The moon shone brightly in the night as clouds drifted over the calm and quiet town known as Ponyville. Most of the fillies had already been put to bed and the adults were settling in for their night's activities. Twilight Sparkle, renowned bearer of the Element of Magic and the protege of Princess Celestia, well known and loved in the small town, had settled down for a nice and relaxing session of reading and was enjoying the latest exploits of Daring Do. Spike was reading his comic books, a look of glee and excitement had been pasted on his face for a good hour or so.

Rainbow Dash had a bout of hearty competition with Applejack that afternoon and had settled into a pleasant nap a few hours earlier. Applejack had enough strength left to finish dinner with her family before retiring to bed. Fluttershy spent most of her day with the critters that roamed the lands near her cottage and was finishing her day by tending to a few injured mice. What the poor things were doing racing down the creek in leaf boats in the first place was beyond her, but she couldn't possibly find it within her heart to refuse them in their time of need. Pinkie Pie baked all day...as in, all day. She awoke around 7 am and had proceeded to fix up a batch of cupcakes soon afterwards. Now, as the Cakes headed home, she waited as the oven finished turning the mound of cake batter into a delectable dessert worthy of her next party. Rarity was sitting home and having a lovely chat over tea with Sapphire Shores, who had come into town for the next meeting with her favorite seamstress.

All was quiet. All was calm. All was normal in Equestria. It was not to last.

Within a mere matter of seconds the cool setting was blasted apart by a maniacal and twisted evil laugh. It was not the mere squeal of glee from a pizza boy who stole a pen from his harsh taskmaster, nor the chuckle of a large gangster that had finally cornered the fuzzy dog he secretly wished to hold down and scratch on the belly. No, it was a laugh of pure, unadulterated evil.

It seemed to ring out of the very shadows and contort with the blowing winds as it crawled across Ponyville and all of Equestria. The graveyards shook with raw, dark power as coffins were opened, tombs unsealed, and crypts broken into pieces while the former occupants arose and joined together in a sea of walking dead and out of tune moans. Such horrors even occurred at the sights of former battles, long forgotten throughout the now peace filled land of Equestria. The long dead soldiers and warriors awoke, grabbed their swords and spears, and marched off to find souls to torment as is expected of any undead soldier in such a situation.

The living guards stood their ground against the waves of angered corpses and zombies, but sooner or later were forced to make a tactical retreat and flee the scene. In most cases the majority of civilians were fortunate enough to escape unharmed, but those that were caught by the undead armies suffered a horrible death and joined the ranks of non-living. The land was put into an immediate terror, and Princess Celestia acted quickly, sending out orders to the guards in all cities and towns within Equestria's borders. Within several hours of the incident, Celestia had no choice but to find the Elements of Harmony and go to Ponyville to find her student and the other bearers.

Upon arriving in the shockingly quiet town, she found the Golden Oakes Library and advanced inside to find that the news of the sudden apocalyptic event had garnered the attention of the Element users and the Mayor.

"Princess Celestia! What's going on?" Twilight asked, running over with joy upon seeing her mentor and being filled with a sense of relief knowing she was there now. Celestia quickly and happily embraced her student for a small moment before speaking up, the other Element users and the Mayor looking on quite intently at the Alicorn.

"Somehow the dead have been reanimated and raised from the burial grounds across the land, joining in a hellish crusade against the living. The guards are doing what they can, but the living dead are fierce opponents who have a significant numbers advantage. I've come with the Elements and a special task for you all," Celestia explained.

"What do you need us to do, Princess?" Rainbow asked before Twilight could, now fully awakened with the realization that the end of the world may be on the horizon.

"I am no expert in the field of dark magic, but I have my fair share of knowledge and a collection of scrolls and books in the old castle inside the Everfree Forest that will help you get to the bottom of this while I lead the guards against these undead foes. it is vital that you figure out how this happened and even more so how to stop it. If you do not succeed, then I fear Equestria will fall very soon."

"What should I do, Princess?" Asked the Mayor, eager to receive the immense wisdom of the ruling Princess of the Sun.

"As the leader of this town you must ensure that the civilians stay safe. The guards here will do what they can with the orders given to them, but you must not let anypony out; the danger presented in this crisis is great, and we must keep everypony as safe as possible," Celestia replied and turned back to the Element users, each already wearing the necklace, or in Twilight's case, tiara, that was the artifact of their immense power.

"We're ready to make the journey through the Everfree, Princess!" Twilight confidently informed her mentor, who merely smiled in a brief moment of amusement.

"Please, allow me. After all, time is of the essence."

