Bells and Keysby ComradeCthulhuChaptersThe DeadBarhedrinAbhorsenFire of ChaosThe StormThe Dead(Ponyville Library, Ponyville, Equestria) “Remind me again why we’re here.” Said Rainbow Dash. “We're here cause' Twilight found some goshdarn portal spell she wants us tah watch'er try" Replied Applejack. Twilight was currently skimming through a book on the far side of the room. “The least she could do is hurry it up.” whispered Rarity. She quickly got quiet as soon as Twilight turned around. “Alright, let’s try this. Everypony form a circle.” She said. The mane six quickly made a circle, and Twilight used chalk to draw a strange symbol in the center. “Now everypony stand still. Rarity, I need you to transfer a bit of your magic to me so this will work.” Said Twilight. Both of the unicorn’s horns began to glow, as did the strange mark. “I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to work.” Said Fluttershy nervously. She had been looking at the book before the spell started. Just as she finished talking, there was a bright flash, and then everything went black. (The Perimeter, Ancelstierre) It was a dark, misty evening. It had been raining for the past few hours, and the ground had become a soft brown mud. Also, it was very, very, dark. The only light was coming from a solitary oil lamp burning in a small trench. Inside that trench were too cold, wet, and miserable soldiers. They each had light skin. The one on the right had dark brown hair and the one on the left was blond and looked slightly younger. Both of them had green military uniforms, but the dark haired one had a black armband. He also had a strange symbol on his forhead. Both were holding their rifles and staring out into the darkness. “There’s something out there. I just know it!” said Corporal William Hayes of the Crossing Point Scouts. “I’m telling you, there isn’t anything.” replied his friend, Ivan Kobilev, who wasn’t a scout or charter mage like Hayes. His talent was that he could actually operate the team’s lewis gun. “I’m going to take a look, just in case.” said Hayes “Take my rifle.” He drew his sword, Charter Marks glowing along the blade. “Why are you leaving your rifle?” asked Ivan. “If whatever out there is Dead or Free Magic, a gun isn’t going to help me is it?” “I suppose not.” said Ivan. Hayes climbed out of the trench and moved toward whatever was lying on the ground. His footsteps were almost silent as he moved. As he reached to point where the figures were, he looked down and saw…six multicolored ponies with weird symbols on their flanks. They were about half as tall as Hayes, around three feet high. Two had wings and two had horns. Unicorns and pegasi. What else could go wrong today? First the crossbow and now this! And of course they had to be weird colors too! Cobalt (or cyan, he couldn’t be sure), white (ok, that’s normal), orange, pink, purple, and yellow. By the Charter… “We’re clear Ivan. I think. Come on out.” Said Hayes. Ivan climbed out of the trench, still clutching his rifle. “What are they?” he asked. “How should I know?” Hayes started suddenly. “There are Dead nearby! I can feel it!” he hissed in Ivan’s ear, “We have to get out of here! Help me drag these things back to the trench” “We all know how many times we’ve listened to your Death sense and most of the time, you’re wrong.” “I was wrong three times out of five. That’s not most of the time. Just help me get them to cover.” Then both soldiers jumped back as the rainbow one sprang up. “I can get to that trench myself in ten seconds flat! What do you think, I’m disabled or something!” she yelled. The other ones got up as well, and all six began to walk slowly towards cover. “Well, we thought you were uncon- you know, I really don’t care who you are, but there are about six Dead Hands and most likely a necromancer on the way. If you could hurry to the trench, it would be appreciated.” said Hayes. “You would not believe the paper work that we would have to fill out if you got killed.” agreed Ivan. After this, the ponies seemed more eager to reach the trench, even though they had no idea what the two humans were talking about. “What are we even hiding from” asked the pink one as Ivan jumped into the trench after them. She noticed that the one with the glowing sword stayed out of cover. “You’re hiding from them.” hissed Hayes as six stumbling figures appeared through the mist. “See Ivan, I told you. Here they come! I’ll hold them off, you set up the lewis gun.” The creatures howled as they smelled Life, and charged the soldier. “You sure he doesn’t need help?” said the orange pony to Ivan. “Hayes fought at Wiverley and Forwin’s Mill. He knows what he’s doing.” replied the human. One of the Dead made a swipe at Hayes’ head. He ducked and cut the creature in half with his sword. Ivan took out two with the lewis gun. Hayes stabbed a fourth one and cut off its head. The remaining two charged Ivan, who shot one. Then Hayes raised his hand a shot a jet of golden light at the remaining Hand. It was blown through the air and disintegrated. “You guys are good at this!” said the purple one. “We have our moments. Then there’s stuff like the crossbow incident...” replied Hayes. He turned around, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. Everyone turned around, and saw the white pony staring down the blade of a strange, evil looking sword. At the other end of that sword was a Necromancer. “No one moves, or I kill the strange talking horse.” He rasped. Of course, someone moved, but the necromancer was too busy watching the obvious threats, Hayes and Ivan, that he didn’t see the orange pony until she kicked him. His head smashed into a rock. Ivan jumped out of the trench and checked his pulse. “He’s alive, but he’s out cold.” He said. Hayes jumped over the trench, and the ponies went over to the rock as well. “If he’s unconscious, then this will be even easier.” said Hayes. Before anyone could react, he pulled out his revolver and shot the necromancer dead. Then he turned around and walked away. (Army Headquarters, The Perimeter, Ancelstierre) When Hayes walked out of General Tindall’s headquarters, Ivan and the ponies were waiting in the lobby. “You know,” he said “I don’t think anyone can tell you six aren’t human. The general just asked me about the “civilians”. He didn’t mention ponies.” “You know, I’m plum tuckered of you just callin’ us “the ponies” all the goshdarn time.” said the orange one. The rest nodded in agreement. “Well considering we don’t know your names, what should we call you?” asked Ivan. “Maybe it’s time for some introductions.” said the white one. “I’m Rarity. The purple one is Twilight Sparkle, the orange one is Applejack, the pink one is Pinkie Pie, the yellow one is Fluttershy, and the rainbow one is Rainbow Dash. “Right…you’re six weird looking horses with weird names. Where are you even from?” asked Hayes. He sounded interested, but gave the general impression that he just didn’t care. He sat down in a chair opposite the ponies. “We’re from Equestria of course!” said Rainbow Dash. Hayes and Ivan looked at each other, and then looked back at the ponies. “Yeah, sorry, we don’t know where that is. Do you have a map?” asked Ivan. “Um, no.” said Pinkie. “Well, let’s get out of here before someone asks what Equestria is.” said Ivan. I two soldiers got up and left the command building, with the ponies following them. “First order of business, we need to find a place for you six to stay until we can get you back to, um, “Equestria.” How about you’re your house, Hayes?” “Excuse me? Are you suggesting that we all stay at my house until we make a plan, or indefinitely?” asked Hayes, raising one eyebrow. “Don’t worry, it’s just until we figure out what to do.” replied Ivan. “Well, I already have a plan. So we should only be at my house a few hours to get some maps, weapons, and different clothes.” “Different clothes?” “We can’t just waltz through the Old Kingdom in our uniforms.” “We’re going to the Old Kingdom!?” “Can you two please stop talking for a second?” said Fluttershy “Arguing makes my stomach hurt.” “We’re here anyway.” said Hayes, “Come on in. Just don’t touch anything.” (Hayes’ House, Bain, Ancelstierre) Hayes unlocked the door and held it open while Ivan and the ponies entered. “I keep weapons, equipment, and traveling clothes in the basement. Follow me.” Hayes led everyone downstairs and opened a hidden door. Inside were several chests. He opened one and pulled out two longswords and handed one to Ivan. Then he pulled out two pistols and handed one of those to Ivan. “Those weapons look different than the other ones.” said Twilight. “Yes, these are not revolvers. They’re new automatic pistols, specially modified to work in the presence of magic.” said Hayes. Then he removed to grubby old traveling cloaks from the chest, and handed one of those to Ivan as well. “And if you’re wondering, yes, you six get weapons as well.” “I’m not sure if I want to hurt anypony.” said Pinkie, even as Hayes tossed her a cloak and some special saddlebags. On one side of the bags was a sheath with a shortsword in it. “While you might not have much choice. Once we cross the wall, it’s kill or be killed.” replied Ivan. Hayes gave Applejack an identical pair of saddlebags. “What do I get?” asked Rainbow, sounding irritated. Hayes threw her a pair of saddlebags with a bow and some arrows, and a cloak, “What am I supposed to do with these?” “Fly up into the air, and shoot the enemy.” replied Hayes. He gave Fluttershy a bow and cloak as well, “As for you two unicorns, you’re just going to have to rely on magic to protect you. Do you know anything about Charter magic? “No, I’ve never even heard of the Charter.” Said Twilight “Neither have I.” said Rarity. “Do you know any defensive spells or anything that could help?” “Well, I can stun enemies, conjure shields, stuff like that.” Said Twilight. “I’m sure I could do that with some practice.” said Rarity. “Excellent.” Hayes threw them both a cloak and saddle bags. Rarity looked at the cloak in disgust. “Brown? How drab.” She exclaimed. “Don’t you have something in purple?” “Most obvious color ever… give me a second to check.” replied Hayes sarcastically. Rarity sighed and accepted the brown cloak. “How’re we even supposed to know how ta’ use these?” asked Applejack, looking at the sword. “We’ll start weapons training after we cross the wall.” answered Ivan. “Come on Hayes, tell us your brilliant plan that you said you have.” “Follow me.” said Hayes. He led them up to the kitchen and they all sat around a rectangular wooden table. “First, we cross the wall. That is the difficult part. You pegasi can probably fly over. Can unicorns teleport?” “How did you even guess that? Yes, we can.” replied Twilight. Hayes looked back at his map of Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom. “Then the unicorns will teleport across. Once you four are across, find each other and hide. Wait for the rest of us. Now, Applejack, Pinkie, you’ll have to come with Ivan and I. Since it’s impossible to get a visa to cross the wall these days, we’ll have to sneak across using an old crossing point. Let’s go!” The eight adventurers packed some food and other supplies in their bags and walked out. Two of them were wondering why they were even doing this, four of them were wondering if Hayes was insane, one was worrying about hot water, and the last one was just hungry. (The Old Kingdom, Three hours later) It seemed like it had been forever since the unicorns and pegasi had crossed the wall, and Rainbow Dash was pretty ticked off. “When are they going to get here?” she said in annoyance. Twilight poked her head out of the bushes. “They’ll get here when they get here. Hayes did say that sneaking across would be hard.” Just then, they heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. Then Hayes, Ivan, Applejack, and Pinkie stepped out. “It’s about time you got here!” said Rainbow. Hayes and Applejack rolled their eyes at the same time. “We had some complications. There was a patrol going by the old crossing point and we had to hide until they passed. Then the wall didn’t want to let me cross for some reason. I kept running into invisible walls until I finally got across.” answered Hayes patiently. “Why wouldn’t the wall want you to cross?” asked Fluttershy. Everyone looked back at the huge monolith in the distance. “How should I know?” “Maybe the Wall hates sarcasm.” said Ivan. Hayes glared at him and pulled a special edition Old Kingdom Almanac and Atlas out of his pack. “Let’s see. The guard post at Barhedrin is close by.” “Is that where we’re going? At last, some food and a proper bed. I’m sick of lying on damp leaves.” complained Rarity loudly. Everyone else stared at her. “You’ve only been in the forest for a few hours!” yelled Rainbow. “Hey, it doesn’t matter.” interrupted Ivan “What Hayes was trying to say was that once we’re close to Barhedrin, we need to be careful. We’ll need to avoid patrols and scouts and all that stuff!” “So we ain’t goin’ to the guard post?” asked Applejack. Rarity groaned. “No, we aren’t. We need to move farther into the forest and find somewhere to camp. Preferably somewhere with running water.” Hayes gave this statement a sense of finality by shoving his book back into his pack. “Come on, we need to get moving. I want to find a camping spot before dark.” “What happens after dark?” questioned Twilight. Ivan grimaced. “That’s when things you really don’t want to know about come out.” He said. Then he turned and followed Hayes into the forest. The ponies glanced at each other, then went after him, Rarity still muttering about hot water. Barhedrin(A small island in the middle of the River Ratterlin, The Old Kingdom) “I’m bored.” complained Rainbow Dash for the third time that night. She immediately ducked as a rock flew over her head. “What was that for!?” Hayes poked his head out of his sleeping bag. “Maybe if you could shut up for a few hours, I wouldn’t be so cranky.” “You’re always cranky.” Another rock zipped by. “Stop it!” Then another voice came from off to Rainbow’s right. “If you two keep arguing, no pony’s going to be able to sleep!” yelled Twilight. “We need to finalize the plan anyway. Why don’t we do that?” said Ivan. Hayes sighed, got up, and pulled the book out of his pack. He turned the pages until he found the map of the Old Kingdom. “We want to get to the Clayr’s Glacier. They can use the Sight to find out how to get you ponies home to Equestria, or whatever it’s called.” He said, pointing at a spot on the map. “Then we just have