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."

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