With that, Celestia used her great magic to transport the seven of them directly into the library inside the Castle of the Twin Sisters. Twilight's jaw immediately went agape at the sight of so many old books and scrolls and the near infinite amount of knowledge that could be syphoned from them. The rest of the mane six took a moment to take in the sight on a much different level than Twilight did as Princess Celestia gave them one last direction.

"I cannot be sure of this, but I suspect that Nightmare Moon is behind this act of dark maleficence. It would be wise to keep a sharp eye out for her at all times. She is a deadly opponent that has plagued this land since her descent from the moon several months ago. I'm surprised she has waited this long to take such a drastic move, if indeed this is her doing. I will be sure to check back in with you later; work hard my little ponies, for the fate of the living Equestria rests in your hooves," Celestia told them and teleported away, leaving them alone in the large library.

"Well...we better get started," Twilight told the others with a smile painted on her face as she trotted along and glanced at the vast plethora of books that rested on many, elegant shelves in the old, stone hall. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack began to look around, some more motivated than others, but Rainbow flew in place for a moment and looked around with a sigh.

"Ugh...I guess since the fate of Equestria rests on it..."

"Oh come on, Rainbow! This is amazing. I don't think I've ever been in any library with this many books and scrolls and tomes around to read," Twilight replied as she headed down one of the aisles.

"Yeah, lighten up Rainbow. It could always be a lot worse," Applejack reminded and smirked, obviously a reference to their interactions earlier that day. In response, Rainbow simply rolled her eyes and went to work finding anything that could be relevant or useful to the situation.

Each pony took a small portion of the library's many aisles and rows of books that related even a little bit to the uncanny, demonic, and horrifying. Twilight read through the titles with ease, passing over ones she felt by instinct were unimportant or not particularly helpful. Time was not something they had an abundance of, and having spent many a year inside the safety and refuge of a library, Twilight had garnered a bit of a knack for sensing these kinds of things.

She did pass one book, however, that made her stop in her tracks. The title simply read "Dan's Private Journal". It was not so much the title itself, however, as the oddity of finding such a work in such a particular place in the library that caught her eye and forced her to pause. Most of the books here were academic, pertaining to a particular study in the general field of dark magic and the undead, yet here was a personal journal from an entity she did not recognize. The cover was a faded chestnut color and it had seldom been opened; a well rounded layer of dust sat on it like a coat.

Perhaps out of personal curiosity or perhaps out of that same instinct, Twilight levitated the book out and peered through it. At first she only skimmed through the entries, made by one "Sir Daniel Fortesque" but soon enough she found that the stories inside were quite related to the disaster that was ravaging Equestria. Tales of zombies and undead warriors, along with the stories of battles between Sir Fortesque and enemies along the lines of demons, giant, monstrous pumpkins, a dragon, and many more left Twilight with an odd curiosity as to the owner and writer of the book. She had never even heard of Sir Daniel Fortesque before.

According to his journal, he seemed to be an undead warrior himself, but as he lived and died serving the monarchy of his homeland, Gallowmere, yet another name Twilight had never heard of, it turned out that he fought against the other undead warriors and strange creatures that attacked his home when they rose up. The cause of the paranormal proceedings in Gallowmere was caused by a sorcerer named "Zarok". Twilight was beginning to think that this was a purely fictional work, after all, the events described were so crazy that she would have discarded it as soon as she began to skim through it if similar things weren't happening in Equestria. Then, she found a small, folded up note at the back of the book. She carefully unfurled it and read it aloud to herself:

"Odd discovery today, can't fathom where it came from or when it was written. (the date given inside is 1386, but that is essentially meaningless here in Equestria) Seems intriguing, and although I cannot verify anything inside as fact or fiction, given the circumstances within the text and my vast knowledge on such topics, I lean towards the former. I do very much wish to meet Sir Daniel Fortesque someday. He seems like an intriguing, if not somewhat quirky, fellow. I know of a particular spell that may very well allow such a meeting, someday, but as it stands that spell will be going into my 'unfinished spells' list. Maybe when matters become less pressing I'll find the time to work that out. Until then, keep up with your work with Celestia.
P.S. The bells that keep falling off have been moved from your dresser drawer to the wooden box on your secondary work table. Don't forget!
-Starwirl the Bearded"

Twilight's eyes went wide upon seeing whom the author of the note was. If Starswirl thought it was real, then it was probably worth a shot. None of her friends seemed to be making much progress, and Twilight was pretty sure she knew exactly the spell that Starswirl was speaking of in the note. If she was correct, it was a highly sensitive spell that had been kept largely behind the curtains from most magic wielders and learners for many centuries. In fact, it had only been completed a mere hundred years or so before Twilight was born. It could be dangerous, but Twilight had managed to study it some years ago under Celestia. She never imagined she'd end up with reason to use it, but if Sir Daniel Fortesque was a real figure and he could help Equestria, then Twilight would give it her all.