to do whatever it is that they See. Hey Pinkie, are you even paying attention to my genius plan?” Everyone turned around and saw Pinkie staring out across the water. “I think I can see something in the trees!” she said. Twilight moved to the edge of the island and looked as well. “I think I can see something as well. Rainbow, can you fly over and take a look?” “I’ll be back with information in ten seconds flat!” said Rainbow, just before she zoomed off across the river. Hayes looked at Ivan and rolled his eyes. “What is it with her and ten seconds flat?” he asked. “What are you so grumpy about?” asked Rarity. Hayes paused to re-light the fire with a quick Charter spell. “I don’t know. There’s just something about camping on a freezing, desolate island in the middle of nowhere with seven other people, all of who have ways of getting on your nerves, that just does that to a person. And the island is pretty small for sharing.” He gestured at the campsite. Looking around, the others could see what he meant. The sleeping rolls weren’t that far apart, and after that it was only a few yards to the river. Just then, Rainbow can flying back across the river, looking almost a little scared. “There are lots of those Dead guys across the river!” she said apprehensively. Hayes cursed and grabbed his weapons. Ivan and the ponies did the same. “They can’t cross running water, so we should be safe. Right, just in case something happens I’m going to rig a diamond of protection. Everyone else get ready.” He began to draw marks in the sand with his sword. Everyone else formed a circle around him with their weapons drawn. Hayes finished the last mark as the first Dead became visible across the river. He spoke a word, and the diamond filled with golden light. “Don’t touch the edges, or the diamond will break!” he warned the rest. Ivan, who was trained to be calm under pressure, just gulped and nodded. The ponies just looked like they wanted to throw up. Rainbow and Fluttershy spiraled in the air. Pinkie squinted as she tried to see what the Dead Hands were up to. She saw them struggling to move several large rocks into the river. Then with a start, she realized what they were doing. “They’re trying to block the river!” she cried. Hayes and Ivan turned to where she was looking, and both cursed under their breath. Rainbow and Fluttershy both drew arrows and knocked them to their bowstrings. “Don’t shoot. Even an arrow will break the diamond!” Hayes warned a second too late. Fluttershy had already loosed the arrow. As it connected with the place where the diamond ended there was a bright flash, a shattering sound, and then quiet. Twilight rubbed her eyes and saw the Hands placing the final rock in their dam. As the first one began to cross she fired a purple jet of light at it. The blast threw the Hand into the water. It screamed and went under. The other Dead backed off a little. A good thing for them too, as a second later Hayes threw a bold of Charter Magic at the dam, blasting several of the stones into dust. “Well, I don’ thank anypony will be sleepin’ after that.” said Applejack, sheathing her sword. She was right. The group stayed awake and on guard for the rest of the night. In the morning they packed up their gear and continued on their way. After a few hours, they stopped at a fork in the road. Hayes dug through his pack and removed the Almanac. “The map doesn’t have anything on it that remotely resembles a fork.” he said apprehensively. “What should we do now?” asked Twilight. The group sat and thought for a few minutes. Then Rainbow sprang up. “Why don’t I go scout around? I’ll find out where each road goes, and then we can decide which one to take!” she said. Ivan nodded. Hayes looked at the Almanac again. “Just be careful. I’m pretty sure one of these goes to Barhedrin.” he said once he looked up. Rainbow saluted and flew off. “Well,” said Ivan, “we might as well sit down while we wait.” Several more hours passed, and the group began to worry. “She should have been back by now!” exclaimed Twilight. Ivan consulted his watch. Hayes raised his eyebrows at him. “And you’re doing that why?” he asked. Ivan sighed. “Of course. My watch doesn’t work because we’re in the Old Kingdom.” he said. He looked up at the sun instead. It was well past noon. “We should probably go looking for her. For all we know she wandered right up to Barhedrin.” The group packed up their gear and stood up. “Of course, we have no idea which way she went.” said Rarity sarcastically. “Then we just go both ways!” said Twilight, “We just need to divide into two groups.” “Ok, so we have seven people, or ponies, whichever you are, so how about one group of three and one group of four.” muttered Hayes, “Right, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie go with Ivan. Rarity and Applejack, you’re with me.” The two groups set off down the two roads. Eventually, they both came to a place where the roads joined again. “Well, that crossroads seems kind of pointless now…” said Fluttershy quietly. “That was really anticlimactic.” agreed Pinkie. “And this definitely goes to Barhedrin.” said Hayes. Ivan drew his pistol. “Right. So judging by this Rainbow’s been captured and we should go help her? Correct?” “Of course your right! Friends always help each other!” said Pinkie exuberantly. Hayes sighed and muttered something about insomnia, then began to walk down the road. After about a half-hour, they spotted a large tower. Hayes motioned for them to move into the trees while pulling out a pair of binoculars. “Do you just keep everything imaginable in your bag!?” exclaimed Rarity. “Who doesn’t?” He noticed Applejack and Pinkie holding their swords in their mouths, “Have you two been doing that this whole time?” They nodded. “Hey, look what’s happening in the guard’s front yard!” said Ivan, pointing to the grass in front of the tower. Rainbow was talking to another pony, a grey Pegasus with blonde hair. She appeared to be wearing a guard uniform. Her eyes were also crossed… “Oh no…” sighed Applejack, “It’s Derpy.” “Whose Derpy?” asked Ivan. “She can “odd” sometimes. She once managed to destroy town hall singlehandedly.” answered Twilight. “Can we stop talking and save Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy. “All right then. Move up behind those rocks.” ordered Hayes quietly. The group snuck forward to the tree line, then darted forward, dodging behind the rocks. Ivan drew his pistol, and Hayes’ hands had tiny Charter marks floating around them. They could hear what Derpy and Rainbow were saying. “Come on Derpy, just let me go!” whispered Rainbow. Derpy glanced uncertainly at the tower. Several human guards were lounging around the door. One was polishing a sword. Another was spelling arrows. “I don’t know.” answered Derpy hesitantly, “I don’t think letting prisoners go is in my job description.” “Just do it! Come on!” “I don’t know…” “Hey. Over here.” hissed Hayes. The two turned their heads toward the rock. “What are you guys doing here!?” exclaimed Rainbow. “Hey. It’s the other ponies who seem familiar but who I can’t remember.” said Derpy, her eyes crossing even more. Rainbow ducked behind the rock, Derpy following a little uncertainly. Then the worst possible thing happened. One of the guards looked up. He shouted, but no one heard exactly what he said. The guards pulled out crossbows, and two of them drew Charter marks. “Options?” asked Ivan. “Just shoot them. No survivors.” answered Hayes. “Why no survivors?” asked Rarity. She said something else, but it was drowned out my gunfire as Ivan started shooting. Two of the guards went down, and the rest ducked inside the tower. One of the mages dragged a wounded guard in after him and started healing him. “Should Fluttershy and I fly up and use our bows?” asked Rainbow. “Maybe not a good idea. I think they might have crossbows.” said Twilight. “In answer to your question Rarity, we need to kill them so no one knows we’re here. We’re pretty much illegal immigrants, except we’re armed. Move!” yelled Hayes. He rolled to the side as a jet of light took a chunk out of the wall, “Ok, the mages are good, though not as good as me of course.” He ducked as a crossbow bolt shot over his head. “I think I’ll just hide behind this rock…” muttered Fluttershy. She moved behind an intact section of wall. Ivan ducked out from behind his wall and fired his pistol again. Hayes shot two blasting marks at the tower, blowing two sections of the battlements to pieces. The incoming projectiles seemed to stop after that. “Do ya’ thank they’re hidin’?” asked Applejack. Just then a white flag poked up from the wreckage of the battlements. Hayes lit it on fire. “If they weren’t before, they are now.” he said as he turned to Derpy, “Come on, let’s go. Hey, um, what’s your name, wanna come with us?” “I really can!?” exclaimed Derpy, “Oh my gosh, no one’s ever asked me to come with them before. Except that weird Doctor guy…” “Doctor? Doctor who?” asked Hayes, “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Come on, let's get going.” As they reached the treeline, Hayes drew a long and complex killing spell. He put three master Charter Marks into it, then fired it at the tower. It swept through, killing everything, yet leaving the base unharmed. Then he followed the rest of the group down the trail. AbhorsenTwilight cast another drying spell as Hayes and Ivan dragged Rarity out of another mud pit. “How many drying spells does that make?” she asked. “Twenty-eight.” answered Hayes. “Oh, that ain’t so bad!” said Applejack, trying to keep the group’s spirit alive. “In the past hour. In this entire march it’s been one hundred and eighty-five.” “Oh.” The group paused as Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Derpy fell out of the sky, their wings to saturated for them to fly properly. Fluttershy and Derpy landed rather softly in the mud, but Rainbow landed on the roots of a tree. She got up and tried to walk, but then she yelped with pain and stopped. “I think I hurt my hoof.” she said. Hayes raised his hand and Charter Marks flowed across her hoof. “Better? Good, keep going.” he said. As the group continued on, they reached a point near the Ratterlin where the trees were thick enough to block out most of the rain. Twilight dried them again and they sat on some flat rocks and looked at the river. Fluttershy thought she saw a house through the mist. “Can you all see the house too?” she asked. “Don’t be silly!” said Pinkie, “Who would build a house in the middle of a river!” “It’s Abhorsen’s house.” answered Hayes, “You remember all of those wooden flutes we passed on our way through The Perimeter?” Pinkie nodded. “They were made by an Abhorsen long ago. When an Abhorsen dies, the flutes shatter, and must be remade by the new Abhorsen. If the flutes weren’t there the Dead could rise freely because so many people have died on the Perimeter.” “So the Abhorsen’s job is to keep the Dead from rising?” asked Twilight. Hayes nodded. “The current Abhorsen is Queen Sabriel, and the Ahorsen-in-Waiting is her sister Lirael.” “Didn’t you meet them once?” asked Ivan. “I saw them both at Forwin’s Mill from a way’s off, but that’s it. Hey look, the rain’s stopping. I’ll go get some firewood before night comes.” Hayes walked off into the woods while the others began to set up camp. Hayes returned with firewood just as the sun was starting to set. Ivan stacked the wood in a pyramid and Hayes lit it. He rummaged in his pack and pulled out some bread and ham. Pinkie looked at the meat incredulously. “What’s that pink stuff? It’s the same color as me!” she asked. “Oh right, you’re herbivores. While Pinkie, this is ham. Basically, some farmer somewhere killed a pig and sent it to a butcher. Then the butcher cut the pig’s skin, head, and legs off before he carved it into neat little slices for people to cook and eat. Of course, this probably disgusts you to the highest degree possible.” “I have no idea what you just said!” “That’s probably for the best.” Hayes tossed each of the ponies a slice of toast, “I don’t suppose you lot eat grass.” Rainbow grimaced. “Grass? Ew, gross.” “Alright then, toast is all you get. It’s not like we have anything else anyway.” said Ivan. Suddenly, there was a howl off to the left. Another howl, seemingly answering the first, came from behind them. There was no howl from the right. Ivan turned to look at Hayes. “Hands?” he asked. Hayes nodded. “We have two options.” he said, “There are hands to the front, left, and right. I know there was no noise, but I can feel them.” “Options?” “We can either fight, and be ripped limb from limb from walking corpses, or we can run right, try to pass the obstacles to the House, and die a relatively quick death by Charter Sending. “I choose quick death!” yelled Rainbow. She flew off to the right. “Alright then, follow me!” yelled Hayes. He and the ponies followed Rainbow. “This is a really bad idea.” said Ivan. He ran off after the rest of the group. After running for a few minutes they reached a sheer cliff. There was no path and nowhere to go. “I thought you knew where you were going!” yelled Rainbow at Hayes. “Didn’t I say there were obstacles?” he replied. He went down on one knee in front of the cliff. “What are you doing now!?” “Thinking. It’s something you might want to look into.” He closed his eyes. Images raced through his mind. Five humans and two dogs, the number seven, over and over again. Then one of the dogs, the second of the seven, began to glow, brighter and brighter. One word repeated itself over and over again. No, not a word, a name. Mosrael. “Mosrael!” he shouted as his eyes snapped open. Fluttershy jumped. “What?” asked Twilight. “Mosrael, the Waker. The second bell of a necromancer. It raises the Dead while casting the ringer into Death. We need it to open the door!” “What door!? There isn’t a door!” yelled Ivan, “Hurry up, I keep thinking I can see Hands!” Suddenly, there was a soft glow of Charter light and a figure stepped out of the cliff. Pinkie dropped her sword in surprise. It held up what appeared to be a bandolier with seven pouches on it. The smallest was no bigger than a pillbox, while the largest was the size of a clenched fist. “Bells! Yes!” exclaimed Hayes. The Sending raised its hand and pointed at Rarity. “It wants to give you the bells! Quick, take them!” yelled Derpy. “I had no idea she could comprehend things like that…” muttered Rainbow. Rarity took the bells from the Sending. “Ok, take the second smallest one and ring it!” instructed Hayes. Then he ran back to where Ivan was