raise the dead, it’s their most famous trait. But the risen mare corpse wasn’t the usual mindless undead, she was looking around in a panic with a scared face and a mouth moving soundlessly.

She appeared to have an intact consciousness, if it wasn’t for the missing lower half and missing patches of flesh, she would’ve looked like a normal pony. The sound of Velvet night giggling drew the attention of Celestia, his smile returned as he looked at her.

“So, your majesty, do I have your attention?”