She gathered her friends around and informed them of the journal as she prepared to use the spell, searching through her memory to familiarize herself with it.

"You seriously want to try this? I mean, even if the note thing is true, sounds like a crazy fairy tale. No way it could actually happen," Rainbow tried to reason, or what passed as such for Rainbow's brash and confident character, but to no avail.

"As if we have a better lead right now? We have to at least try it. If this does turn out to be real, then all our problems will be answered...hopefully," Twilight replied as her horn began to light up with its magical glow, "Now stand back, this is going to get a little weird."

The library shook and rumbled with the power of the spell, and Twilight was feeling a strain in performing it, but knew she could manage it. Her friends took a few steps back as right side of the room began to morph. It became almost creamy, as the very fabrics of reality, so far as they could tell, melted away and were reshaped in another, stranger form. The dim colors of the hall were transformed into an even more shadowy darkness and the stones became more rigid and less refined with the architecture of the old castle.

On the other side of the room, now a lonely and dusty crypt, lay a slab with a prone figure atop it. A sign forged from pure gold was bolted to the side of the large, wooden piece and it read: "Here lies Sir Daniel Fortesque, Hero of Gallowmere"

The ponies all looked on in amazement, Rainbow in particular was stunned beyond expression, and let her mouth hang agape as Twilight became the first of them willing to approach the slab. Hesitantly, she inched her way forward; Applejack and Pinkie Pie had also worked up the nerve to approach the figure a little while Rarity and Fluttershy both lifted up a single hoof and leaned backwards.

"I-Is it...really him?" Rarity managed to inquire as Twilight, now standing directly beside the piece, leaned over it with wide eyes and perked up ears.

"It is. It's Sir Daniel Fortesque! We did it! We found him!" Twilight ran back to her friends and began jumping up in place as if she were a school-filly that had just earned an ice cream cone for good behavior. Applejack and Pinkie went back over as well, and the entire group was now a good distance from the still body.

"Super duper, Twilight! But i mean, really, is he supposed to look like that?" Pinkie asked in, what Twilight perceived as, a fake tone of amusement and disbelief.

"He does look...scary," Fluttershy told her friends and shied further away from the corpse.

"Oh, come on. I know he looks bad, but it's really him. He's a hero, and he's faced this kind of dark magic before. He can help us, we just have to show him how wrong things are around here. I'm sure he'd be willing to help us, the brave and noble warrior that he is," Twilight encouraged, recognizing that her friends didn't realize that he had been killed due to his incompetence 100 years before he managed to save Gallowmere.

"I guess, but he sure does look funny," Applejack commented, looking back at the still lifeless body on the wooden slab.

"Does this guy need a sugar rush or something? He hasn't moved since he got here," Pinkie told Twilight, bursting the bubble of joy and accomplishment she felt when she realized that Pinkie was right; Fortesque hadn't moved at all since arriving, and he showed no signs of waking any time soon.

"Well..." Twilight pondered what to say about their less than inert visitor when Fluttershy let out a scream so loud Twilight thought the yellow pegasi was on fire while watching the forests get flattened by an earthquake.

The skeletal man had finally gotten to his feet and began to slowly and unstably walk around. When he registered the screams he looked over and screamed himself, though it was a muffled scream. Out of pure instinct Rainbow sprung into action, flying past her friends and using her hind legs to attack the figure that was threatening her friends.

To the shock of Rainbow and the extreme terror of Fluttershy, the figure's head popped right off its shoulders and continued screaming all the way to the floor. The body became more sure of itself and began to run around more swiftly, though without a head to guide it, it soon found itself running into one of the bookshelves and immediately plopping to the ground thereafter. At this sight, Fluttershy weakened and finally fainted, leaving just enough time for Rarity to catch her.

The head ceased screaming as the other ponies gathered round, all looking at it intently, but not so much in a belligerent or mean spirited way.

"You're Sir Daniel Fortesque, aren't you?" Twilight asked as the bony head used the only eye it had to look at each of the colorful ponies that surrounded it.

"I am..." It replied, but again in a very muffled voice, and it was then that Twilight first took note that Fortesque was missing his lower jaw.

"Hey! He's funny!" Pinkie said with a gleeful snicker, "I like him!"

"I'm sure you're wondering what exactly you're doing here?" Twilight offered.

"...A little..."