and drew his sword. Rarity drew and swung the bell. For some reason she seemed to instinctively know what to do. A raucous screeching filled her ears. The Hands, hearing the sound, rushed forward. The Sending ran at them at the same time, drawing a Charter made sword. Just as it reached the Hands and Hayes and Ivan turned and ran back to the cliff, a huge crack opened up in front of Rarity, revealing a passage. Pinkie ducked as a rotting leg flew over her head and rebounded off the wall. Ivan looked back and saw that all the Hands had been totally dismembered by the Sending. Then the hooded figure saluted with its sword and faded back into the wall. “Well that was interesting.” said Twilight, “So, what do all seven bells do?” “I’ll explain later. In the meantime let’s just get to the house.” replied Hayes. “I thought ya’ said that those Sendin’ things would kill us.” said Applejack, just a little suspicious. Hayes just walked down the passageway without answering. Ivan sheathed his sword and followed him, as did the ponies. Eventually, after passing two doors and a set of stepping (actually, the fact that they’re nearly two feet apart each makes the word jumping more applicable) stones, they arrived in a courtyard. Hayes put his pack on the ground and sat down on a bench. “Twilight, you wanted to know what those bells do, right?” he asked. Twilight nodded. “Alright then. Ivan, do you want to tell her?” “I don’t even know why there are seven bells, let alone what they do!” exclaimed Ivan. Hayes nodded and continued, “The first bell, the smallest, is Ranna. She is the Sleeper, and all that hear her fall into slumber. The second is Mosrael, who you just heard. He is the Waker, and brings spirits into life while sending the ringer into Death. The third is Kibeth, the Walker. She can give the Dead freedom of movement, or make them walk where the ringer wants. However, Kibeth can be trouble, and can make the ringer walk instead. The fourth is Dyrim, the Speaker. Dyrim can give a voice to those long dead, or prevent someone from speaking forever. Then there is Belgaer, the Thinker. He restores thought, memories, and personalities to the Dead, or he can erase them. Then there is Saraneth, the Binder. He is most favored by the Abhorsens, and he binds the Dead to the ringer’s will. The last, and most powerful, is Astarael, the Weeper, whose call will send all who hear it far into Death.” he explained. Most of the group nodded. Derpy attempted to nod but hit her head on a large rock. Fortunately she was still wearing her guard armor, which included a helmet. “But why are there seven?” asked Ivan. “The seven bells are named after the seven Bright Shiners. They were the most powerful Free Magic spirits of the Beginning. I just explained that! There were three others, but they are not remembered in the bells.” “Do they still exist?” asked Twilight. Hayes opened his mouth, but closed it as another voice filled the courtyard. “Yes, in a way. However, you will find that we are not the same as we once were.” it said. The voice seemed to crackle like lightening. The group turned around, and saw a tall, thin humanoid made of pure white light. “What’s that rotten smell!” yelled Pinkie, putting one hoof up to her nose. “That’s Free Magic!” yelled Ivan, drawing his sword. He made a move to attack, but Hayes put his arm out in front of him, stopping him. The creature stared at Hayes, and Hayes stared back. There seemed to be energy forming between them, like the calm before a storm. Then the creature looked away. “You, white horse thing! Follow me, and bring your friend who bears the Charter Mark. There is someone who wishes to speak with you.” it said. Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. She started to follow the creature. Hayes grimaced and went after her. “What should we do while you’re gone!?” Ivan called after them. “Get some food or look around! The Sendings will show you where everything is!” Hayes yelled back. Ivan rolled his eyes and went to look for a Sending. Eventually the figure led Rarity and Hayes to an old covered well. It removed the cover and vaulted over the rim. “How am I supposed to get down there?” asked Rarity, peering over the edge. “It’s simple, just teleport again.” replied Hayes. Rarity’s horn flashed with light and she appeared at the bottom of the well. She turned and looked up, expecting to see Hayes on the ladder. However, he was right behind her. “How did you do that?” “It’s not important, keep going.” There was a trail of small glittering lights, which Rarity immediately began to follow. Hayes walked after her. She noticed that he hadn’t bothered to draw his sword. As she walked down the tunnel, she thought she saw a river out of the corner of her eye. Then she gasped and stopped. Standing in front of her were the thin glowing figure, slightly dimmed, a very tall, stooped woman, also glowing rather brightly, and a jet black dog. “So you have come at last.” said the woman. “Who are you three?” asked Rarity. “I have been called many things, though you should know me as Astarael,” answered the woman, “The humanoid is Yreal, the eighth Bright Shiner, and the dog is Mosrael, the Waker.” “We’ve been waiting for you two.” said the dog. “Why us?” asked Hayes. Rarity noticed that his hand had moved to his sword hilt. “We’ve been waiting for your pony friend because she’s the only one of her species to have the Blood. She’s an Abhorsen, which is why the Sending gave her the bells. As for you, that will be made clear to you shortly. For now, suffice it to say that you have Abhorsen blood as well.” “Then why didn’t the Sending give me the bells?” “Again, that will be made clear shortly. Or actually, right about now. Now, pony, we would like to talk to your friend alone.” “Hey, I’m not sure I’m comfortable being here alone.” said Hayes. The dog glared at him, “Alright, fine!” Rarity looked taken aback, “Why did you want me down here then?” she asked. “We just wanted to tell you that you’re an Abhorsen.” “So what does that mean?” “Your job is to send the Dead back where they came from, defeat Necromancers and Free Magic creatures, stuff like that.” “Oh, um, alright…” “Now go!” Rarity turned around and teleported back up to the surface. Hayes turned to look at the three figures again. He made eye contact with each and held it for a minute. Then he spoke up, “So, how’s it going.” “It would be better if your memory wasn’t coming back.” replied Astarael. “Yeah, I’m sure it would be.” “Right, and since it’s coming back, it’s only a matter of time before you regain your powers.” said Yreal. “So what are you three going to do about it?” “While that’s rather simple. You’ll need to wear this…” Mosrael said. He held up a leather wristband with a silver X in the center. “You’ll have to make me.” “Fine then.” Ivan looked up from a bowl of oatmeal as Hayes entered the room. He was wearing a leather wristband and had a black eye. “What in the name of the Seven happened to you?” he asked. “I don’t want to talk about it.” replied Hayes as he healed his eye. “I sent to ponies to find a map. Also, Rarity said she felt some sort of presence in the library, and it turned out to be a book. She’s reading it right now. She also says you guys are cousins. Nothing out of the ordinary.” “Yeah, since we both have the Blood, we’re cousins. What’s the book called?” “The Book of the Dead.” “Now that’s just morbid.” “Maybe you wrote it.” Twilight opened the door and stuck her head in. “We found a map!” “Great, we’re one step closer to leaving.” said Hayes. He walked into the library and yelled something about weapon practice. Ivan finished his oatmeal and a Sending took the dishes. “Come on, let’s go see what torture Hayes has planned for our training.” “How do you know it will be that bad?” “He was a guest drill instructor at boot camp. By the Charter he was scary.” “What did he do?” “Whenever we didn’t do what he wanted he shot a revolver in the air, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t firing blanks!” The two walked out into the courtyard. The other ponies had lined up in front of Hayes, who appeared to be crafting a spell in his head. Hayes’ eyes snapped open. “Alright!” he shouted, startling the others, “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to create a Sending in the shape of a Dead Hand. Each of you will face a “Hand” and I will monitor your progress. You may defeat the Hand any way you want. Right, I’ll go first, shall I?” He waved his hand and a glowing Hand appeared on the other side of the courtyard. It sniffed the air, then howled and rushed at him. Hayes didn’t even flinch or draw his sword. He raised his hand and blasted the Hand into dust. Or in this case Charter Marks. “Alright Ivan, your turn.” Hayes waved his hand and another Sending appeared. Ivan stepped up and drew his sword. Just like before, it rushed at its opponent. Instead of waiting for it as Hayes had done, Ivan yelled a battle cry and charged at it. He dodged its claws and cut it in half. It went down, but it began to drag itself towards Ivan, its jaws still snapping. Ivan stepped out of the way and stabbed it through its head. The Sending struggled for a moment and then dissolved. So they continued. Rainbow flew around dodging the Sending for a good ten minutes before Hayes yelled at her to “get on with it”. She flew up into the air and put a few arrows into the Hand, which promptly fell to the ground and dissolved. Next was Fluttershy, who panicked and flew into a wall. Ivan got her a glass of water while Hayes dealt with the Sending. Fifth was Applejack, who dodged the Hand’s first few swipes before kicking it. The kick sent the Hand’s arms flying and caused it to fall backwards. Then Applejack rolled a large rock onto it. Sixth was Pinkie Pie, who laughed and jumped away from the Hand every time it tried to claw her. Eventually she bounced to high that she landed in the tree at the center of the courtyard. A branch somewhat burned and sharpened by lightening broke off and stabbed through the Hand, finally ending up somewhere in its chest. It staggered a little and then fell over, apparently trying to claw the branch out of its body. Then Hayes dissolved it. Next up was Twilight, who simply shot a spell at the Hand. What wasn’t so simple was the fact that the spell caused the Hands chest to shrink. All most of the group remembered of that incident was that it was something they did not want to see again. Then it was Derpy’s turn. She had traded her Royal Guard armor for a brown cloak, but still carried the standard issue guard sword. As the Hand rushed at her she flew into the air. She tried to draw her sword and hold it in her mouth, but she dropped it. The falling blade had the same effect as the burnt branch, only it was sharper. Rarity came last, and she just rang Ranna and made the Hand collapse into the dust, asleep. After they had drunk some water and Hayes had gotten rid of any stray Charter Marks in the courtyard, they sat down for a meeting, “Well then, it looks like most of us are already pretty good at fighting. Fluttershy, you need to work on your flight control.” said Hayes. Fluttershy nodded. “So, are we leaving then?” asked Ivan, who was rummaging through the pile of maps on the table in front of them. “Yes, first thing tomorrow. The Abhorsen is bound to come here eventually, and we don’t want any more trouble than we already have. It’s bad enough that I killed the entire Barhedrin garrison.” “What surprises me is that you don’t seem to feel bad about it.” exclaimed Pinkie in surprise. “That might be because I don’t regret it at all. Odd that. Anyway, I forgot to tell you. I got this from the glowing guy, whose name incidentally is Yreal.” Hayes dropped an old leather bag onto the table. It wasn’t very impressive, and was about the size of a loaf of bread. “What about it?” asked Twilight, inspecting the bag. “Watch this.” Hayes reached into the bag and did what should have been impossible. He rummaged through it. “How can you be rummaging!? That thing is tiny!” exclaimed Ivan. “Just a second.” Hayes finally pulled his hand out. In it was a crossbow (specially modified trigger of course. How else could a pony shoot it?) and a quiver of bolts. He tossed both to Derpy. “So the bag gives you what you want?” asked Derpy through a mouthful of crossbow. “No, it gives me what I need. And right now what we need is to leave. So pack your bags and let’s be off!” Hayes took the bag and walked out of the room. The others grabbed their packs, everything they needed was already in them, and followed Hayes. Unfortunately, a lot of things were soon going to go very wrong. Fire of ChaosHayes sat on the far side of the river, watching the others cross the stepping stones. He kept fidgeting and rubbing the leather band around his wrist. It burned him, and made him feel slow and weak. He looked down at the silver X. An old song came to him as he thought. I’ll sing you a song of the long ago - Seven shine the shiners, oh! What did the Seven do way back when? Why, they wove the Charter then! Five for the warp, from beginning to end. Two for the woof, to make and mend. That’s the Seven, but what of the Nine- What of the two who chose not to shine? The Eighth did hide, hide all away, But the Seven caught him and made him pay. The Ninth was strong and fought with might, But lone Orannis was put out of the light, Broken in two and buried under hill, Forever to lie there, wishing us ill. There was a tenth, who all forgot, And banished him from conscious thought, But he was not locked away, He sees the dawn of every day. The last verse was also forgotten of course, just like the person it was about, but not for much longer. Soon the world would remember the tenth, and they would know what he had been through. Hayes returned to the present and stood up as Ivan walked over to him. “What next?” asked Ivan. Hayes dug through his leather bag and pulled out the Atlas/Almanac. The ponies arrived as he flipped through the pages. “We need to head for the town of High Bridge. It’s about half-way to the Clayr’s Glacier. There’s a sizeable garrison there, so we need to be careful. It took them a few days, but finally the group arrived at the bustling town of High Bridge. They walked through the streets, dodging carts and friendly pedestrians. However, Hayes still felt uneasy. This was too simple. There should be guards all over, especially with the destruction of the Barhedrin outpost, but he didn’t see any. He turned to Ivan, “Keep your eyes open. I don’t like this.” “Don’t like