Princess Celestia sat in her bedroom, writing letters and doing paperwork at the study. He hummed a tune as she signed the last letter and yawned. She has just realized how tired she was.

"It'll almost be time for Luna to raise the moon. I should go check on her." She said to herself, opening the door with a hoof and walking out into the seemingly endless spiral stairwell, whose walls were adorned with gorgeous artwork and trinkets from all across the globe. (A/N: If you're wondering why I'm saying "the globe" instead of "equestria", please refer to this.)

She made it to the bottom of the stairwell, only to be greeted by her bipedal apprentice, Marloc Fyrestone. He had been living in equestria for the past two years now, his sanity slowly but surely returning over time. "Princess! I think I've finally mastered it!" He said extatically, practically bouncing with joy.

"Mastered what?" Celestia asked. He really needs to explain things better.

"Here, I'll show you!" Marloc walked quickly over to the end of the hall, and motioned for Celestia to follow.

I'd love to see what he's been doing all this time. The alicorn thought to herself. Maybe it's a new spell, or something along the lines. Either way, I'm happy for him. Her thoughts wer cut off by the sound of a door unlocking. Marloc walked into his room, Celestia following him hesitantly. His room was a huge library of magic and intellect, the first level had walls lined with bookshelves, all of them were either spell tomes or fantasy novels. Two staircases went up the wall into the second floor, which had Marlocs study and bedroom behind two closed doors.

"I love what you've done with the place, Marloc." Celestia complimented Marloc, smiling as she eyed a wisp that floated around the library"Oh, and good afternoon Drewbie!" She waved a hoof at the blue will-o-wisp, who replied to her with a magical chirp as it floated over to Marloc, handing him a thick reddish-brown book. He walked up the stairwell and beckoned Celestia over, opening the door to the study and walking in. As she walked up the stairs, a faint green light came out of the room, making the alicorn feel a bit uneasy. She peeked her head into the doorway, and was immediately drawn to the decor. The walls were decorated with sigils and markings that had been drawn on with chalk, pony skulls and bones tied into windchimes with rope were hanging from parts of the room. Marloc sat at his large desk, the book open and glowing with a green light. "Well, this sure is some.. interesting decor!" She hesitated, glaring at a pony skull that seemed to be staring into her soul.

"..Graveyard soil, Formaldehyde, Blood.." Marloc spoke over the eerie whispers coming from the book, looking through a list and placing the items he read. "Blood! I almost forgot." He said, pulling out an empty vial and a knife. He waved his hand over the vial and placed the blade onto the palm of his hand as he slit the palm open, blood draining into the vial. Celestia couldn't watch, she had always been disgusted by that sort of thing. Marloc began laughing, Celestia moved her hoof from her eyes and watched marloc. He was tossing the many ingredients into the book, making the light shine even brighter and the whispers pierce her mind ever harder. Drewbie floated into the room, wondering what all the commotion was about. Marloc raised a hand towards Drewbie which began to glow with magical energy, as he brought Drewbie over to the table. Grabbing a pony skull, Marloc threw it and Drewbie into the book, which glowed with a blinding green light.

"Marloc! What are you doing!?" The princess shouted over the whispers that filled the room. He ignored her, chanting in a daemonic tongue which sounded like the babbling of a drowning madpony. Celestia's mane began to blow back from the energy the book was emitting. Suddenly, the light died down, the room now only lit by candles. Celestia, regained her sight back, only to be greeted by a floating pony skull. She yelped and jumped backwards. The skull was green with runes carved on every part of it. It was alight with a green flame which seemed to service as a mane, and it had shining emeralds in place where a pony would have eyes.

"Yes! It worked!" Marloc was ecstatic, he picked himself up off of his fallen chair and ran over to the skull. "Drewbie? Can you hear me?"

YES, MASTER. The skulls jaw had not moved at all. It was as if it was speaking through their minds. Celestia was petrified.

"Th-that's Drewbie?!" She managed to squeak, the skull turned to her.

YES. Once again, in that not-talking voice that emitted through her mind. THE MASTER HAS WANTED ME TO HAVE A PHYSICAL FORM, SO THAT I MAY BE OF MORE ASSISTENCE AND BE EASIER TO SPOT, AS HIS EXACT WORDS WERE. Celestia was dumbfounded. She, in all her life, had never seen magic like this.

"Marloc.. this is.." She said hesitantly, still looking into the gemmed eyes of Drewbie which stared into her soul. "..Amazing! I have never seen such magic like this in all my days! Granted the preperation is a tad disturbing, but still! Marloc, you have possibly just created an entirely new school of magic." She walked into the room, and stood in front of the desk. "What book is this, anyway?" Her horn glowed with a white light as she floated the book up to eyelevel.

A pony's screaming face was etched into the hard cover, there was no title or writing to be found on the binding. "How.. interesting." She tried to hide her fear but failed. She opened the book, and instead of words, she found markings and sigils identical to the ones on the wall. She tried to read the print but it wasn't in Equestrian. In fact, it wasn't in any kind of language she has ever seen. It didn't even use the same letters. She continued to turn the pages, some of them showing horrifying images that made her jump and turn the page in an instant, and others that were completely blank with the exception of bloodstains splattered over the pages.

She closed the book, and turned to Marloc, her face was as though she had just seen a ghost. "Marloc.." She said so quietly it was almost a whisper. "..What kind of magic is this?"

