Keepers of the Dead

Chapter One: No Good Deed

No matter how good your intent was it can always backfire.

Magic is something all unicorns are born with. It defines them in everything they do. From simple levitation to banishing an evil mystical force. It shapes the lives of all those they come in contact with. Whether they use their ability for good or evil is up to them.

“Twilight?” Spike said with a concerned tone, “it is three in the morning you really should go to bed.” The unicorn looked up from her book at Spike, giving him a yawn, “I’m sorry if I woke you up, Spike. I just got this book on enchantments and wanted to see if I could try it out on something.”

Spike looked unamused at Twilight, “You are going to be a wreck at Rarity’s get together tomorrow if you don’t get some sleep soon.”

She let out a short sigh, “ya I guess you're right.” She blew out the candle on her desk and felt her way back to her bed. She had been so close. Just another try and she would have been able to enchant any table cloth to be stain resistant. It might not have been a glories enchantment, but it would save her a lot of time cleaning up after Pinkie Pie’s parties. Twilight situated herself under the covers and dosed into sleep. The last thing she heard was spike snoring before she drifted into a dreamless slumber.

Twilight was abruptly awoken as she heard somepony knocking on her door. Twilight scurried about the hollowed out tree, opened the door looking exhausted.

“Yah’ alright, Twilight?” asked Applejack.

“Yes I’m fine; I was up late last night studying, ” Twilight said letting out a yawn.

“Are ya’ll still going over to Rarity’s shop to see what she’s got to show us?”

“Yes I was just about to grab spike and head on over. Do you have any idea on what she wants to show us?” She walked back into her house and grabbed the book she was reading the night before and headed back outside

“Probably a new design, she has been working on it for a few weeks now so it must be good.”

With Spike at her side and her new book packed in her bag Twilight, Applejack, and a sleeping Spike were off to meet the others outside of Rarity's boutique. As they walked up they could already see Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash waiting outside. When everyone was there Rainbow Dash sighed impatiently, and flatly said “finally you two are here now Rarity will show us what she was working on all this time.” Rainbow swooped down and knocked at the door. After a while Rarity opened and stepped out, a dress form covered by a blanket floating behind her. With a click the door closed as Rarity turned to her friends.

“As you all know I have been working on this new design for a while now and” she stopped in the middle of her sentence and was looking off into the distance, “oh my it looks like we have a new pony moving into Ponyville” the group turned around to see a figure pulling a cart covered by a tarp stretched taut over the top with a mound of boxes underneath. The strange thing was that the pony pulling the cart was wearing a hooded cloak.

Pinkie’s smile was slowly growing when it hit its peak she jumped up and shouted, “that means we can have a welcoming party!” She galloped off as fast as she could to Sugarcube Corner. As the hooded figure was about to pass the boutique Rarity stopped the newcomer on the street, “Hello, I’m Rarity, I must say I have never seen a cloak quite like yours.” The pony stopped and shook off the hood revealing an older colt with grey coat and a brown mane, he looked over at Rarity. “I’m sorry what was that? I was miles away.”

Rarity smiled as she walked closer “I was just saying welcome to Ponyville and your cloak looks very interesting.”

The newcomer looked over the cloak with almost a nostalgic pride and chuckled a little, “It’s an old family heirloom, but I just haven’t found the time to properly repair it.” He continued looking it over, looking almost saddened by the condition it was in.

Twilight spoke up, “Well, if you are looking for a tailor you will find no one better in Ponyville than Rarity.”

Rarity blushed slightly, “Oh Twilight you are too kind, but seeing as how you are new I could patch it up for you, free of charge of course.”

The grey unicorn let out a small chuckle, “No offence to you or your skill but I doubt you’ll be able to completely fix it.”

Rarity looked slightly miffed at that remark, but kept her composure. “Rips and holes are basic I can ea...” She was interrupted by the newcomer, “no it will only hurt the cloak in the end.”

Rarity now looking determined to fix his cloak gave him a stern look, “Come now if you take that dusty thing off I can fix it up.” Rarity taking it in her teeth to slide it off of him, but as soon as she bit down he lurched back ripping the fabric in two. All of the ponies gasped except rarity still holding a half of the torn cloak in her mouth. The colt quickly threw his half over his flank trying to hide something. She slowly placed her half gently on the ground and broke the awkward silence surrounding the group. “I...I’m terribly sorry, if you will give me the afternoon I can easily fix it up better than new. Mister...I’m sorry I never got your name.”

He was slowly grinding his teeth and taking deep breaths, hooking himself back up to the cart and throwing both halves of the torn cloak over his flank. The colt said coldly “It’s Nickel, and next time listen when someone tells you no.” As he started to walk off he mumbled something about finding a bar before he turned a corner and vanished.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak, “wow he was kind of a jerk, all you were trying to do was help him.”

“Now Rainbow,” Twilight stepped in “moving can be stressful on some ponies and his family heirloom was just destroyed.” She stopped too late but looked over at Rarity with an apologetic smile “err ripped by accident that is.”

“No it is fine Twilight, but I suppose I should go apologize to him. None of you know where he lives by any chance, would you?”

Fluttershy’s head perked up at this and sheepishly said “Well there was a new building, it’s on the outskirts of town.”

d “If you want I can come with you.”

Rarity’s expression brightened at this “We should wait a few hours and let him cool down a bit.” There was a moment of awkward silence where no one looked at each other and no one spoke. The only sound was that of the leaves blowing in the wind. Spike motioned to say something but immediately closed his mouth. Finally Applejack broke the silence, “So Rarity yah’ finally gunna’ show us what you made there?”

She let out a short sigh “no the mood is ruined now, besides now that I think about it, it could use some more work.” Rarity floated the dress form back inside “but that doesn’t mean we can’t spend the afternoon together, too bad Pinkie had to run off like that.”

Rarity headed over to the entrance to the boutique “thank you for the great time girls but I must go make amends with Nickel.” Twilight started to follow Rarity but was quickly stopped by the white unicorn “are you sure you want to tag along? I do believe I can handle this on my own.”

Twilight sheepishly answered, “well to be honest I want to find out why that cloak was so special, something seemed strange about it. You didn’t notice anything wrong with it did you?”

Rarity thought about it for a second, “other than the holes, rips and the general wear and tear nothing out of the ordinary.” With that the two were off to the house at the outskirts of town. As they approached the house they noticed the empty cart parked out front. “He sure did unpack in a hurry.” Rarity noted demurely. Twilight let her friend take the lead as she walked up to the door. *knock* *knock* There was a quiet stirring in the house, as the door opened they were both shocked to see a dragon almost as large as Rarity. The unicorns’ mouths hung open staring at the dragon with black and blue scales. The dragon spoke in a feminine voice “Hello how can I help you?”

Chapter 2: Curiosity