what?” answered his friend. “The fact that there are no guards to be seen anywhere in the town. It’s suspicious. Where have the ponies got to?” “They went to have a look around. You need to unwind a little, you’re much too paranoid. Just because you haven’t seen any guards doesn’t mean there aren’t any.” Hayes grudgingly accepted this. He turned and walked off into the crowd. Ivan followed him. Ivan knew that Hayes was right. There should be guards, especially after what they had seen on the way to High Bridge. They had come across the remains of a merchant convoy that had been attacked, presumably by Hands (as well as something much worse). Ivan shivered. He had seen some horrible sights on the Perimeter, but that convoy definitely topped them all. The wagons had been in flames, with burning bodies scattered around them. Free Magic symbols had been drawn in blood around the general area of devastation. There had been a few trees as well that would have looked rather nice. That is, they would have been nice if there weren’t bodies impaled on the branches. One man had been impaled to the branch through his torso. His intestines had been torn out of him and were stuck to the same branch a few feet in front of him. Another man had been impaled to the branch by his head, with his brain stuck to a branch to his left. Ivan recalled throwing up a lot. He caught up with Hayes a few seconds later. His friend was looking around, probably trying to find some guards. He heard a faint noise. Turning, he saw a man at the end of an alley. The man gestured for him to come down the alleyway. Ivan turned to Hayes, “Hayes, I think that man there wants to talk to us.” “The suspicious looking one in the alley?” “What, you think it’s a trap?” “Of course it’s a trap.” “So we aren’t going to go over there?” “Of course we’re going to go over there. We’re going to walk into the trap because that’s what traps are for!” With that rather illogical statement, Hayes turned and walked down the alley, with Ivan following quickly behind him. When they reached the end of the alley the man was nowhere to be seen. However, there were a dozen guards with swords and crossbows. “Alright you two, come with us.” said the guard sergeant. Ivan turned to look at Hayes, but all he saw was the back of Hayes’ cloak as his friend turned the corner of the alley. The sergeant turned to three of his men. “After him! Take him alive if you can!” he ordered. Hayes managed to get maybe five yard before he slipped in a puddle of grease, hit his head on a wall, and blacked out. It was one of the quickest chases the guards had ever seen. Being in the army had given Ivan a good sense of when he was in trouble. It was usually a bad sign if the commander’s face was redder than the tomato soup you’d eaten last night. Another bad sign was two ranks of men aiming crossbows at you, especially if your hands were tied behind your back. “Alright!” yelled the guard captain, “Any last words?” Ivan thought quickly and came up with quite a good solution to their predicament. “Yeah, I’ve got some! I want a lawyer!” he replied. The captain stared at him in surprise. “What?” “I want a lawyer, or at least to know what I’m charged with.” “You are charged with deserting the Ancelstierran Armed Forces and with two counts of murder. Your friend is charged with desertion and thirteen counts of murder.” “I still want a lawyer.” “You can’t have one.” “Isn’t there a law saying I get one?” “No.” “I want to see a lawyer about that.” “SHUT UP!!!” The captain’s face was now officially as red as tomato soup. He was breathing rather heavily. Before he could give the order to fire, a slightly winded sergeant ran into the courtyard. “Sir, sir!” “What is it sergeant?” “Prince Sameth has arrived sir! He wants to see the prisoners!” “What? Alright scum, it looks like your deaths have been postponed for a few hours. Enjoy them.” Hayes and Ivan were led by several guards to a large building, where they were sent to an upstairs room. The door was flanked by two more guards. One of the guards opened the door, and Hayes and Ivan entered the room. There was a young man in light armor sitting at a desk. Also in the room were the ponies. The man looked up from the document he was reading. “Well, I see the guards have finally brought you here. Your equine friends are quite interesting.” “You can tell what they really are?” asked Hayes. “Yes. Anyone with the Blood can, as can anyone who they point it out to. That’s why your human friend can see them. So, why are you here?” “We’re here because we want to get home, and Hayes and Ivan are helping us.” answered Twilight. Sameth nodded. “Good answer. Perhaps you can give me an equally good one for the murder of the Barhedrin garrison.” He focused on Hayes. “I felt it was necessary at the time.” “I bet you did. After all, only a human would think that those men had families who might regret that they died.” “You humans are worse than I am, so don’t get all high and mighty with me, boy!” “Hey, I’m really confused here. What are you two arguing about!?” interrupted Ivan. “I am a prince and am nearly twenty!” yelled Sameth, completely ignoring Ivan. “Yeah, and I’m well almost 5 million!” “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!” yelled Ivan. Both Sameth and Hayes stopped arguing and looked at Ivan. Then Sameth picked up a book from his desk and handed it to Ivan, who opened it. “Turn to chapter ten.” said Sameth. Ivan flipped through the pages until he found the chapter. He began to read aloud. “ Chapter Ten: Calarenthor. Calarenthor, the name of the tenth Shiner, literally translates to “Fire of Chaos” in the Old Tongue. He is a powerful creature of both Free and Charter magic, and was created in the chaos and destruction of the Great War that decided our world’s fate. Shortly after the war ended, the Great Seven took Calarenthor’s blood and put it into the humans who were not Clayr, Royal, or Abhorsen. Unfortunately, there was too much Free Magic in Calarenthor’s blood, and that is why humans seem to fight everything. Shortly after his blood was taken, Calarenthor was locked in human form, and the humans were made to forget him forever. Calarenthor was not bound, as when he was forgotten he lost his power, and his identity. It is said that he is still out there somewhere, not remembering who he was.” Ivan finished reading, closed the book, and put it down. No one spoke for a few minutes. Then Hayes finally broke the silence. “Even I wasn’t sure until we got to the House. I don’t know why the memories started coming back.” “It could have been the dimensional rift.” said Sameth. “So wait. Does that mean you were powerful enough to send us home without the Clayr?” asked Twilight. “Possibly.” answered Hayes, “I would have needed lots of Charter infused rock, and that’s hard to find.” “We’ve got plenty of Charter rocks.” said Sameth, “You could use some of those. However, there is the small problem of the necromancer that has been following you.” Hayes nodded. “So what if there’s a necromancer! Get the portal open and let’s get out of here!” said Rainbow Dash. Hayes ran some quick calculations in his head. “It will take me at least half-an-hour to prepare and open the portal. After it’s open I may fall into a coma.” “I’ll take those odds.” said Ivan, “Can we count on you for help, Prince Sameth?” “I will get what troops I can. Where will you open the portal?” Hayes thought about it for a second. “The Red Lake, where my old friend Orannis is imprisoned. Magic of both kinds is strong there.” Sameth nodded. “I will go and gather the troops. Make whatever preparations are necessary.” Hayes spent the next few days preparing for the strenuous casting to come, while the others spent most of the time training. In the end, Sameth managed to secure the assistance of fifty guards, as well as Lirael, the Abhorsen-in-Waiting. Even Hayes had to admit they had pretty good odds. So why did he feel so uneasy? The StormThe small army arrived at the Red Lake about a week later. Dragging a wagon full of large rocks across the continent had tired the Old Kingdom horses, as well as everyone else. Hayes was still laughing about that time when Applejack had tried to talk to one of the Old Kingdom horses. That had been hilarious. Unfortunately for everyone else, Twilight had made the mistake of asking Hayes why the horses couldn’t talk. He had launched into his whole scientomagical lecture on the subject, and it took fifteen minutes to shut him up. Then Twilight had asked what scientomagic was. Hayes had explained that scientomagic was a blend of Old Kingdom magic and Ancelstierran science. He had developed it while he was in the NPRU, and there were already many other Scouts who used it. Adding magic to modified machines could make them run better, and if properly added to explosives, it could make them more destructive. The soldiers began to make camp while Hayes moved the stones into position. Night was coming, and the sooner this was over with the better. A light rain began to fall. Once they had gotten the stones arranged properly, Hayes drew a pentacle in the dirt and lit a candle at each point. Then he began to chant slowly. The rain began to come down faster, and a wind blew the rain right into the soldier’s faces. Several of the soldiers shivered as they felt a strange mix of the Charter and Free Magic wash over them. Ivan completely ignored the chanting, and stared intently up at the ridge nearby. He turned to Sameth and Lirael. “Can you see something up there?” he asked. The two others squinted to see the ridge in the growing darkness. “Now that you mention it, I think I can see something.” said Lirael. Sameth nodded in agreement. He motioned for the soldiers to form up and ready their weapons. Now it seemed like something was coming down the hill, something darker than the darkness. Then Rarity recognized their jerking movements. “Hands!” she gasped. Everyone readied their weapons immediately, except for Hayes, who had begun to chant faster and faster. Then a soldier cried out. There were more Hands on the other sides as well. They were completely surrounded. Sameth let out a low whistle. “I would hate to meet the necromancer that summoned this many Hands.” he said. The Hands stopped a few yards away from the soldiers. Then there was a flash of lightning, a roll of thunder, and the Hands attacked as the rain continued to pour down faster and faster. The first wave hit the outer rank of soldiers with a screaming crash of steel on bone. The first few Hands were greeted by a hail of arrows, and battered down by swords and shields. However, as more and more Hands filled the gaps, the square of soldiers slowly began to shrink as first one fell, then another, then another. The Hands took advantage of small gaps, pouring into them, making them bigger. Soldiers began to fall more quickly. The square shrank to only a small fraction of what it had been before, with a ragged circle formed around Hayes and the unfinished portal. There were the seven ponies, Ivan, Sameth, Lirael, and five soldiers left. All of them had at least one injury. The Hands continued to close in, but the fifteen survivors continued to fight against the endless horde. Rarity and Lirael worked together, one ringing Saraneth and the other ringing Kibeth, to make many of the Hands return to Death at the same time. Eventually the Hands stopped coming and began to fall back. Ivan looked around, and saw that three more of the soldiers were lying dead on the ground. Sameth had also received a bad wound to his sword arm, rendering him combat ineffective. A few of the ponies relaxed for a moment, but no one else did. They knew it was only going to get worse. Then Derpy spotted something. They were tall figures, glowing faintly with muddy marshfire. She pointed them out to the others. Ivan grimaced. Mordicants. He had seen these things only once before, and he remembered it clear as day. A single Mordicant had encounted his squad about a mile from the Wall, on Ivan’s first day in the army. Ivan remembered running from it while he heard it slaughtering the rest of his squad. He had run all the way to the nearest checkpoint, which was manned by a single Scout. That Scout, who was of course Hayes, hadn’t even bothered to call for backup. As Ivan hid he had walked straight back to where the Mordicant was feasting on the deceased soldier’s souls and blown it to pieces. He was later criticized for incinerating a large section of forest, though no one ever figured out how he’d done it. Ivan snapped back to the present as Lirael and Rarity rang their bells. One of the charging Mordicants collapsed, but the others barely faltered. Then suddenly, Hayes’ chanting stopped. Everyone looked at the empty stone archway. A tiny pinprick of rainbow colored light appeared in the center, and then expanded to fill the entire space. A second later Hayes collapsed into a coma. The ponies hesitated. “What the hell are you lot waiting for!?” yelled Ivan, “Go through the portal!” “What about you guys? The Mordicants will rip you to pieces!” replied Pinkie. Lirael took a moment to assess the situation. “There aren’t enough of them to completely block us from escaping!” she said, “We have a chance, so just go!” The ponies turned and vanished into the light. Then a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and struck the archway. A huge section of the stone was blown into dust. Ivan gulped. Hayes had warned them about this. The portal was destabilizing. That meant it was going to blow up. He turned to Sameth, Lirael, and the two soldiers. “Run through a gap in the Mordicant’s line!” he said. “What about you?” asked Sameth. “Hayes had a contingency plan for if this happened! I’ve got to follow it!” Sameth nodded, then he led the others into the darkness. Ivan turned, grabbed Hayes by the hood of his cloak, and just managed to heave him through the portal. Then there was a massive tremor, and Ivan nearly collapsed. He turned around just in time for a Hand’s claws to rake his arm. He fell backwards, but as he entered the portal there was a flash of lightning. He saw the necromancer up on the ridge. The necromancer was a pony. Ivan blacked out. The portal exploded. Up on the ridge, the necromancer watched as the rainbow light enveloped his army, vaporizing them. He grimaced, and then smiled. His quarry may have evaded him this time, but he could wait. Sure the humans would get in the way, but what did a few more lives matter. They were just more soldiers for his legions anyway. Still smiling, the necromancer turned and cantered down the hill.