Marloc seemed to have predicted the question, and smiled. "Necromancy!" He said happily, his arms behind his back. Then it hit her. An ancient evil that had plagued Equestria for aeons. She was glad she had erased those memories from her mind, but now they are back to haunt her.

"Marloc. I don't want you to have anything to do with this anymore. This magic is evil and acursed." Marloc's smile faded into a frown. "Get rid of this book and clean those markings off of the wall."

"What!? You can't-" Marloc was cut off by the alicorn.

"I know this seems unfair to you, but this is for the safety of Equestria." The princess said sternly, walking out the door. "No offense, Drewbie." She said to the floating skull as she walked down the stairs and out the door to the hallway.

NONE TAKEN. The skull stated reassuringly. He floated over to Marloc, who had a grim look on his face. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO HER, ARE YOU?

"You know me so well." Marloc said, closing the door to the study as he picked the book off of the floor and placed it back onto the desk.

Twilight Sparkle sat pleasently on the floor of her room, books sprawled out around her. She had been studying since she woke up and was almost finished with her work. Her horn glowed purple as she floated a parchment up to eyelevel and started writing on it with a quill, humming a tune. "Aaand.. done!" She said to herself as she added the last period to what she was writing. She exhaled as her horn glowed with magical energy and moved the books back into their places on the shelves. As if on cue, a purple and green baby dragon walked into the room, holding a plate with a flower petal sandwich on it.

"Heres your lunch, Twilight." Spike said as Twilight removed the plate from his hands and floated it over to her.

"Aww, thank you, Spike. You're such a good assistant." She said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"What were you working on, anyway?" Asked spike, looking at the parchment that was rolled up on the floor next to Twilight.

"I was writing a report to Celestia about Minotaurs, since they're going to be migrating here... today! We should gather the girls and head to Fluttershy's house before we miss anything." She finished her sandwich and stood up, floating the parchment over to Spike, who inhaled deeply and ignited the scroll in a stream of green fire.

"I've never seen a minotaur before. I've seen pictures, but I've never seen one in person." Spike followed Twilight out the door to her room and into the main area of the library.

"They're huge compared to a pony. Probably almost as big as Celestia herself. They're very loud, too." She chuckled to herself.

"Why do they come here every one-hundred years anyway?" Spike asked.

"Minotaurs are very nomadic. They never stay in the same place for long. They travel a specific trail around the continent, and Equestria just happens to be the start of that trail. Minotaurs are very interesting. They're also the only bipedal race that is civilized." She continued her lecture.

"I hope I get to meet one." Said Spike, optimistically as they walked through Ponyville over to the Carousel Boutique. Twilight rapped thrice on the door with her hoof.

"One moment!" Said a voice from inside the building, which caused Spike to melt like butter.

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"Are we there yet?" A young brown Minotaur whined as he followed a group of older Minotaurs through the Everfree Forest.

"Yes, we're almost near the edge. Now stop asking that question, Copper Tail." Said a black minotaur, who carried a large satchel on his back filled with supplies, food, and other basic needs. The Minotaurs have been migrating all over the known world and have finally made it to their favorite spot on the map, Equestria. The many landmarks there were need-to-see sights. The ruins of Eternity's Bridge, Cloudsdale, and of course, Canterlot, were a few of these. He loved the airship ride to Cervidas, which was where they would move to after Equestria. He could already see the massive Maelstrom known as Abbadon's Fury.

His thoughts were interrupted by a fantastic sight. A beatutiful Cardinal sat on a rock that had cracked in two, he dropped his satchel and crept over to it. He raised a hand which the cardinal hopped onto. "Hey there, little guy." He whispered to the cardinal. Copper Tail wasn't like most Minotaurs. He loved nature and it's animals. Suddenly, something startled the cardinal, causing it to fly away. "No, wait!" He sighed.

Something caught his eye. A cave. But this didn't look like any natural cave, it looked like it had carvings and brickwork on the inside. Curiousity overtaking him, he jogged over to the mouth of the cave, and looked inside. He could see a faint green light from inside. He walked inside to investigate, but the light moved further down the cavern. He followed it until be came to a dead end. Turning around, he stepped on something. A pressure plate. Suddenly, torches lit themselves alight, illuminating the scene. The wall turned out to be a door.

The door was carved with designs of skeletons. Hundreds of pony skulls and bones were decorated onto it, but what really caught his eye was the much larger skull of... something.. carved into the upper parts. It faintly resembled a chimpanzee skull. It was much flatter than a chimpanzee skull, and the pointed teeth that were on the corners of the front of the mouth were smaller, but still as sharp. It was carved with hundreds of markings, which Copper Tail recognized as runes. Where there would normally be eyes, there were emeralds. He noticed a five pointed star within a circle that was carved onto the forehead of the skull. He placed a hand on it and jumped back as the star turned upside down, which made the door creak open agonizingly slowly.

Eerie whispers beckoned him to enter, and that he did. The walls were indented into large shelves that housed coffins. Some closed, and some smashed open to reveal ancient corpses and skeletons of ponies and.. minotaur? Copper Tail was scared by the thought, but he quickly shook it away. He grabbed one of the torches off of the wall and continued down the crypt, trying to ignore the skulls staring deep into his soul. He came to a massive room, about as large as the throne room in Canterlot Castle. He stepped on another pressure plate, which caused more torches to alight, illuminating the flags that hung from the walls. The flags were a sickly green, and printed on them in black was that strange monkey-thing's skull, with two skeletal arms crossed into an X behind it.

