Over countless centuries and millennia, the Equestrian language and culture has changed immensely. The oldest, and indeed strangest, of which is the very first, or at least the very first that was written down. The books written in this ancient language have somehow managed to survive the ages. They are older than Celestia, older than Discord, and far, far older than one of the few ponies interested enough to read and translate them.
Twilight Sparkle had been attempting to translate one of these books for many days now, and had almost completed it. She had only just noticed that, in her excitement to translate the book, she hadn't been really reading anything she was translating, only making sure it was correct, then moving on. Upon noticing this, she decided that she should at least read the title.
Sententiae e Commentariis Meis was written across the book with sewn-in cloth.
“Memoirs?” She asked to nopony in particular. A name was written at the bottom, Renovator Caesorum. The ponies name had a translation, it meant ‘Raiser of Fallen’.
Twilight switched over to the book in which she’d been writing the translations in. She began to read.
In this new age of knowledge and magic, those ponies who pride themselves on intellect are encouraged to ask questions, and to learn all they can about whatever field of learning they may choose to partake in. I have chosen to dedicate my life to death, to put it simply.
Life is cruel, and unforgiving. Many turn to crime and evil to survive, but what of those ponies who don’t? Do the evil dead go to the same place as the good dead? Do we go anywhere at all? These are the questions I must ask myself, these are my burden that I must answer.
The book puzzled Twilight. For a moment she thought that she must have mistranslated it, given how unusual it sounded. She continued reading, she read the think book for a few hours, not even noticing the passing of time. She read well into the night, amazed at the thoughts of the author, trying to think of what era this pony must have come from.
The book was a memoir, the a detailed account of this ponies life and research. It told of constantly changing theories, and experiments on the bodies of the dead, given to the author by the families of the dead themselves. Experiments that would have been called crazy and immoral were encouraged by the mares and stallions of this ponies time, and it amazed Twilight. Eventually, the author began to think that the only way to unravel the mysteries of death, was to talk to a dead pony .Upon reaching the halfway point of the book, she reached a page that had been covered in red ink, the rest of the book being written in black. This is where she had stopped translating hours earlier.
She quickly stopped and frantically went back to translating, far too interested in the book to stop now. She first tried to translate the red words scrawled across the page diagonally, cutting through the page.
The words in red ink read ‘VIVMORT’. There was no translation that Twilight knew of to match the word, she could only guess at it’s meaning.
“It must have something to do with the dead, given the root ‘MORT’ in the word.” She once again commented to no one.
For hours she worked, as if time had stopped just for her so that she may do so. She translated a few more chapters, then continued reading. Each page astounded her, this pony’s research had reached into an area that, in her time, would be considered an unforgivable crime.
Muscles, the heart, the brain, they all have one thing in common. They all rely on electricity to function. Electricity is the essence of life, and if I can reintroduce it to the pony body, I may be able to bring them back. I can learn of the afterlife and of how to permanently preserve life. This could be the most important discovery of the era, if it works.
A letter entry revealed that the pony was wrong, he would need more than electricity to bring the dead back to life. Twilight found the very idea of bring back the dead despicable. The very thought of how he would go about the procedure was sickening, yet, she kept reading, and translating.
As Twilight continued to read, she found that Renovator Caesorum almost seemed to be falling into madness, devoting all his time to his work. Nevertheless, the ponies of his town kept giving him their dead to experiment on.
I have long-since discovered that electricity is not the answer, but I have yet to use the most potent of all forces know to me. I have yet to use my own magic. Necromancy may provide better results. I must try everything I can, it is my duty.
The author detailed, heavily, how he went about using magic to try and reanimate the dead. His first attempts failed, and miserably so. His first spells damaged or even destroyed the bodies. Over the course of a few dozen pages, he grew more experienced with this, in modern times, forbidden and illegal, form of magic. He was eventually able to reanimate the bodies, though only just.
The most he could do was make a leg twitch, or make them sit up. They would not talk, or move on their own, and what little life they appeared to have quickly left their bodies. Twilight wished that the ponies story ended there, that that was as far as he was willing to go. Against her better judgment she kept reading on, translating this book that bordered on the insane.
As my research continues, I grow more and more impatient. Every time I use my magic, I succeed in bringing the dead back to life, but only for a few moments, and it seems there is nothing I can do to extend this period. They also do not seem to be fully conscious. Awake, but not truly alive.
I have devised a new spell for my experiments, and I have been given the honor of being able to test it on my own friend. Malleorum Ferrum was taken by the feather flu a day ago, his body was given to me by his wife in hopes that I can bring him back. I must act quickly, before my friend begins to... smell.
MY SPELL! IT WORKS! That was all that was written across an entire page. Four words took up the whole thing. The next one gave more detail.
Ferrum Is back! I tried the spell not long after my last entry and it WORKED! My friend is alive, he’s speaking as well! I made him prove it, can’t be too sure. Just basic questions, like his age. He replied with his normal sarcasm, it’s Ferrum alright. I cannot express on parchment how happy this discovery has made me. With this discovery, I can stop death entirely! I may not be able to bring back those who've already been committed to the dirt, but those who've recently died can be brought back. Think of the potential!