The Dead(Ponyville Library, Ponyville, Equestria) “Remind me again why we’re here.” Said Rainbow Dash. “We're here cause' Twilight found some goshdarn portal spell she wants us tah watch'er try" Replied Applejack. Twilight was currently skimming through a book on the far side of the room. “The least she could do is hurry it up.” whispered Rarity. She quickly got quiet as soon as Twilight turned around. “Alright, let’s try this. Everypony form a circle.” She said. The mane six quickly made a circle, and Twilight used chalk to draw a strange symbol in the center. “Now everypony stand still. Rarity, I need you to transfer a bit of your magic to me so this will work.” Said Twilight. Both of the unicorn’s horns began to glow, as did the strange mark. “I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to work.” Said Fluttershy nervously. She had been looking at the book before the spell started. Just as she finished talking, there was a bright flash, and then everything went black. (The Perimeter, Ancelstierre) It was a dark, misty evening. It had been raining for the past few hours, and the ground had become a soft brown mud. Also, it was very, very, dark. The only light was coming from a solitary oil lamp burning in a small trench. Inside that trench were too cold, wet, and miserable soldiers. They each had light skin. The one on the right had dark brown hair and the one on the left was blond and looked slightly younger. Both of them had green military uniforms, but the dark haired one had a black armband. He also had a strange symbol on his forhead. Both were holding their rifles and staring out into the darkness. “There’s something out there. I just know it!” said Corporal William Hayes of the Crossing Point Scouts. “I’m telling you, there isn’t anything.” replied his friend, Ivan Kobilev, who wasn’t a scout or charter mage like Hayes. His talent was that he could actually operate the team’s lewis gun. “I’m going to take a look, just in case.” said Hayes “Take my rifle.” He drew his sword, Charter Marks glowing along the blade. “Why are you leaving your rifle?” asked Ivan. “If whatever out there is Dead or Free Magic, a gun isn’t going to help me is it?” “I suppose not.” said Ivan. Hayes climbed out of the trench and moved toward whatever was lying on the ground. His footsteps were almost silent as he moved. As he reached to point where the figures were, he looked down and saw…six multicolored ponies with weird symbols on their flanks. They were about half as tall as Hayes, around three feet high. Two had wings and two had horns. Unicorns and pegasi. What else could go wrong today? First the crossbow and now this! And of course they had to be weird colors too! Cobalt (or cyan, he couldn’t be sure), white (ok, that’s normal), orange, pink, purple, and yellow. By the Charter… “We’re clear Ivan. I think. Come on out.” Said Hayes. Ivan climbed out of the trench, still clutching his rifle. “What are they?” he asked. “How should I know?” Hayes started suddenly. “There are Dead nearby! I can feel it!” he hissed in Ivan’s ear, “We have to get out of here! Help me drag these things back to the trench” “We all know how many times we’ve listened to your Death sense and most of the time, you’re wrong.” “I was wrong three times out of five. That’s not most of the time. Just help me get them to cover.” Then both soldiers jumped back as the rainbow one sprang up. “I can get to that trench myself in ten seconds flat! What do you think, I’m disabled or something!” she yelled. The other ones got up as well, and all six began to walk slowly towards cover. “Well, we thought you were uncon- you know, I really don’t care who you are, but there are about six Dead Hands and most likely a necromancer on the way. If you could hurry to the trench, it would be appreciated.” said Hayes. “You would not believe the paper work that we would have to fill out if you got killed.” agreed Ivan. After this, the ponies seemed more eager to reach the trench, even though they had no idea what the two humans were talking about. “What are we even hiding from” asked the pink one as Ivan jumped into the trench after them. She noticed that the one with the glowing sword stayed out of cover. “You’re hiding from them.” hissed Hayes as six stumbling figures appeared through the mist. “See Ivan, I told you. Here they come! I’ll hold them off, you set up the lewis gun.” The creatures howled as they smelled Life, and charged the soldier. “You sure he doesn’t need help?” said the orange pony to Ivan. “Hayes fought at Wiverley and Forwin’s Mill. He knows what he’s doing.” replied the human. One of the Dead made a swipe at Hayes’ head. He ducked and cut the creature in half with his sword. Ivan took out two with the lewis gun. Hayes stabbed a fourth one and cut off its head. The remaining two charged Ivan, who shot one. Then Hayes raised his hand a shot a jet of golden light at the remaining Hand. It was blown through the air and disintegrated. “You guys are good at this!” said the purple one. “We have our moments. Then there’s stuff like the crossbow incident...” replied Hayes. He turned around, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. Everyone turned around, and saw the white pony staring down the blade of a strange, evil looking sword. At the other end of that sword was a Necromancer. “No one moves, or I kill the strange talking horse.” He rasped. Of course, someone moved, but the necromancer was too busy watching the obvious threats, Hayes and Ivan, that he didn’t see the orange pony until she kicked him. His head smashed into a rock. Ivan jumped out of the trench and checked his pulse. “He’s alive, but he’s out cold.” He said. Hayes jumped over the trench, and the ponies went over to the rock as well. “If he’s unconscious, then this will be even easier.” said Hayes. Before anyone could react, he pulled out his revolver and shot the necromancer dead. Then he turned around and walked away. (Army Headquarters, The Perimeter, Ancelstierre) When Hayes walked out of General Tindall’s headquarters, Ivan and the ponies were waiting in the lobby. “You know,” he said “I don’t think anyone can tell you six aren’t human. The general just asked me about the “civilians”. He didn’t mention ponies.” “You know, I’m plum tuckered of you just callin’ us “the ponies” all the goshdarn time.” said the orange one. The rest nodded in agreement. “Well considering we don’t know your names, what should we call you?” asked Ivan. “Maybe it’s time for some introductions.” said the white one. “I’m Rarity. The purple one is Twilight Sparkle, the orange one is Applejack, the pink one is Pinkie Pie, the yellow one is Fluttershy, and the rainbow one is Rainbow Dash. “Right…you’re six weird looking horses with weird names. Where are you even from?” asked Hayes. He sounded interested, but gave the general impression that he just didn’t care. He sat down in a chair opposite the ponies. “We’re from Equestria of course!” said Rainbow Dash. Hayes and Ivan looked at each other, and then looked back at the ponies. “Yeah, sorry, we don’t know where that is. Do you have a map?” asked Ivan. “Um, no.” said Pinkie. “Well, let’s get out of here before someone asks what Equestria is.” said Ivan. I two soldiers got up and left the command building, with the ponies following them. “First order of business, we need to find a place for you six to stay until we can get you back to, um, “Equestria.” How about you’re your house, Hayes?” “Excuse me? Are you suggesting that we all stay at my house until we make a plan, or indefinitely?” asked Hayes, raising one eyebrow. “Don’t worry, it’s just until we figure out what to do.” replied Ivan. “Well, I already have a plan. So we should only be at my house a few hours to get some maps, weapons, and different clothes.” “Different clothes?” “We can’t just waltz through the Old Kingdom in our uniforms.” “We’re going to the Old Kingdom!?” “Can you two please stop talking for a second?” said Fluttershy “Arguing makes my stomach hurt.” “We’re here anyway.” said Hayes, “Come on in. Just don’t touch anything.” (Hayes’ House, Bain, Ancelstierre) Hayes unlocked the door and held it open while Ivan and the ponies entered. “I keep weapons, equipment, and traveling clothes in the basement. Follow me.” Hayes led everyone downstairs and opened a hidden door. Inside were several chests. He opened one and pulled out two longswords and handed one to Ivan. Then he pulled out two pistols and handed one of those to Ivan. “Those weapons look different than the other ones.” said Twilight. “Yes, these are not revolvers. They’re new automatic pistols, specially modified to work in the presence of magic.” said Hayes. Then he removed to grubby old traveling cloaks from the chest, and handed one of those to Ivan as well. “And if you’re wondering, yes, you six get weapons as well.” “I’m not sure if I want to hurt anypony.” said Pinkie, even as Hayes tossed her a cloak and some special saddlebags. On one side of the bags was a sheath with a shortsword in it. “While you might not have much choice. Once we cross the wall, it’s kill or be killed.” replied Ivan. Hayes gave Applejack an identical pair of saddlebags. “What do I get?” asked Rainbow, sounding irritated. Hayes threw her a pair of saddlebags with a bow and some arrows, and a cloak, “What am I supposed to do with these?” “Fly up into the air, and shoot the enemy.” replied Hayes. He gave Fluttershy a bow and cloak as well, “As for you two unicorns, you’re just going to have to rely on magic to protect you. Do you know anything about Charter magic? “No, I’ve never even heard of the Charter.” Said Twilight “Neither have I.” said Rarity. “Do you know any defensive spells or anything that could help?” “Well, I can stun enemies, conjure shields, stuff like that.” Said Twilight. “I’m sure I could do that with some practice.” said Rarity. “Excellent.” Hayes threw them both a cloak and saddle bags. Rarity looked at the cloak in disgust. “Brown? How drab.” She exclaimed. “Don’t you have something in purple?” “Most obvious color ever… give me a second to check.” replied Hayes sarcastically. Rarity sighed and accepted the brown cloak. “How’re we even supposed to know how ta’ use these?” asked Applejack, looking at the sword. “We’ll start weapons training after we cross the wall.” answered Ivan. “Come on Hayes, tell us your brilliant plan that you said you have.” “Follow me.” said Hayes. He led them up to the kitchen and they all sat around a rectangular wooden table. “First, we cross the wall. That is the difficult part. You pegasi can probably fly over. Can unicorns teleport?” “How did you even guess that? Yes, we can.” replied Twilight. Hayes looked back at his map of Ancelstierre and the Old Kingdom. “Then the unicorns will teleport across. Once you four are across, find each other and hide. Wait for the rest of us. Now, Applejack, Pinkie, you’ll have to come with Ivan and I. Since it’s impossible to get a visa to cross the wall these days, we’ll have to sneak across using an old crossing point. Let’s go!” The eight adventurers packed some food and other supplies in their bags and walked out. Two of them were wondering why they were even doing this, four of them were wondering if Hayes was insane, one was worrying about hot water, and the last one was just hungry. (The Old Kingdom, Three hours later) It seemed like it had been forever since the unicorns and pegasi had crossed the wall, and Rainbow Dash was pretty ticked off. “When are they going to get here?” she said in annoyance. Twilight poked her head out of the bushes. “They’ll get here when they get here. Hayes did say that sneaking across would be hard.” Just then, they heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. Then Hayes, Ivan, Applejack, and Pinkie stepped out. “It’s about time you got here!” said Rainbow. Hayes and Applejack rolled their eyes at the same time. “We had some complications. There was a patrol going by the old crossing point and we had to hide until they passed. Then the wall didn’t want to let me cross for some reason. I kept running into invisible walls until I finally got across.” answered Hayes patiently. “Why wouldn’t the wall want you to cross?” asked Fluttershy. Everyone looked back at the huge monolith in the distance. “How should I know?” “Maybe the Wall hates sarcasm.” said Ivan. Hayes glared at him and pulled a special edition Old Kingdom Almanac and Atlas out of his pack. “Let’s see. The guard post at Barhedrin is close by.” “Is that where we’re going? At last, some food and a proper bed. I’m sick of lying on damp leaves.” complained Rarity loudly. Everyone else stared at her. “You’ve only been in the forest for a few hours!” yelled Rainbow. “Hey, it doesn’t matter.” interrupted Ivan “What Hayes was trying to say was that once we’re close to Barhedrin, we need to be careful. We’ll need to avoid patrols and scouts and all that stuff!” “So we ain’t goin’ to the guard post?” asked Applejack. Rarity groaned. “No, we aren’t. We need to move farther into the forest and find somewhere to camp. Preferably somewhere with running water.” Hayes gave this statement a sense of finality by shoving his book back into his pack. “Come on, we need to get moving. I want to find a camping spot before dark.” “What happens after dark?” questioned Twilight. Ivan grimaced. “That’s when things you really don’t want to know about come out.” He said. Then he turned and followed Hayes into the forest. The ponies glanced at each other, then went after him, Rarity still muttering about hot water.