"Well, it's really a funny thing," Twilight explained, a fake smile growing on her lips and an equally fake, but well meant and cheery, laugh bubbling in her throat, "see, out of the blue, a horde of zombies and undead warriors began popping out of nowhere and attacking the citizens of Equestria. That's, uh, where we summoned you, where we live, in Equestria," another chuckle, "Anyways, our leader, Princess Celestia, took us here and told us to find a way to stop them. Soon afterwards I came upon your journal."

Dan looked up at Twilight and then longingly over at his body, prompting Rainbow and Applejack to retrieve it for him and put back his head at Twilight's prompting.

"Err, thanks," Dan lauded the two mares and rubbed the back of his skull, squirming a little bit in his place as Twilight went on.

"So...I know it's kind of a lot to ask of you, but we know you saved your home, Gallowmere, and now we're asking you to save ours. No, not just asking, pleading. Without you, I don't think Equestria has much of a chance at all." Upon her plea, Twilight fell to two knees and humbled herself before the legendary knight, who was taken aback.

"We really could use your help, partner. You might be strange to us, but we sure won't judge you," Applejack added, also humbling herself and causing Rainbow and Pinkie to follow suit. Rarity was still looking after Fluttershy, but nodded in agreement with her friends and looked hopefully at the one eyed knight.

"Well, sir Fortesque, will you help us in our time of need?" Rarity asked from the side as her friends got up.

Dan looked at each of the ponies once, then twice, and down at himself, seemingly inspecting his own body for weaknesses or faults. He looked up and let out a sigh, then nodded with a goofy, but valiant smile,or what passed as a smile for those without a lower jaw, prompting the still conscious members of the mane six to show him their own smiles.

"Thank you, we owe you a great debt," Twilight told him with an esteemed tone.

"Yeah, well, you know, fate doesn't like giving me time off," Dan replied with what Twilight took as a sort of bashful pride. The Hero of Gallowmere went over to the part of the room that was transformed into his crypt and looked over the supplies that were pulled to Equestria with him. One short sword, one bronze shield, a few daggers, and a battle axe were the only items he could find.

"Well we'll always be thankful for your sacrifice, Sir Fortesque," Twilight told him.

"Call me Dan, everyone I work with does," Dan explained and rolled his eye, remembering his last awakening and how he banded together with Al-Zalam and Death to overcome Zarok. The tosser stewed up quite some trouble, and now he was at it again.

"Alright. Well Dan, we're in an old castle inside the Everfree Forest. The first thing we need to do is get back to Ponyville a ways outside the forest and make contact with Princess Celestia again. After that, she'll know what to do," Twilight explained.

"Got it," Dan replied and fastened his shield around his left arm.

By this time, Fluttershy had awakened and was informed on what had happened by Rarity and Applejack as the others swarmed around Dan as he finished arming himself with his tools.

"Hey, that's some arsenal you got there, I'm starting to like you a bit more," Rainbow teased lightly, poking her hoof into his bony arm for good measure, inciting a small smile from Dan.

"So, out of pure curiosity, did you really fight against and beat a dragon?" Twilight inquired with the same thirst for knowledge her friends had come to automatically associate with her character, though the part about fighting the dragon made them all look at Dan in a new light as he shrugged and affirmed with more, though slightly less than before, of a bashful unease.

"Hey! I really am liking you more, Dan!" Rainbow complimented and flew off ahead of the others as they began to exit the library. By now the spell had worn off, and Dan's Crypt faded into oblivion, urging the hero to make a small sigh as he too began to walk off into another adventure.

Just before exiting the great library though, Dan stopped suddenly and ran over to a table with many sheets of paper, a couple quill pens, and a few bottles of ink on top. He swiped the quills and the ink and hurried off after the ponies that brought him into this strange, new land. This was the start of another adventure, and it called for another few entries into his journal.

Well, as usual poor sap Fortesque can't catch a break! I finally get a few months, if even that, of a nice, peaceful slumber and I awaken all of the sudden to find a group of multi colored ponies standing around me, practically drooling. Never been one who was overly fond of ponies, but they seem on the whole kind and not so lethargic creatures, and I don't hold anything against the critters. Word around Equestria (that is, their homeland) is that some familiar sorcery shenanigans are afoot. I smell a rat, Mr. Zarok! Cor, what's an undead knight to do when a band of cutesy ponies comes begging for help? They claim that the prime suspect is a dastardly dame what goes by the name "Nightmare Moon". Can't say I'm too eager to make that one's acquaintance, sounds like she has a habit of doing in do gooders, and yet I hear she's lost the plot. Always a nifty little emotional catch with these villain types, am I right? Ah well, off to my next adventure.