The next chapter went over the specifics of the spell, how to perform it, what items were needed, how long before corpses could no longer be brought back, everything.
Twilight cringed violently as she read it.
“How could somepony do this? Why would somepony even try to do this?!” She pushed the book away slightly.
Twilight still pondered the meaning of the word, written in red, on one of the pages. ‘VIVMORT’. It still held no meaning. She continued to read and translate well into the night. Without noticing, she approached the final quarter of the book.
It’s been a week since I saved my friend from death, he’s told me so much of what death entails. I never knew what to think of death until now, I always considered it a simple end to life. The heart stops beating, the body stops moving, and that’s it. To my dismay, I found that it is so much more. Ferrum has told me where all ponies go upon death, a terrible place of no name. He describes it as a place so packed with corpses and cadavers that the walls are made of them. The hallways of this place stretch on forever, never ending. He described to me, what can only be seen as eternal punishment for something we know nothing of. He told me that the pain did not end, it felt as though his flesh was being ripped apart as he walked through that realm of the dead, though there were no hooks or blades that touched him, only the bodies of other dead. One of the more disturbing things he mentioned, was that there weren't only ponies there. Griffons, dragons, and all manner of other creatures resided in this infernal realm of fire and anguish.
Twilight set the book down when she read this, a grimace still adorning her face. Is that what really happens to things when they die? They go to a place where they are forced to wander among and over the other dead for all eternity, knowing nothing but suffering. She glanced at the book again and shook her head. She kept reading, she didn't want to think about such a horrible idea.
It has been one more week since my last entry. My friend is dead once more. His body, though alive, was still dying as nature intended. His flesh was putrid and rotting when he came to my house, his right hind leg was falling off. I had to stop myself from vomiting at the sight of him. He asked me to kill him. I realized then that my spell was still imperfect, and through my negligence and not developing the spell further, I created a suffering for my friend worse than the one he’d already been in. As I gazed upon his decaying body, a worm of doubt found its way into my mind. If this was all I could do for ponies, would my spell ever be used for good? To cease suffering and pain eternally? I could do no more for my friend, I cancelled out the spell. He fell to the ground, just as dead as he’d been two weeks prior.
I’ve improved the spell, but I refuse to test it on a pony just yet. I will not repeat my previous mistake. I tested it on a stray dog, dead from starvation. It’s doing well, acting just like a normal dog.
The dog, whom I’ve yet to name, has been resurrected for more than a month now, with no signs of physical decay. I think It’s time to test it on a pony.
I’ve done it! I’ve done it again, but I believe the results will be better this time. Malleorum Ferrum will not have died in vain. I tested it on a foal who died a few days ago, but not so long as to begin to decay significantly.
Results are very promising. The colt had died of an infection after breaking and cutting his leg. The leg has since healed, and there is no sign of infection. Not only is he alive, he is healing rather than rotting!
It has been three months since I perfected the spell, all dead are now brought to me for resurrection. The progress I have made since my first endeavor is amazing! I’ve begun to teach others to use the spell, but none of them possess my level of experience in the field of necromancy.
Some ponies from other towns have started to come to me for resurrections. Others, however, call me a madpony. They say I should not toy with the dead, and that I should never manipulate nature as I so do. I simply relay the story Ferrum told to me of the Land of the Dead, and they disperse. It is plain to see that I do good work here, I save ponies from the horrors of that infernal place. Infernum, I call it.
Infernum, the word that acted as the period for this region of the book, was another that Twilight could not translate. Twilight was quickly starting to believe the pony of this book, if what he’d written was true, she may begin to idolize him more than any other great wizard. She started to wonder why she’d never heard of this pony. Such a discovery surely should have granted him some fame.
It’s been a year since my last entry. I’ve been resurrecting ponies the entire time that I haven't been researching. I see no reason to try the impossible, improving upon perfection. That foal comes to see me every now and again, he always thanks me for saving his life. Some ponies still try and argue that what I do is wrong, and that necromancy is to be abhorred and abolished. They say that my story of Infernum is fiction, the work of the decaying mind of an old pony. Well this old stallion knows more than they will ever know.
Something bad has happened. Something has begun to happen to the ponies I’ve resurrected. Some of them have become very angry, more easily irritated than normal ponies. I’ve brought back a few griffons, and they were the first cases. I stopped helping them to prevent it, but it’s started to happen more and more. Nopony has attacked each other, but I’m beginning to get worried. I need to start looking into this.
He died. The colt that I first successfully helped, he simply died. He died, they brought him to me, and my spell failed. It simply did not work. There had been no warning symptoms. My blood went cold as the implications sunk in. I have to continue my research, but I cannot stay here, the entire world is filled with these angry ponies. Fortunately, there has been word of an expedition. Some ponies are starting to say that the world may not be flat. It seems like nonsense to me, but I’m willing to take that risk.
Twilight broke out of her stupor when she realized that she had reached the end of the book. There was nothing left to translate, or read. The sun rose behind her in the window, warming Equestria with its rays of light. She had too many questions to simply stop there, she had to send a letter to Celestia of her findings, and see if she had anything by the same author. She looked out the window again and yawned. First she should probably get some sleep, she thought. But this was simply too important.
She levitated a quill and inkwell, along with some parchment over to herself and began to write.