Barhedrin(A small island in the middle of the River Ratterlin, The Old Kingdom) “I’m bored.” complained Rainbow Dash for the third time that night. She immediately ducked as a rock flew over her head. “What was that for!?” Hayes poked his head out of his sleeping bag. “Maybe if you could shut up for a few hours, I wouldn’t be so cranky.” “You’re always cranky.” Another rock zipped by. “Stop it!” Then another voice came from off to Rainbow’s right. “If you two keep arguing, no pony’s going to be able to sleep!” yelled Twilight. “We need to finalize the plan anyway. Why don’t we do that?” said Ivan. Hayes sighed, got up, and pulled the book out of his pack. He turned the pages until he found the map of the Old Kingdom. “We want to get to the Clayr’s Glacier. They can use the Sight to find out how to get you ponies home to Equestria, or whatever it’s called.” He said, pointing at a spot on the map. “Then we just have to do whatever it is that they See. Hey Pinkie, are you even paying attention to my genius plan?” Everyone turned around and saw Pinkie staring out across the water. “I think I can see something in the trees!” she said. Twilight moved to the edge of the island and looked as well. “I think I can see something as well. Rainbow, can you fly over and take a look?” “I’ll be back with information in ten seconds flat!” said Rainbow, just before she zoomed off across the river. Hayes looked at Ivan and rolled his eyes. “What is it with her and ten seconds flat?” he asked. “What are you so grumpy about?” asked Rarity. Hayes paused to re-light the fire with a quick Charter spell. “I don’t know. There’s just something about camping on a freezing, desolate island in the middle of nowhere with seven other people, all of who have ways of getting on your nerves, that just does that to a person. And the island is pretty small for sharing.” He gestured at the campsite. Looking around, the others could see what he meant. The sleeping rolls weren’t that far apart, and after that it was only a few yards to the river. Just then, Rainbow can flying back across the river, looking almost a little scared. “There are lots of those Dead guys across the river!” she said apprehensively. Hayes cursed and grabbed his weapons. Ivan and the ponies did the same. “They can’t cross running water, so we should be safe. Right, just in case something happens I’m going to rig a diamond of protection. Everyone else get ready.” He began to draw marks in the sand with his sword. Everyone else formed a circle around him with their weapons drawn. Hayes finished the last mark as the first Dead became visible across the river. He spoke a word, and the diamond filled with golden light. “Don’t touch the edges, or the diamond will break!” he warned the rest. Ivan, who was trained to be calm under pressure, just gulped and nodded. The ponies just looked like they wanted to throw up. Rainbow and Fluttershy spiraled in the air. Pinkie squinted as she tried to see what the Dead Hands were up to. She saw them struggling to move several large rocks into the river. Then with a start, she realized what they were doing. “They’re trying to block the river!” she cried. Hayes and Ivan turned to where she was looking, and both cursed under their breath. Rainbow and Fluttershy both drew arrows and knocked them to their bowstrings. “Don’t shoot. Even an arrow will break the diamond!” Hayes warned a second too late. Fluttershy had already loosed the arrow. As it connected with the place where the diamond ended there was a bright flash, a shattering sound, and then quiet. Twilight rubbed her eyes and saw the Hands placing the final rock in their dam. As the first one began to cross she fired a purple jet of light at it. The blast threw the Hand into the water. It screamed and went under. The other Dead backed off a little. A good thing for them too, as a second later Hayes threw a bold of Charter Magic at the dam, blasting several of the stones into dust. “Well, I don’ thank anypony will be sleepin’ after that.” said Applejack, sheathing her sword. She was right. The group stayed awake and on guard for the rest of the night. In the morning they packed up their gear and continued on their way. After a few hours, they stopped at a fork in the road. Hayes dug through his pack and removed the Almanac. “The map doesn’t have anything on it that remotely resembles a fork.” he said apprehensively. “What should we do now?” asked Twilight. The group sat and thought for a few minutes. Then Rainbow sprang up. “Why don’t I go scout around? I’ll find out where each road goes, and then we can decide which one to take!” she said. Ivan nodded. Hayes looked at the Almanac again. “Just be careful. I’m pretty sure one of these goes to Barhedrin.” he said once he looked up. Rainbow saluted and flew off. “Well,” said Ivan, “we might as well sit down while we wait.” Several more hours passed, and the group began to worry. “She should have been back by now!” exclaimed Twilight. Ivan consulted his watch. Hayes raised his eyebrows at him. “And you’re doing that why?” he asked. Ivan sighed. “Of course. My watch doesn’t work because we’re in the Old Kingdom.” he said. He looked up at the sun instead. It was well past noon. “We should probably go looking for her. For all we know she wandered right up to Barhedrin.” The group packed up their gear and stood up. “Of course, we have no idea which way she went.” said Rarity sarcastically. “Then we just go both ways!” said Twilight, “We just need to divide into two groups.” “Ok, so we have seven people, or ponies, whichever you are, so how about one group of three and one group of four.” muttered Hayes, “Right, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie go with Ivan. Rarity and Applejack, you’re with me.” The two groups set off down the two roads. Eventually, they both came to a place where the roads joined again. “Well, that crossroads seems kind of pointless now…” said Fluttershy quietly. “That was really anticlimactic.” agreed Pinkie. “And this definitely goes to Barhedrin.” said Hayes. Ivan drew his pistol. “Right. So judging by this Rainbow’s been captured and we should go help her? Correct?” “Of course your right! Friends always help each other!” said Pinkie exuberantly. Hayes sighed and muttered something about insomnia, then began to walk down the road. After about a half-hour, they spotted a large tower. Hayes motioned for them to move into the trees while pulling out a pair of binoculars. “Do you just keep everything imaginable in your bag!?” exclaimed Rarity. “Who doesn’t?” He noticed Applejack and Pinkie holding their swords in their mouths, “Have you two been doing that this whole time?” They nodded. “Hey, look what’s happening in the guard’s front yard!” said Ivan, pointing to the grass in front of the tower. Rainbow was talking to another pony, a grey Pegasus with blonde hair. She appeared to be wearing a guard uniform. Her eyes were also crossed… “Oh no…” sighed Applejack, “It’s Derpy.” “Whose Derpy?” asked Ivan. “She can “odd” sometimes. She once managed to destroy town hall singlehandedly.” answered Twilight. “Can we stop talking and save Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy. “All right then. Move up behind those rocks.” ordered Hayes quietly. The group snuck forward to the tree line, then darted forward, dodging behind the rocks. Ivan drew his pistol, and Hayes’ hands had tiny Charter marks floating around them. They could hear what Derpy and Rainbow were saying. “Come on Derpy, just let me go!” whispered Rainbow. Derpy glanced uncertainly at the tower. Several human guards were lounging around the door. One was polishing a sword. Another was spelling arrows. “I don’t know.” answered Derpy hesitantly, “I don’t think letting prisoners go is in my job description.” “Just do it! Come on!” “I don’t know…” “Hey. Over here.” hissed Hayes. The two turned their heads toward the rock. “What are you guys doing here!?” exclaimed Rainbow. “Hey. It’s the other ponies who seem familiar but who I can’t remember.” said Derpy, her eyes crossing even more. Rainbow ducked behind the rock, Derpy following a little uncertainly. Then the worst possible thing happened. One of the guards looked up. He shouted, but no one heard exactly what he said. The guards pulled out crossbows, and two of them drew Charter marks. “Options?” asked Ivan. “Just shoot them. No survivors.” answered Hayes. “Why no survivors?” asked Rarity. She said something else, but it was drowned out my gunfire as Ivan started shooting. Two of the guards went down, and the rest ducked inside the tower. One of the mages dragged a wounded guard in after him and started healing him. “Should Fluttershy and I fly up and use our bows?” asked Rainbow. “Maybe not a good idea. I think they might have crossbows.” said Twilight. “In answer to your question Rarity, we need to kill them so no one knows we’re here. We’re pretty much illegal immigrants, except we’re armed. Move!” yelled Hayes. He rolled to the side as a jet of light took a chunk out of the wall, “Ok, the mages are good, though not as good as me of course.” He ducked as a crossbow bolt shot over his head. “I think I’ll just hide behind this rock…” muttered Fluttershy. She moved behind an intact section of wall. Ivan ducked out from behind his wall and fired his pistol again. Hayes shot two blasting marks at the tower, blowing two sections of the battlements to pieces. The incoming projectiles seemed to stop after that. “Do ya’ thank they’re hidin’?” asked Applejack. Just then a white flag poked up from the wreckage of the battlements. Hayes lit it on fire. “If they weren’t before, they are now.” he said as he turned to Derpy, “Come on, let’s go. Hey, um, what’s your name, wanna come with us?” “I really can!?” exclaimed Derpy, “Oh my gosh, no one’s ever asked me to come with them before. Except that weird Doctor guy…” “Doctor? Doctor who?” asked Hayes, “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Come on, let's get going.” As they reached the treeline, Hayes drew a long and complex killing spell. He put three master Charter Marks into it, then fired it at the tower. It swept through, killing everything, yet leaving the base unharmed. Then he followed the rest of the group down the trail.
AbhorsenTwilight cast another drying spell as Hayes and Ivan dragged Rarity out of another mud pit. “How many drying spells does that make?” she asked. “Twenty-eight.” answered Hayes. “Oh, that ain’t so bad!” said Applejack, trying to keep the group’s spirit alive. “In the past hour. In this entire march it’s been one hundred and eighty-five.” “Oh.” The group paused as Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Derpy fell out of the sky, their wings to saturated for them to fly properly. Fluttershy and Derpy landed rather softly in the mud, but Rainbow landed on the roots of a tree. She got up and tried to walk, but then she yelped with pain and stopped. “I think I hurt my hoof.” she said. Hayes raised his hand and Charter Marks flowed across her hoof. “Better? Good, keep going.” he said. As the group continued on, they reached a point near the Ratterlin where the trees were thick enough to block out most of the rain. Twilight dried them again and they sat on some flat rocks and looked at the river. Fluttershy thought she saw a house through the mist. “Can you all see the house too?” she asked. “Don’t be silly!” said Pinkie, “Who would build a house in the middle of a river!” “It’s Abhorsen’s house.” answered Hayes, “You remember all of those wooden flutes we passed on our way through The Perimeter?” Pinkie nodded. “They were made by an Abhorsen long ago. When an Abhorsen dies, the flutes shatter, and must be remade by the new Abhorsen. If the flutes weren’t there the Dead could rise freely because so many people have died on the Perimeter.” “So the Abhorsen’s job is to keep the Dead from rising?” asked Twilight. Hayes nodded. “The current Abhorsen is Queen Sabriel, and the Ahorsen-in-Waiting is her sister Lirael.” “Didn’t you meet them once?” asked Ivan. “I saw them both at Forwin’s Mill from a way’s off, but that’s it. Hey look, the rain’s stopping. I’ll go get some firewood before night comes.” Hayes walked off into the woods while the others began to set up camp. Hayes returned with firewood just as the sun was starting to set. Ivan stacked the wood in a pyramid and Hayes lit it. He rummaged in his pack and pulled out some bread and ham. Pinkie looked at the meat incredulously. “What’s that pink stuff? It’s the same color as me!” she asked. “Oh right, you’re herbivores. While Pinkie, this is ham. Basically, some farmer somewhere killed a pig and sent it to a butcher. Then the butcher cut the pig’s skin, head, and legs off before he carved it into neat little slices for people to cook and eat. Of course, this probably disgusts you to the highest degree possible.” “I have no idea what you just said!” “That’s probably for the best.” Hayes tossed each of the ponies a slice of toast, “I don’t suppose you lot eat grass.” Rainbow grimaced. “Grass? Ew, gross.” “Alright then, toast is all you get. It’s not like we have anything else anyway.” said Ivan. Suddenly, there was a howl off to the left. Another howl, seemingly answering the first, came from behind them. There was no howl from the right. Ivan turned to look at Hayes. “Hands?” he asked. Hayes nodded. “We have two options.” he said, “There are hands to the front, left, and right. I know there was no noise, but I can feel them.” “Options?” “We can either fight, and be ripped limb from limb from walking corpses, or we can run right, try to pass the obstacles to the House, and die a relatively quick death by Charter Sending. “I choose quick death!” yelled Rainbow. She flew off to the right. “Alright then, follow me!” yelled Hayes. He and the ponies followed Rainbow. “This is a really bad idea.” said Ivan. He ran off after the rest of the group. After running for a few minutes they reached a sheer cliff. There was no path and nowhere to go. “I thought you knew where you were going!” yelled Rainbow at Hayes. “Didn’t I say there were obstacles?” he replied. He went down on one knee in front of the cliff. “What are you doing now!?” “Thinking. It’s something you might want to look into.” He closed his eyes. Images raced through his mind. Five humans and two dogs, the number seven, over and over again. Then one of the dogs, the second of the seven, began to glow, brighter and brighter. One word repeated itself over and over again. No, not a word, a name. Mosrael. “Mosrael!” he shouted as his eyes snapped open. Fluttershy jumped. “What?” asked Twilight. “Mosrael, the Waker. The second bell of a necromancer. It raises the Dead while casting the ringer into Death. We need it to open the door!” “What door!? There isn’t a door!” yelled Ivan, “Hurry up, I keep thinking I can see Hands!” Suddenly, there was a soft glow of Charter light and a figure stepped out of the cliff. Pinkie dropped her sword in surprise. It held up what appeared to be a bandolier with seven pouches on it. The smallest was no bigger than a pillbox, while the largest was the size of a clenched fist. “Bells! Yes!” exclaimed Hayes. The Sending raised its hand and pointed at Rarity. “It wants to give you the bells! Quick, take them!” yelled Derpy. “I had no idea she could comprehend things like that…” muttered Rainbow. Rarity took the bells from the Sending. “Ok, take the second smallest one and ring it!” instructed Hayes. Then he ran back to where Ivan was and drew his sword. Rarity drew and swung the bell. For