Suddenly, the ceiling opened up, letting sunlight pour through, illuminating something that made the hairs on the back of Copper Tail's neck stand on end. At the end of the room was a throne that housed a skeleton. The skeleton had the same monkey-thing's skull. Copper Tail guessed the door and the flags were designed after that. It's bones were carved with runes just like the skull on the door, but this was full body. The skull had the same five-pointed-star-that-was-within-a-circle, as Copper Tail called it, on it's forehead. It was adorned with black tattered rags and rusted chainmail, an amulet with a large green diamond was around its neck, the silver chain rusted but the gem flawless, completely untouched by time. On its head was a crown, but this wasn't like any kind of crown he had seen on the Princesses. This crown was a large silver ring around the skeletons head, metal rods portruded from every side of the crown, going out slightly and then sharply going up to the sky. (A/N: Like this!)

On one of the arms of the throne was a book. Copper Tail couldn't read what was on the binding, but it was probably some ancient tome of great knowledge. Leaning against the other arm was a long curved sword, and carved into the blade were more green runes, glowing very faintly. Whoever this skeleton guy was he sure loved his runes. Copper Tail thought.

And in the skeletal hand of the skeleton was a staff. At the top of the staff was a half circle, tilted on an angle like a crescent moon. The outside of it was was adorned with long spikes each a few inches away from eachother. In the middle was a jawless version of one of those monkey-thing skulls. Moving down, the top of the stick was wrapped in rags, which was stained red. The handle itself was wrapped in bandages, very lightly stained red unlike the rags which looked like they had been soaked. Metal rings around the staff defined the beginning and the end of the handle. The top ring had pointy chains dangling from it, which were swaying back and forth in the wind ever so slightly. The rest of the staff looked as thought it was just a thick tree branch, minus the leaves.

Copper Tail took a step forward and heard a loud crunch. He looked down at his feet and realized that he had just stepped on a pony skull. The minotaur then realized that the floor of the room was covered with bones and skulls alike. He continued walking forward, wincing with each step. As he finally made it to the throne at the end, he realized how big the skeleton was. It was as large as an adult minotaur, though a tad shorter.

"Uh.. hi there, Mister Skeleton." Copper Tail muttered to the lifeless bag of bones, who sat there motionless, jawbone hanging loose. Copper Tail noticed a green light behind him casting a shadow on the throne. He turned around and saw a green floating pony skull, engulfed in green fire. It had green gems for eyes and had runes carved into it's hard shell.

Copper Tail jumped backwards in fear, accidentally placing a hand on the book that was on the throne. The room shook, dust and small rocks falling from the ceiling. The runes on the skeleton's body began glowing green, and the book shot itself open, the pages turning at an insane speed. Copper Tail's fur began to blow backwards, as if there was a strong wind coming from the throne. The skeleton began to twitch, as the room shook even more.

Two small green flames that functioned as pupils appeared in the skeletons eye sockets, they turned to Copper Tail, who froze in fear. The flaming pony skull floated up next to Copper Tail.

NOW YOU FUCKED UP.

Elsewhere, a white Alicorn awakes from a lazy nap upon her throne.

I-It was just a bad dream.. She muttered to herself.

"Oh, hello, Twilight! Are you going to the Minotaur migration aswell?" The fashonista Rarity opened the door, her purple main flowing slightly in the wind.

"Actually, we are. Are the other girls going too?" Twilight asked, smiling.

"Yes, actually. We're all going to Fluttershy's house, since she lives close to where the Minotaurs are." Rarity answered, inviting the lavender unicorn and the young dragon into her humble abode.

"Really? Me and Spike were going to head there after we gathered the others." The purple mare said. "I've been studying Minotaurs for Princess Celestia all day, and I have tons of questions to ask them." There was a knock on the door.

"Rarity? Y'all ready to get goin'?" Said a familiar voice. Rarity trotted over to the door and opened it. Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were standing in the doorway.

"Oh, howdy Twilight! Howdy, Spike!" Applejack tipped her hat at the two as she entered.

"I'm SO psyched!" The skittles-haired mare flew through the doorway, practically squealing with excitement.

"I wonder what minotaur parties are like." The obnoxiously pink pony asked herself as she bounced into the house.

"Are we all ready?" Asked Twilight Sparkle as the others nodded in agreement. "Then let's get going to Fluttershy's house!" Rainbow Dash and Spike wooped as they ran out the door, the others following them.

Rarity rapped thrice on the door to Fluttershy's cottage. The door opened revealing the yellow pegasus. "Oh, um, hi girls. Are you ready to go see the minotaurs? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to.." She said faintly.

"Hay yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted, hovering above the ground and flying in circles.

"Any idea where the minotaurs are supposed to be coming from?" Asked Spike. As if on cue, Minotaurs of different colors and sizes began walking out of the forest in large groups, each holding satchels filled with belongings and supplies. Two of them, a black one and a light brown one, noticed the group and walked over to them.

"Hello!" The large black one bellowed, waving a hand. "Could you help us with something?"

"Sure thing. Whaddaya need?" Said Applejack reassuringly. The two minotaurs placed their bags on the ground and sighed.