some reason she seemed to instinctively know what to do. A raucous screeching filled her ears. The Hands, hearing the sound, rushed forward. The Sending ran at them at the same time, drawing a Charter made sword. Just as it reached the Hands and Hayes and Ivan turned and ran back to the cliff, a huge crack opened up in front of Rarity, revealing a passage. Pinkie ducked as a rotting leg flew over her head and rebounded off the wall. Ivan looked back and saw that all the Hands had been totally dismembered by the Sending. Then the hooded figure saluted with its sword and faded back into the wall. “Well that was interesting.” said Twilight, “So, what do all seven bells do?” “I’ll explain later. In the meantime let’s just get to the house.” replied Hayes. “I thought ya’ said that those Sendin’ things would kill us.” said Applejack, just a little suspicious. Hayes just walked down the passageway without answering. Ivan sheathed his sword and followed him, as did the ponies. Eventually, after passing two doors and a set of stepping (actually, the fact that they’re nearly two feet apart each makes the word jumping more applicable) stones, they arrived in a courtyard. Hayes put his pack on the ground and sat down on a bench. “Twilight, you wanted to know what those bells do, right?” he asked. Twilight nodded. “Alright then. Ivan, do you want to tell her?” “I don’t even know why there are seven bells, let alone what they do!” exclaimed Ivan. Hayes nodded and continued, “The first bell, the smallest, is Ranna. She is the Sleeper, and all that hear her fall into slumber. The second is Mosrael, who you just heard. He is the Waker, and brings spirits into life while sending the ringer into Death. The third is Kibeth, the Walker. She can give the Dead freedom of movement, or make them walk where the ringer wants. However, Kibeth can be trouble, and can make the ringer walk instead. The fourth is Dyrim, the Speaker. Dyrim can give a voice to those long dead, or prevent someone from speaking forever. Then there is Belgaer, the Thinker. He restores thought, memories, and personalities to the Dead, or he can erase them. Then there is Saraneth, the Binder. He is most favored by the Abhorsens, and he binds the Dead to the ringer’s will. The last, and most powerful, is Astarael, the Weeper, whose call will send all who hear it far into Death.” he explained. Most of the group nodded. Derpy attempted to nod but hit her head on a large rock. Fortunately she was still wearing her guard armor, which included a helmet. “But why are there seven?” asked Ivan. “The seven bells are named after the seven Bright Shiners. They were the most powerful Free Magic spirits of the Beginning. I just explained that! There were three others, but they are not remembered in the bells.” “Do they still exist?” asked Twilight. Hayes opened his mouth, but closed it as another voice filled the courtyard. “Yes, in a way. However, you will find that we are not the same as we once were.” it said. The voice seemed to crackle like lightening. The group turned around, and saw a tall, thin humanoid made of pure white light. “What’s that rotten smell!” yelled Pinkie, putting one hoof up to her nose. “That’s Free Magic!” yelled Ivan, drawing his sword. He made a move to attack, but Hayes put his arm out in front of him, stopping him. The creature stared at Hayes, and Hayes stared back. There seemed to be energy forming between them, like the calm before a storm. Then the creature looked away. “You, white horse thing! Follow me, and bring your friend who bears the Charter Mark. There is someone who wishes to speak with you.” it said. Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. She started to follow the creature. Hayes grimaced and went after her. “What should we do while you’re gone!?” Ivan called after them. “Get some food or look around! The Sendings will show you where everything is!” Hayes yelled back. Ivan rolled his eyes and went to look for a Sending. Eventually the figure led Rarity and Hayes to an old covered well. It removed the cover and vaulted over the rim. “How am I supposed to get down there?” asked Rarity, peering over the edge. “It’s simple, just teleport again.” replied Hayes. Rarity’s horn flashed with light and she appeared at the bottom of the well. She turned and looked up, expecting to see Hayes on the ladder. However, he was right behind her. “How did you do that?” “It’s not important, keep going.” There was a trail of small glittering lights, which Rarity immediately began to follow. Hayes walked after her. She noticed that he hadn’t bothered to draw his sword. As she walked down the tunnel, she thought she saw a river out of the corner of her eye. Then she gasped and stopped. Standing in front of her were the thin glowing figure, slightly dimmed, a very tall, stooped woman, also glowing rather brightly, and a jet black dog. “So you have come at last.” said the woman. “Who are you three?” asked Rarity. “I have been called many things, though you should know me as Astarael,” answered the woman, “The humanoid is Yreal, the eighth Bright Shiner, and the dog is Mosrael, the Waker.” “We’ve been waiting for you two.” said the dog. “Why us?” asked Hayes. Rarity noticed that his hand had moved to his sword hilt. “We’ve been waiting for your pony friend because she’s the only one of her species to have the Blood. She’s an Abhorsen, which is why the Sending gave her the bells. As for you, that will be made clear to you shortly. For now, suffice it to say that you have Abhorsen blood as well.” “Then why didn’t the Sending give me the bells?” “Again, that will be made clear shortly. Or actually, right about now. Now, pony, we would like to talk to your friend alone.” “Hey, I’m not sure I’m comfortable being here alone.” said Hayes. The dog glared at him, “Alright, fine!” Rarity looked taken aback, “Why did you want me down here then?” she asked. “We just wanted to tell you that you’re an Abhorsen.” “So what does that mean?” “Your job is to send the Dead back where they came from, defeat Necromancers and Free Magic creatures, stuff like that.” “Oh, um, alright…” “Now go!” Rarity turned around and teleported back up to the surface. Hayes turned to look at the three figures again. He made eye contact with each and held it for a minute. Then he spoke up, “So, how’s it going.” “It would be better if your memory wasn’t coming back.” replied Astarael. “Yeah, I’m sure it would be.” “Right, and since it’s coming back, it’s only a matter of time before you regain your powers.” said Yreal. “So what are you three going to do about it?” “While that’s rather simple. You’ll need to wear this…” Mosrael said. He held up a leather wristband with a silver X in the center. “You’ll have to make me.” “Fine then.” Ivan looked up from a bowl of oatmeal as Hayes entered the room. He was wearing a leather wristband and had a black eye. “What in the name of the Seven happened to you?” he asked. “I don’t want to talk about it.” replied Hayes as he healed his eye. “I sent to ponies to find a map. Also, Rarity said she felt some sort of presence in the library, and it turned out to be a book. She’s reading it right now. She also says you guys are cousins. Nothing out of the ordinary.” “Yeah, since we both have the Blood, we’re cousins. What’s the book called?” “The Book of the Dead.” “Now that’s just morbid.” “Maybe you wrote it.” Twilight opened the door and stuck her head in. “We found a map!” “Great, we’re one step closer to leaving.” said Hayes. He walked into the library and yelled something about weapon practice. Ivan finished his oatmeal and a Sending took the dishes. “Come on, let’s go see what torture Hayes has planned for our training.” “How do you know it will be that bad?” “He was a guest drill instructor at boot camp. By the Charter he was scary.” “What did he do?” “Whenever we didn’t do what he wanted he shot a revolver in the air, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t firing blanks!” The two walked out into the courtyard. The other ponies had lined up in front of Hayes, who appeared to be crafting a spell in his head. Hayes’ eyes snapped open. “Alright!” he shouted, startling the others, “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to create a Sending in the shape of a Dead Hand. Each of you will face a “Hand” and I will monitor your progress. You may defeat the Hand any way you want. Right, I’ll go first, shall I?” He waved his hand and a glowing Hand appeared on the other side of the courtyard. It sniffed the air, then howled and rushed at him. Hayes didn’t even flinch or draw his sword. He raised his hand and blasted the Hand into dust. Or in this case Charter Marks. “Alright Ivan, your turn.” Hayes waved his hand and another Sending appeared. Ivan stepped up and drew his sword. Just like before, it rushed at its opponent. Instead of waiting for it as Hayes had done, Ivan yelled a battle cry and charged at it. He dodged its claws and cut it in half. It went down, but it began to drag itself towards Ivan, its jaws still snapping. Ivan stepped out of the way and stabbed it through its head. The Sending struggled for a moment and then dissolved. So they continued. Rainbow flew around dodging the Sending for a good ten minutes before Hayes yelled at her to “get on with it”. She flew up into the air and put a few arrows into the Hand, which promptly fell to the ground and dissolved. Next was Fluttershy, who panicked and flew into a wall. Ivan got her a glass of water while Hayes dealt with the Sending. Fifth was Applejack, who dodged the Hand’s first few swipes before kicking it. The kick sent the Hand’s arms flying and caused it to fall backwards. Then Applejack rolled a large rock onto it. Sixth was Pinkie Pie, who laughed and jumped away from the Hand every time it tried to claw her. Eventually she bounced to high that she landed in the tree at the center of the courtyard. A branch somewhat burned and sharpened by lightening broke off and stabbed through the Hand, finally ending up somewhere in its chest. It staggered a little and then fell over, apparently trying to claw the branch out of its body. Then Hayes dissolved it. Next up was Twilight, who simply shot a spell at the Hand. What wasn’t so simple was the fact that the spell caused the Hands chest to shrink. All most of the group remembered of that incident was that it was something they did not want to see again. Then it was Derpy’s turn. She had traded her Royal Guard armor for a brown cloak, but still carried the standard issue guard sword. As the Hand rushed at her she flew into the air. She tried to draw her sword and hold it in her mouth, but she dropped it. The falling blade had the same effect as the burnt branch, only it was sharper. Rarity came last, and she just rang Ranna and made the Hand collapse into the dust, asleep. After they had drunk some water and Hayes had gotten rid of any stray Charter Marks in the courtyard, they sat down for a meeting, “Well then, it looks like most of us are already pretty good at fighting. Fluttershy, you need to work on your flight control.” said Hayes. Fluttershy nodded. “So, are we leaving then?” asked Ivan, who was rummaging through the pile of maps on the table in front of them. “Yes, first thing tomorrow. The Abhorsen is bound to come here eventually, and we don’t want any more trouble than we already have. It’s bad enough that I killed the entire Barhedrin garrison.” “What surprises me is that you don’t seem to feel bad about it.” exclaimed Pinkie in surprise. “That might be because I don’t regret it at all. Odd that. Anyway, I forgot to tell you. I got this from the glowing guy, whose name incidentally is Yreal.” Hayes dropped an old leather bag onto the table. It wasn’t very impressive, and was about the size of a loaf of bread. “What about it?” asked Twilight, inspecting the bag. “Watch this.” Hayes reached into the bag and did what should have been impossible. He rummaged through it. “How can you be rummaging!? That thing is tiny!” exclaimed Ivan. “Just a second.” Hayes finally pulled his hand out. In it was a crossbow (specially modified trigger of course. How else could a pony shoot it?) and a quiver of bolts. He tossed both to Derpy. “So the bag gives you what you want?” asked Derpy through a mouthful of crossbow. “No, it gives me what I need. And right now what we need is to leave. So pack your bags and let’s be off!” Hayes took the bag and walked out of the room. The others grabbed their packs, everything they needed was already in them, and followed Hayes. Unfortunately, a lot of things were soon going to go very wrong.
Fire of ChaosHayes sat on the far side of the river, watching the others cross the stepping stones. He kept fidgeting and rubbing the leather band around his wrist. It burned him, and made him feel slow and weak. He looked down at the silver X. An old song came to him as he thought. I’ll sing you a song of the long ago - Seven shine the shiners, oh! What did the Seven do way back when? Why, they wove the Charter then! Five for the warp, from beginning to end. Two for the woof, to make and mend. That’s the Seven, but what of the Nine- What of the two who chose not to shine? The Eighth did hide, hide all away, But the Seven caught him and made him pay. The Ninth was strong and fought with might, But lone Orannis was put out of the light, Broken in two and buried under hill, Forever to lie there, wishing us ill. There was a tenth, who all forgot, And banished him from conscious thought, But he was not locked away, He sees the dawn of every day. The last verse was also forgotten of course, just like the person it was about, but not for much longer. Soon the world would remember the tenth, and they would know what he had been through. Hayes returned to the present and stood up as Ivan walked over to him. “What next?” asked Ivan. Hayes dug through his leather bag and pulled out the Atlas/Almanac. The ponies arrived as he flipped through the pages. “We need to head for the town of High Bridge. It’s about half-way to the Clayr’s Glacier. There’s a sizeable garrison there, so we need to be careful. It took them a few days, but finally the group arrived at the bustling town of High Bridge. They walked through the streets, dodging carts and friendly pedestrians. However, Hayes still felt uneasy. This was too simple. There should be guards all over, especially with the destruction of the Barhedrin outpost, but he didn’t see any. He turned to Ivan, “Keep your eyes open. I don’t like this.” “Don’t like what?” answered his friend. “The fact that there are no guards to be seen anywhere in the town. It’s suspicious. Where have the ponies got to?” “They went to have a look around. You need to unwind a little, you’re much too paranoid. Just because you haven’t seen any guards doesn’t mean there aren’t any.” Hayes grudgingly accepted this. He turned and walked off into the crowd. Ivan followed him. Ivan knew that Hayes was right. There should be guards, especially after what they had seen on the way to High Bridge. They had come across the remains of a merchant convoy that had been attacked, presumably by Hands (as well as something much worse). Ivan shivered. He had seen some horrible sights on the Perimeter, but that convoy definitely topped them all. The wagons had been in flames, with burning bodies scattered around them. Free Magic symbols had been drawn in blood around the general area of devastation. There had been a few trees as well that would have looked rather nice. That is, they would have been nice if there weren’t bodies impaled on the branches. One man had been impaled to the branch through his torso. His intestines had been torn out of him and were stuck to the same branch a few feet in front of him. Another man had been impaled to the branch by his head, with his brain stuck to a branch to his left. Ivan recalled throwing up a lot. He caught up with Hayes a few seconds later. His friend was looking around, probably trying to find some guards. He heard a faint noise. Turning, he saw a man at the end of an alley. The man gestured for him to come down the alleyway. Ivan turned to Hayes, “Hayes, I think that man there wants to talk to us.” “The suspicious looking one in the alley?” “What, you think it’s a trap?” “Of course it’s a trap.” “So we aren’t going to go over there?” “Of course we’re going to go over there. We’re going to walk into the trap because that’s what traps are for!” With that rather illogical statement, Hayes turned and walked down the alley, with Ivan following quickly behind him. When they reached the end of the alley the man was nowhere to be seen. However, there were a dozen guards with swords and crossbows. “Alright you two, come with us.” said the guard sergeant. Ivan turned to look at Hayes, but all he saw was the back of Hayes’ cloak as his friend turned the corner of the alley. The sergeant turned to three of his men. “After him! Take him alive if you can!” he ordered. Hayes managed to get maybe five yard before he slipped in a puddle of grease, hit his head on a wall, and blacked out. It was one of the quickest chases the guards had ever seen. Being in the army had given Ivan a good sense of when he was in trouble. It was usually a bad sign if the commander’s face was redder than the tomato soup you’d eaten last night. Another bad sign was two ranks of men aiming crossbows at you, especially if your hands were tied behind your back. “Alright!” yelled the guard captain, “Any last words?” Ivan thought quickly and came up with quite a good solution to their predicament. “Yeah, I’ve got some! I want a lawyer!” he replied. The captain stared at him in surprise. “What?” “I want a lawyer, or at least to know what I’m charged with.” “You are charged with deserting the Ancelstierran Armed Forces and with two counts of murder. Your friend is charged with desertion and thirteen counts of murder.” “I still want a lawyer.” “You can’t have one.” “Isn’t there a law saying I get one?” “No.” “I want to see a lawyer about that.” “SHUT UP!!!” The captain’s face was now officially as red as tomato soup. He was breathing rather heavily. Before he could give the order to fire, a slightly winded sergeant ran into the courtyard. “Sir, sir!” “What is it sergeant?” “Prince Sameth has arrived sir! He wants to see the prisoners!” “What? Alright scum, it looks like your deaths have been postponed for a few hours. Enjoy them.” Hayes and Ivan were led by several guards to a large building, where they were sent to an upstairs room. The door was flanked by two more guards. One of the guards opened the door, and Hayes and Ivan entered the room. There was a young man in light armor sitting at a desk. Also in the room were the ponies. The man looked up from the document he was reading. “Well, I see the guards have finally brought you here. Your equine friends are quite interesting.” “You can tell what they really are?” asked Hayes. “Yes. Anyone with the Blood can, as can anyone who they point it out to. That’s why your human friend can see them. So, why are you here?” “We’re here because we want to get home, and Hayes and Ivan are helping us.” answered Twilight. Sameth nodded. “Good answer. Perhaps you can give me an equally good one for the murder of the Barhedrin garrison.” He focused on Hayes. “I felt it was necessary at the time.” “I bet you did. After all, only a human would think that those men had families who might regret that they died.” “You humans are worse than I am, so don’t get all high and mighty with me, boy!” “Hey, I’m really confused here. What are you two arguing about!?” interrupted Ivan. “I am a prince and am nearly twenty!” yelled Sameth, completely ignoring Ivan. “Yeah, and I’m well almost 5 million!” “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!” yelled Ivan. Both Sameth and Hayes stopped arguing and looked at Ivan. Then Sameth picked up a book from his desk and handed it to Ivan, who opened it. “Turn to chapter ten.” said Sameth. Ivan flipped through the pages until he found the chapter. He began to read aloud. “ Chapter Ten: Calarenthor. Calarenthor, the name of the tenth Shiner, literally translates to “Fire of Chaos” in the Old Tongue. He is a powerful creature of both Free and Charter magic, and was created in the chaos and destruction of the Great War that decided our world’s fate. Shortly after the war ended, the Great Seven took Calarenthor’s blood and put it into the humans who were not Clayr, Royal, or Abhorsen. Unfortunately, there was too much Free Magic in Calarenthor’s blood, and that is why humans seem to fight everything. Shortly after his blood was taken, Calarenthor was locked in human form, and the humans were made to forget him forever. Calarenthor was not bound, as when he was forgotten he lost his power, and his identity. It is said that he is still out there somewhere, not remembering who he was.” Ivan finished reading, closed the book, and put it down. No one spoke for a few minutes. Then Hayes finally broke the silence. “Even I wasn’t sure until we got to the House. I don’t know why the memories started coming back.” “It could have been the dimensional rift.” said Sameth. “So wait. Does that mean you were powerful enough to send us home without the Clayr?” asked Twilight. “Possibly.” answered Hayes, “I would have needed lots of Charter infused rock, and that’s hard to find.” “We’ve got plenty of Charter rocks.” said Sameth, “You could use some of those. However, there is the small problem of the necromancer that has been following you.” Hayes nodded. “So what if there’s a necromancer! Get the portal open and let’s get out of here!” said Rainbow Dash. Hayes ran some quick calculations in his head. “It will take me at least half-an-hour to prepare and open the portal. After it’s open I may fall into a coma.” “I’ll take those odds.” said Ivan, “Can we count on you for help, Prince Sameth?” “I will get what troops I can. Where will you open the portal?” Hayes thought about it for a second. “The Red Lake, where my old friend Orannis is imprisoned. Magic of both kinds is strong there.” Sameth nodded. “I will go and gather the troops. Make whatever preparations are necessary.” Hayes spent the next few days preparing for the strenuous casting to come, while the others spent most of the time training. In the end, Sameth managed to secure the assistance of fifty guards, as well as Lirael, the Abhorsen-in-Waiting. Even Hayes had to admit they had pretty good odds. So why did he feel so uneasy?
The StormThe small army arrived at the Red Lake about a week later. Dragging a wagon full of large rocks across the continent had tired the Old Kingdom horses, as well as everyone else. Hayes was still laughing about that time when Applejack had tried to talk to one of the Old Kingdom horses. That had been hilarious. Unfortunately for everyone else, Twilight had made the mistake of asking Hayes why the horses couldn’t talk. He had launched into his whole scientomagical lecture on the subject, and it took fifteen minutes to shut him up. Then Twilight had asked what scientomagic was. Hayes had explained that scientomagic was a blend of Old Kingdom magic and Ancelstierran science. He had developed it while he was in the NPRU, and there were already many other Scouts who used it. Adding magic to modified machines could make them run better, and if properly added to explosives, it could make them more destructive. The soldiers began to make camp while Hayes moved the stones into position. Night was coming, and the sooner this was over with the better. A light rain began to fall. Once they had gotten the stones arranged properly, Hayes drew a pentacle in the dirt and lit a candle at each point. Then he began to chant slowly. The rain began to come down faster, and a wind blew the rain right into the soldier’s faces. Several of the soldiers shivered as they felt a strange mix of the Charter and Free Magic wash over them. Ivan completely ignored the chanting, and stared intently up at the ridge nearby. He turned to Sameth and Lirael. “Can you see something up there?” he asked. The two others squinted to see the ridge in the growing darkness. “Now that you mention it, I think I can see something.” said Lirael. Sameth nodded in agreement. He motioned for the soldiers to form up and ready their weapons. Now it seemed like something was coming down the hill, something darker than the darkness. Then Rarity recognized their jerking movements. “Hands!” she gasped. Everyone readied their weapons immediately, except for Hayes, who had begun to chant faster and faster. Then a soldier cried out. There were more Hands on the other sides as well. They were completely surrounded. Sameth let out a low whistle. “I would hate to meet the necromancer that summoned this many Hands.” he said. The Hands stopped a few yards away from the soldiers. Then there was a flash of lightning, a roll of thunder, and the Hands attacked as the rain continued to pour down faster and faster. The first wave hit the outer rank of soldiers with a screaming crash of steel on bone. The first few Hands were greeted by a hail of arrows, and battered down by swords and shields. However, as more and more Hands filled the gaps, the square of soldiers slowly began to shrink as first one fell, then another, then another. The Hands took advantage of small gaps, pouring into them, making them bigger. Soldiers began to fall more quickly. The square shrank to only a small fraction of what it had been before, with a ragged circle formed around Hayes and the unfinished portal. There were the seven ponies, Ivan, Sameth, Lirael, and five soldiers left. All of them had at least one injury. The Hands continued to close in, but the fifteen survivors continued to fight against the endless horde. Rarity and Lirael worked together, one ringing Saraneth and the other ringing Kibeth, to make many of the Hands return to Death at the same time. Eventually the Hands stopped coming and began to fall back. Ivan looked around, and saw that three more of the soldiers were lying dead on the ground. Sameth had also received a bad wound to his sword arm, rendering him combat ineffective. A few of the ponies relaxed for a moment, but no one else did. They knew it was only going to get worse. Then Derpy spotted something. They were tall figures, glowing faintly with muddy marshfire. She pointed them out to the others. Ivan grimaced. Mordicants. He had seen these things only once before, and he remembered it clear as day. A single Mordicant had encounted his squad about a mile from the Wall, on Ivan’s first day in the army. Ivan remembered running from it while he heard it slaughtering the rest of his squad. He had run all the way to the nearest checkpoint, which was manned by a single Scout. That Scout, who was of course Hayes, hadn’t even bothered to call for backup. As Ivan hid he had walked straight back to where the Mordicant was feasting on the deceased soldier’s souls and blown it to pieces. He was later criticized for incinerating a large section of forest, though no one ever figured out how he’d done it. Ivan snapped back to the present as Lirael and Rarity rang their bells. One of the charging Mordicants collapsed, but the others barely faltered. Then suddenly, Hayes’ chanting stopped. Everyone looked at the empty stone archway. A tiny pinprick of rainbow colored light appeared in the center, and then expanded to fill the entire space. A second later Hayes collapsed into a coma. The ponies hesitated. “What the hell are you lot waiting for!?” yelled Ivan, “Go through the portal!” “What about you guys? The Mordicants will rip you to pieces!” replied Pinkie. Lirael took a moment to assess the situation. “There aren’t enough of them to completely block us from escaping!” she said, “We have a chance, so just go!” The ponies turned and vanished into the light. Then a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and struck the archway. A huge section of the stone was blown into dust. Ivan gulped. Hayes had warned them about this. The portal was destabilizing. That meant it was going to blow up. He turned to Sameth, Lirael, and the two soldiers. “Run through a gap in the Mordicant’s line!” he said. “What about you?” asked Sameth. “Hayes had a contingency plan for if this happened! I’ve got to follow it!” Sameth nodded, then he led the others into the darkness. Ivan turned, grabbed Hayes by the hood of his cloak, and just managed to heave him through the portal. Then there was a massive tremor, and Ivan nearly collapsed. He turned around just in time for a Hand’s claws to rake his arm. He fell backwards, but as he entered the portal there was a flash of lightning. He saw the necromancer up on the ridge. The necromancer was a pony. Ivan blacked out. The portal exploded. Up on the ridge, the necromancer watched as the rainbow light enveloped his army, vaporizing them. He grimaced, and then smiled. His quarry may have evaded him this time, but he could wait. Sure the humans would get in the way, but what did a few more lives matter. They were just more soldiers for his legions anyway. Still smiling, the necromancer turned and cantered down the hill.