"Our son has gone missing. Last time we saw him he was walking with is through the everfree forest, and then he was just gone. You don't want to if you don't have to. We could get a few friends to go back with us if it's too much trouble." Said the tan one, who the girls, and the dragon, guessed was the female.

"That's crazy talk. Of course we'll help awesome minotaurs like you!" Rainbow Dash said, striking ninja poses in the air.

"Thank you. You don't know how much this means to us." Said the black Minotaur.

"Alright, girls. Let's go find that minotaur's son!" Twilight said heroicly.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Said spike, walking ahead of Twilight.

"Not so fast, Spike. It's dangerous for you. You stay here with the minotaurs." Twilight turned Spike to the minotaur trio.

"Aww, but-" Spike realized that the two were minotaurs. "Actually, yeah, I'll stay here." Spike said gidilly as he trotted over to the two. "What kinds of things do you see on the migration?" Spike asked the minotaurs, walking wth them over to the other minotaurs that were going to the empty plain that they normally set up their homes.

"Let's go." The group galloped over to the beginning of the forest, and with a gulp, entered.

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Princess Celestia sat at her chair at the long table where the residents of the castle would eat. She poked at her food with her fork, a bored and depressed look on her face.

"Tia, is there something wrong?" Asked Luna, the princess of the night, who was nearly finished eating.

"I'm not hungry." Celestia lied, placing her fork on the plate.

"But you haven't eaten all day. Are you sure there isn't something wrong? We- I mean, I'm worried about you."

Celestia sighed. "I've been having these strange visions lately. About something very grim. It's probably just my hunger." The sun princess convinced herself as she began to eat, realizing how hungry she was.

"If you say so, sister." Luna finished her food, and drank the rest of the icewater that was still in her glass.

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You better have enjoyed that bit of plot development.

The eerie feeling of being in the Everfree Forest didn't help that they couldn't find the young minotaur at all.

"I don't know, girls. Maybe he's back with the his parents?" Twilight said, giving up.

"Don't you give up now, Twi. Ah'm sure we'll find 'em soon. Just gotta keep lookin'." Reassured Applejack.

"Hey, girls! Lookie lookie what I found!" Pinkie pie popped her head out of a bush, a satchel on her nose.

"Where'd you find that?" Asked Twilight, trying not to giggle at the bag on the pink ponies nose.

"Over there!" She pointed a hoof at a rock that had been cracked in half. Rainbow Dash hovered over to where Pinkie had pointed, and in the corner of her eye, saw something.

"Hey, gals! Found something!" She shouted as the others walked over to where she was. She pointed a hoof at a cave entrance. "You think he went in there?"

"We could check." Twilight said, trying to hide her fear. "Uh.. who wants to go in first?"

"I'll go in. I ain't scared of nohing!" Boasted Rainbow Dash as she flew into the cave, the others following.

Twilight noticed runes carved into the mouth of the cave. She paused a moment to look at them, and then continued following the others. Very faint whispering could be heard from deeper within the cave. Lit torches lined the walls, illuminating the tombs in the walls.

"Uh, girls. Look at this." The five other mares trotted over to Twilight, who was standing next to a large shelf in the wall that housed an ancient pony corpse and a pony skeleton. They then noticed that the walls were covered with these.

"Where the hay are we?" Rainbow Dash asked the others with, suprisingly, fear in her voice.

"Ah don't know, Dashie." Said AJ. "B-but we gotta find that minotaur boy." She audibly gulped, moving further down the cave, which was turning more into a ruin. They came to a large black door, which faintly glowed green. It was carved with the imagery thousands of dead ponies. At the top there was a strange skull none of the girls could recognize, it had green gems for eyes and had markings carved into it's bone. Five pointed star within a cirlce was carved onto it's forehead.

"Oooh, look at those lovely gems!" Rarity said excitedly. At the bottom of the door, there was writing. It wasn't in any language they had seen before. In fact, it didn't even use the same font. Kind of like Griflish. Rainbow Dash thought.

"What's that star supposed to be?" The blue pegasus asked her librarian friend.

"I'm not sure. It's supposed to be a symbol of an ancient religion. This star is facing up, which means good will. But if it's upside down, then.." She was cut off by a loud creaking noise, and as if on cue the star turned upside down, the gemmed eyes of the skull began to glow with green energy. "..Then something bad is about to happen."

The girls jumped back as the door creaked open ever so slowly. The door lead to another hallway. Around the corner, a green light shone. Eerie whispers flowed through each of the girls minds.

"T-Twilight.. a-are you sure w-we should go this way?" Asked Rarity. Fluttershy squeaked in agreement.

They were cut off by a voice that petrified them.

WELL, LOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE! GUESTS! IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE ANYPONY HAS VISITED THE MASTER. The daemonic voice pierced their minds. A green flaming pony skull floated into the doorway. AND WHO MIGHT YOU SIX BE? The skulls mouth, or jaw in this case, didn't move at all. It was speaking to them through their minds.

"You have the most lovely eyes!" Rarity complimented the familiar.

WHY THANK YOU, UNICORN. THEY'RE SOULSTONES. The skull seemed to be friendly.

"Uh, My name is Twilight Sparkle. What is yours?" The purple unicorn asked.

DREWBIE.

"Just Drewbie? What kind of name is that?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

YES, JUST DREWBIE. MY MASTER NAMED ME HIMSELF.

"Y-Your master?" Twilight asked hesitantly.

YES. I'M SURE HE'D LOVE TO MEET YOU. The skull laughed like a madpony, causing the hairs on the mares necks to stand on end. FOLLOW ME, YOUNG ONES.

The skull floated down the hallway and turned the corner. They followed, hesitantly. Turning the corner, they froze. They were greeted by a massive room. Oh my. It's as big as the Princess' throne room. Twilight thought to herself. The walls were adorned with torches alight with green flame and giant, sickly green flags, which reminded Twilight of the stain glass windows in the throne room, but these were far from being as beautiful as those. She then noticed the hundreds of skeletons covering the ground.

But what really caught her eye was the figure sitting on the throne at the end of the room.

"Hello, young ponies." The figure said. His voice was like ten thousand different ponies all speaking, shouting, and whispering the same thing in unison. "Welcome to the Necropolis."

"Please, make yourselves at home." The figure stood up from his throne. Twilight had no idea what this creature was. It stood on two legs like a minotaur, but it was nowhere near as muscular. In fact, she doubted that it even had muscles. It's face was completely flat, and it had no horns, unless that thing on its head was it's horns. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Marloc Fyreshard."

"Well, It's very nice to meet you, Mister Mar-" Twilight was cut off by a loud crunching sound underneath her feet. She looked down and what she saw made her go pale. She had just crushed somepony's skull.

"Please excuse the mess, it's been ages since I last tidied up around here." He howled with laughter, which turned into a wheeze, which turned into a hacking cough. "Here, let me help." He picked up his staff and raised it into the air as it began to glow green. The bones covering the floor began to glow green aswell as they shot up into the air and flew into the sides of the room into neat piles. Well, as neat as a pile of bones can get. Instead of bones covering the floor, the floor was littered with ancient weapons and armor which made Twilight feel uneasy. The equipment on the floor began to glow green aswell as they shot into the air and floated into neat piles next to the neat piles of bones.

Marloc slammed his staff onto the floor and sat back down.

"Is this where you live?" Asked Rarity, slight fear in her voice as she examined the huge cobwebs, the dirt covering the floor, and the dust. Oh how she hated the dust. "My goodness, this place is.." She tried to find a word that wouldn't offend the host. "..Uh.. messy." She said with a bad pokerface.

"Like I said, it's been centuries since I last cleaned this place." Said Marloc.

"Centuries? How old are you?" Asked Twilight, absolutely intrigued by this strange person.

"I have been on this world for over a thousand years." He said.

"A thousand years?" The six ponies said in unison.

"But, that would mean-" Twilight was cut off.

"That I'm very old." He laughed at his own joke. The mares laughed nervously with him.

"Anyway, now to why we're here-" Twilight was cut off once again by Rainbow Dash flying past her.

"Where's that Minotaur's son!?" She put her face up to Marloc's. Only then did she realize his actual appearence. He had no face. It was a skull identical to the one on the door and the one on the flags. Where he would normally have eyes, had had small green flames which acted as pupils. He had the same upside-down pentagram on his forehead, as did he have the runes. But these were covering his whole body. Rainbow Dash began babbling as she slowly floated back to the other girls, shivering as though she had just gotten out of a freezer.

"The boy? I put him to good use." As if on cue, Copper Tail walked out of one of the rooms, wearing an apron and holding a broom.

"All done, your magesty!" The young minotaur said, crossing his arms over his chest in a salute.

"Good boy. Here." He snapped his boney fingers and a cookie appeared in Copper Tail's hands.

"He's very loyal." Marloc said, chuckling. "But I highly doubt that him alone will be able to clean this place up."

"We could help ya." Applejack volunteered. The others hesitated, but then nodded in agreement.

"Oh, you don't have to."

"We insist." Said Rarity, flipping her hair back.

"Well, if you insist." He snapped his fingers and the six mares were suddenly wearing aprons and holding brooms in their teeth. "In the meantime, I need to catch up on my reading." He snapped his fingers again and a pair of spectacles appeared on his eyes. He picked up the thick book next to him and opened it up.

Twilight floated the broom out of her mouth with her horn. "How did you do that anyway? You just snap your fingers and things appear."

"Magic." Marloc snorted twice after he said that.

"No, I know that, but I had no idea someone could be that advanced in magic."

"When you're this good at magic you can practically do whatever the hell you please." He adjusted his glasses with his finger and continued reading.

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"Very nice work raising the moon, Lulu." Celestia complimented her sister.

"Thanks, Tia." Luna loved spending time with her sister. She was always busy having meetings with nation leaders or doing paperwork. She rarely got to have moments like this where they would just hang out. "Hey Tia.."

"Yes?"

"Have you been feeling well this week? You've been acting strange." She asked worryingly.

"I'm fine, sister. It's just that I've been having nightmares for the past few days."

"Nightmares? What were they about?"

"Nothing." Celestia lied

"Tia."

The white alicorn sighed. "I'm having visions of some ancient evil. One I haven't seen in over a thousand years."

"You don't think it's anything bad, do you?" Asked Luna

"N-no. Of course not." But Celestia knew something was amiss. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a very faint green light coming from the Everfree Forest. It's nothing..

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Marloc had fallen asleep during his reading. He was awoken by Twilight sparkle.

"We're done!" She smiled widely.

Marloc looked around his throne room. Not a single cobweb or pile of dirt was to be found. "Wow. You girls sure went to work."

"We kept the vines and moss, if that's okay with you." The purple unicorn said.

"That's fine. I think they spiff the place up." He got up from his throne, stretching, as he folded his glasses and placed them on the arm of his chair. He picked up his staff and used it as a walking stick. "You even dusted off the standards." He said, baffled, as he looked at the green flags hanging from the walls as he walked towards the group. "I hope my appearence doesn't frighten you."

"It's okay. I wasn't really scared." Boasted Rainbow Dash, who was nudged by Applejack. "Heh. Okay, maybe a little"

"It's a common reaction. Most ponies aren't used to seeing a lich." Said Marloc. Fear pierced through Twilight as the very mention of the word. Princess Celestia had always told her that Liches are evil, vile creatures that want nothing but death and blood. But this one was much different.

"You're a Lich?" Asked Twilight.

"Yes. Is there something wrong?"

"Well, no. It's just that my teacher always told me that liches were evil. But you're far from evil."

"And who is your teacher?" Marloc asked, interested.

"My teacher is Princess Celestia. Have you heard of her?"

"What? Princess Celestia?" The flames in Marloc's eyes grew larger.

"Yeah! The Princess Celestia! Her and Princess Luna are the most powerful beings in all of equestria" Pinkie Pie said, giddily.

Green fire flowed from Marloc's back, the flames in his eyes even larger than before. He grunted at the very mention of the word as he curled his hand into a fist and looked in the other direction, breathing heavily and angrily.

"Have you heard of her?" The pink pony asked.

The flames dimmed. "Yes. I have heard of her." The many voices that he had were much more noticeable. "I used to be her student."

The six ponies gasped in unison. "What?"

"Yes." Marloc confirmed. "Has she told you about me? I doubt it. I was the first Human to set foot on this world."

"Human? So that's what you are." Twilight was intrigued, and completely oblivious to his anger.

"Yes." Marloc walked back over to his throne, and sat down. "Girls, I think it would be best if you left."

"What? Why?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"NOW." Hundreds of voices shouted at them furiously in unison. "AND TAKE YOUR MINOTAUR WITH YOU." They all scurried out the door, Copper Tail included.

AWW, I LIKED THOSE GIRLS.

Twilight barely got any sleep last night. No, not out of fear, silly reader. She couldn't stop thinking of all the questions she could have asked him but didn't get to. Where did he come from? What did he do? What happened to him that made him that way? She took a sip of her coffee finished writing her letter to Princess Celestia. "Spike!" She called. The baby dragon rushed in.

"What's wrong?" He asked

"Send this letter to Princess Celestia." She floated the parchment over to him. He inhaled deeply and blew the scroll away with a breath of green fire. She finished her coffee and walked over to the kitchen, where she placed her mug into the sink and began watching it. A loud burp was heard from the other room, as spike walked in with a scroll in his hands. "That was fast." She dropped the sponge and the mug back into the sink and took the parchment, opening it.

Twilight,

Gather the other elements. I have sent a chariot to come and pick you up outside your library.

-Celestia

Twilight froze. She didn't know what to think of this. "Spike, the princess needs me. Take care of the library while I'm gone." She said, trotting over to the door.

"Sure thing." He saluted.

"What's all the fuss about?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know. The princess just told me to gather you girls and get on a chariot to Canterlot." Twilight said. "What if it's something bad?"

"Ah don't know, sugarcube." Said applejack.

The chariot driven by pegasus guards finally arrived, and one of them motioned for the six mares to get on.

---

The door to the Necropolis creaked open slowly, and in the doorway stood three pegasus guards adorned in golden armor.

"Ah, more guests! How lovely!" Marloc said cheerfully. "Welcome to the Necro-"

"Marloc Fyreshard, you are under arrest by order of the princess." The guard in the more regal armor spoke in a stern tone.

"Oh come now, are you sure we can't settle this over a glass of wine?" Drewbie floated over to Marloc, a bottle of red wine in his teeth.

"You are to come with us immediately. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." The guard demanded.

Marloc sighed. "Fine. I choose the hard way." Marloc slammed his staff onto the ground, as the piles of bones began to rattle. They sprawled out all over the floor of the throne room, and began to form into skeletal Ponies, Minotaurs, and Griffins alike.

"DEATH TO THE FLESHED" One of the minotaur skeletons managed to hiss as it picked up a battleaxe off of the ground. The other skeletons picked up weapons and armor from the ground and roared at the guard ponies, glowing green mist emitting from their eye sockets and mouths. The guard ponies were frozen in fear. The two pegasi guards ran away through the cowards, leaving the unicorn guard on his own. He turned to run but the door slammed behind him. He managed to gather what remnants of courage he had, and drew his sword. An earth pony skeleton made the first strike, raising it's sword in the air and bringing it down on the unicorn, who blocked the blow with his blade. He slashed at the skeletal pony, bisecting it.

"Is this the best you've got?" He said, merrily smiting the skeleton ponies. He had completely forgotten about the two giant Minotaur skeletons who had barged their way through the groups of skeleton ponies and griffins. "Oh horseapples."

Marloc laughed at the show. He raised his staff high into the air, and brought it down on the floor of the throne room, making the brickwork on the floor crack violently. The cracks began to glow green, revealing a sigil on the floor. The room shook violently, as the skeletons and guard pony all fell to the ground. The door behind the guard pony fell from the wall, as the wall itself began to open up even more. He turned around and froze.

They were flying.

"IF CELESTIA WANTS WAR, THEN WAR SHE SHALL RECIEVE."

---

The chariot landed on the landing pad at Canterlot Castle, and the girls hopped off. They followed one of the guards into the throne room.

"Ah, girls, there you are." Celestia said, getting up from her throne and walking over to them. "Please, follow me." Celestia said. The six did what she told them and followed. Celestia walked out onto her balcony, the others following. "You went to that place?" The girls nodded. "He told you he used to be my student?" The girls nodded again. Celestia sighed. "He is right. He was my student. A very noble and kind one." Celestia said, earning a few gasps.

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

"One day, when I was going to watch Luna raise the moon, he said that he made a magical breakthrough. He brought me to his quarters and showed me what exactly he meant." Celestia hesitated. "He was learning Necromancy. The art of raising the dead to do your bidding."

Fluttershy gasped. "That's awful!"

"I banned him from practicing that magic. But that didn't stop him. He went insane with power. So.." She hesitated once again. "..I banished him from Equestria, as I didn't want anything bad to happen to any of the ponies that lived here at the time."

"But that didn't stop him either?" Rarity asked, seeing where this was going.

"Not at all. He resided in a cave that you may know as the Necropolis. It turned out to be an old ruin where we would bury the most brave and noble warriors. He used necromancy to raise them from the dead and he put them to work. They repaired the necropolis, they built his throne room, and the.. other parts that you haven't seen. As time passed, he grew in power. My sister and I sensed this, and we sent our most powerful soldiers to.. assassinate him." That earned a few gasps from the girls. "They succeded."

"But if you killed him.." Before Twilight, could finish, Celestia continued.

"He was killed, but the black magic that resided in him was not. Over time the power met its peak and he was ressurected. He sent an army of the undead marching towards Equestria. Each of our soldiers that were slew, he gained a new soldier. His armies eventually marched out into the other provinces. The griffins were completely unexpecting this, and thus they suffered heavy losses, which made his army grow even more."

"What happened next?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"We decided we had to deal with him personally. Me, Luna, and a platoon of pony and griffin soldiers stormed the necropolis. We prevailed against his footsoldiers, but when we got to Marloc himself.. he was just too powerful. He drove my pony and griffon soldiers mad. So mad they started to fight eachother instead of assisting us with the Lich. Luna was stubborn, she tried to fight him personally, but.." Her eyes filled with tears. "..He drove her mad just like the soldiers. She turned on me. Marloc.." She hesitated. "Marloc was the reason for Nightmare Moon."

Celestia's words held in their minds for what seemed like an eternity. Not even a gasp was audible from any of them.

Finally, a blue pegasus gained the courage to speak.

"W-What?!"

Well how anti-climactic.

"I thought Nightmare Moon was created from Princess Luna being jealous of your sun!" Twilight said, baffled.

"I had to think of a reason that wasn't so grim. You wouldn't want to be teaching your children about how a necromancer raised the corpses of the many ponies and griffins he killed and how he sent them against us, would you?" Celestia asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, Ah guess yer right. Wouldn't wanna have Apple Bloom thinkin' one of those things is in her room when she's tryin' ta sleep." Applejack added.

"So, how are we gonna stop-" Before the multicolored pegasus could finish her sentence, the ground began to shake violently. The clouds swirled into a maelstrom in the sky, and the once blue sky we knew turned into a dark green. The girls saw something in the corner of their eyes that made them want to puke. The trees in the Everfree Forest began to fall into a massive sinkhole, and out from the hole emerged a gargantuan, black Pyramid. The Pyramid was adorned with massive spikes, skulls and bones. Hanging from each face of the pyramid were huge, sickly green flags, identical to the ones the girls saw in the throne room. At the top of the pyramid, there wasn't a point. There was a flat, square top, giant pillars portruding from each corner. In the middle of each of the conduits, was a green crystal.

And then they heard a sound that made them freeze in fear. Battle cries and roars could be heard all across equestria as an endless swarm of skeletons, zombies and ghould alike began charging out of the Everfree Forest, ready to kill in their master's name.

"OH TIIAAA~" Sung a familiar voice that seemed to be coming from the floating pyramid. "I'M BAAAAACK! DON'T TELL ME YOU'VE FORGOTTEN? I WOULDN'T BE SUPRISED. IT'S BEEN SO LONG." The voice began to howl with psychotic laughter.

Princess Celestia turned to the six after staring for what felt like an eternity.

"Come with me. Now." She walked back into the throne room and over to a massive, regal door. She inserted her horn into the keyhole (A/N: eughh. hopefully this won't be posted on clopfic directory by somepony after that.) and the door opened with a shining light.

"Hopefully they won't be missing this time." Rarity joked. They all chuckled at the memory.

Standing on a marble pedistal was a gem incrested chest. Princess Celestia opened the box with her magic and pulled out the Elements of Harmony. Each of them floated to their respective mares.

"Can you teleport us to that.. thing?" Rainbow Dash asked, eager to kick some zombie butt. The alicorn's horn glowed white light, but then quickly fizzled. She tried again, same result. Once again. Her magic was no use.

"That gem is interfering with my magic. You'll have to.." Celestia gulped audibly. "You'll have to fly up there. The trip there will be barbaric. I'm sure he has some sort of ranged defense." As if on cue, a platoon of Pegasus guards began flying up to the Pyramid. The crystal glowed with a blinding green light as a green beam of energy blasted an entire group of them out of the sky. It repeated this until the Pegasi had to retreat back to the castle, and the whole scene was outside one of the many stain glass windows. The girls turned to Celestia.

"It's the only way." She walked over to the landing pad. A white chariot adorned with a golden trim sat at the edge. The alicorn's horn glowed with a white light as the chariot began to shine. "This spell should protect you if... you get hit." She shuddered at the thought. The six mares hopped onto the chariot, and it took off. The crystal charged up, and shot a beam at the chariot that barely missed. The beam tried to catch up to them but they were just slightly faster than it. The beam dissapated, and the crystal began to charge up again. This time, the beam hit the chariot directly.

But instead of destroying the chariot completely, it left only a scorch mark. The chariot landed onto the top of the Pyramid. There was nothing on top besides the conduits and the crystal.

"Wait, where is he?" Rainbow Dash asked, confused.

"RIGHT HERE, MY DEAR." The voice echoed through their heads as a ball of green lightning appeared in front of them, and with a burst of energy the lich Marloc Fyrestone appeared in its place. "SO, WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE? ARE YOU HERE FOR DINNER? ARE YOU HERE TO JUST HANG OUT AS FRIENDS?" He said sarcastically.

"We're here to stop you!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flying towards the necromancer. In a burst of green lightning, he dissapeared and reappeared three feet away, causing Rainbow Dash to crash into one of the pillars.

"POOR LITTLE RAINBOW CRASH." He said with a cackle. Rainbow Dash filled with rage as she flew towards him once more.

"Rainbow Dash, wait!" Twilight shouted. The pegasus didn't hear her. Marloc raised his staff and hit her across the head with it, sending her flying with a rainbow following her. "HOMERUN, MOTHERFUCKER!" He howled with laughter. Applejack charged towards him. He slammed his staff into the ground, causing skeletal hands to reach out and grab Applejack's hind legs.

"He's too powerful to fight physically! We need to combine the elements!" Twilight shouted to the others. The rainbow haired pegasus climbed back up to the top of the pyramid, rolling over on her back to catch her breath.

"That's... the best.. you've GOT?" She said, panting.

"MY LITTLE PONY, YOU'RE TOO STUBBORN FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. NOW, ABOUT THAT 'COMBINING THE ELEMENTS' YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT. I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT." He said, facing the group. Rainbow Dash joined the group, their necklaces, and crown, began to glow with energy. They closed their eyes as they began to hover in a circle around a pillar of magical energy. They opened their eyes, which glowed with a white light from the power. A rainbow shot out of the pillar, heading directly for Marloc Azuremyst. He was engulfed in a multicolored twister.

As the energy from them cleared, as did the rainbow, all that was left was a crown and a staff. The girls cheered. Their celebration was broken by an evil laughter. Marloc Azuremyst appeared in place of the crown and staff in a burst of green energy.

"What!?" The girls shouted in unison.

"YOU CAN'T KILL A LICH, SILLY EQUINES." The lich laughed.

"I-I don't understand! How did the elements to nothing!?" Then it hit her. His staff was the source of all his power. Maybe, just maybe.. "Rainbow Dash! Distract him!" The blue mare saluted and began flying circles around the pyramid.

"YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU SAY YOU'RE GOING TO DISTRACT ME LOUD ENOUGH FOR ME TO HEAR, I WON'T BE DISTRA-" He was cut off by an orange cowpony snatching his staff out of his hands and running towards the others with it in her teeth. Twilight removed the staff from Applejack's mouth, holding up to the orange mare. She turned around, raised her hind legs and bucked the staff, shattering it.

"NO! YOU FOOLS!" Marloc shouted. The pieces of the staff began to vibrate wildly, before exploding into splinters. Marloc fell onto his hands and knees, wretching. A green, magma like substence began flowing from his mouth onto the floor, he screamed in agony as he got off of his hands and looked at the mares in fear. A green mist began to come out of the molten stuff he released, it swirled around him as he let out an ear shattering cry of pain, the mist flowing into his eye sockets, nose and mouth. He fell to the ground, the runes on his bones pulsing with a green light as he exploded into a cloud of green smoke, which evaporated quickly. The hundreds upon thousands of undead back on the ground immediatly stopped what they were doing, and screamed into the sky, green mist flowing from their mouths and eyes before exploding in a green mist aswell. The green crystal began to shoot off bolts of lightning before eventually imploding, causing the Necropolis to fall out of the sky. They were each enveloped in a white energy, before appearing back inside Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia waiting for them.

"You did it." She said, embracing them all with her wings.

Loud cheering and whistling could be heard from outside the castle. They walked outside onto the balcony as they watched the clouds dissapate and the sky regain it's blue hue.

AND THEN THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER, BLAH BLAH BLAH, YOU KNOW HOW IT GOES.

THE AUTHOR IS JUST TOO LAZY TO ADD A BETTER ENDING SO HE PUT ME IN.