The New Crystal Palace had been designed as a series of concentric, vertical, hollow cylinders. The outermost ones had been designated as actual rooms. Rainbow Dash vaguely remembered the tour, and seeing all the grand bedrooms and dining areas and lounges. They had been mostly empty, the new furniture still wrapped and being moved in, and the whole place had smelled like fresh paint.

It was the innermost cylinder that she found herself in, however. Unlike the others, it was not separated into levels. It was hollow and vast, with a long spiral staircase swirling gracefully around the outer edge. In the center sat a tall device made of enchanted crystal, running from the bottom of the tower to the top. If the projector device really was like a pony sword, then this was the blade: it was an element that powered the Crystal Heart, which was intended to be mounted in the great circle that stood at the top of the castle where the Heart sat overlooking the entire kingdom- -a configuration that had been jokingly dubbed the “Eye of Cadence”.

In its day, the central machine had been the one thing that was actually truly beautiful about the new castle. It had glowed and shimmered with light of every color, carrying energy upward to the heart, filling it with the love of the Crystal Empire for broadcast outward over all of Equestria. Now, though, it sat dark and empty, its crystal sterile and foreboding in the mostly dark cylinder.

The only light in the center cylinder now came from Philomena, and from the holographic lights projected by Rainbow Dash and Blackest Night, the latter who had taken almost twenty minutes of shaking her front hooves to get Five’s gauntlets to operate properly.

Blackest Night and Gell lead the procession. Although badly injured, Gell hardly seemed to notice. She complained mightily, but the horrible injuries inflicted on her body seemed to be mostly cosmetic more than actually deleterious.

Brown trailed behind, breathing heavily as he climbed the stairs. Rainbow Dash- -who was flying instead of climbing- -eventually decided to drop downward back to him.

“Brown?” she said. Brown said nothing, he just continued to stare forward, ascending the steps with absolute focus. “Brown!” she repeated, landing on the steps above him.

He looked up at her, his blue eyes wavering. He stopped walking, and opened his mouth to say something. Instead, he dropped to his knees, using his gun as a crutch.

Rainbow Dash rushed to help him, but as she did, her eyes suddenly fell onto the weapon he had stolen, the one that all the undead outside carried. She gasped in horror when she realized what it was, what Brown had actually been fighting with. It was not a normal gun, but a set of metal protrusions that formed something like a barrel. That alone was strange but not terrible- -what was terrible was what sat in the glass-like chamber at the base. In the glass, linked to wires and small tubes, was a severed unicorn horn, suspended by a set of delicate supports and pointing forward.

“Brown- -is that a unicorn horn?” asked Rainbow Dash, even though it quite obviously was.

“I have a deep…loathing for smarties,” he said. “They deserve what came to them.”

Rainbow Dash realized that he was in pain, and she moved to help him. He refused, however, and pushed her away. As he did, Rainbow Dash realized that his hooves were covered in blood. She brought her hologram into view, and saw the trail of blood behind him, following him up the steps in a great spiral.

This time Rainbow Dash forced him to accept her help, assisting him to stand, and she found that his fur was wet. He had been bleeding for a long time, but she had not noticed because of his dark coat color.

“You’re bleeding,” she said. “Brown, you’re bleeding!”

“I can tell,” he snapped as Rainbow Dash helped him up the stairs. “I did get impaled with a sword. My aorta and trachea were both nicked.

“Is that bad?” Rainbow Dash was not familiar with pony anatomy.

“I will be…fine,” he said, smiling. “I cannot die yet. My Commander has not given that order yet.”

“Hey, now,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m supposed to be the Element of Loyalty. Don’t go stealing my title on me.”

“I can’t be loyal,” chuckled Brown. “Not even…a real pony…”

Rainbow Dash did not know much about first aid, but she knew about how much blood there was in a pony- -and she knew that Proctor had lost a lot. His fluffy heritage seemed to enable him to withstand tremendous abuse, but he was dying, and they both seemed to know it. What she could not understand was why Brown was not healing like he had before when he had lost his leg. She had initially assumed that he had done the same thing when stabbed, but now it seemed that he had just continued to fight while gravely injured- -which actually impressed her greatly, even though it was tremendously stupid.

“Rainbow Dash,” he said, taking weight off her and continuing mostly under his own power. “Did I live a good life?”

“I’m sure you- -” Rainbow Dash cringed when she remembered just how old Brown was. “Brown, what the hay! You’re five days old! Don’t talk like that! At least try for a week!”

Brown only stared at her, and then continued climbing. The look that had been on his face made her shiver. He was not afraid, and seemed to be at peace with his pain- -but seemed so very sad, so disappointed, and so ashamed.

“Where are we going?” asked Gell, her voice echoing off the chamber walls.

“The top,” said Blackest Night. “We have to get to the top.”

“What’s at the top?” called Rainbow Dash from behind.

“If I recall, the throne room,” replied Blackest Night.

In time, they reached it. It sat above the central crystal matrix that rose through the center of the tower, where it branched into so many independent lines, like the roots of an inverted tree. Blackest Night supposed that to the sensibilities of crystal ponies and probably Cadence, it would have been impressive. To her, though, it just looked like another piece of equipment- -and, since she knew what the Crystal Heart actually was, a highly dangerous piece of equipment.

The room itself was large and circular, and around the edge it had probably once contained grand windows to look out on the kingdom, as well as stained glass depicting sanitized versions of historical events- -that was, of course, if Cadence took after the alicorn who had raised her. At present, however, the windows were shattered, replaced with the blast shields that had been lowered around the outside of the tower. What might once have been beautiful glass had been replaced with barren ballistic steel. Blackest Night actually preferred it that way.

Blackest Night paused at the top of the stares, glaring into the dark room. She shuddered slightly, but not from its contents. Something inside her had just shifted. She smiled; mentally, she was beginning to wear down Five, to crack her defenses. Soon, she would be able to force Five back into existence. At the moment, though, she was in no hurry. This situation had intrigued her.

She entered the dark room, and the demon and its bird followed behind her. Rainbow Dash and the Exmorri took longer to arrive. Of them all, the Exmoori and the phoenix were the only ones that Blackest Night’s mind could reach. The bird disliked her, mostly, but tolerated her presence. The Exmoori, however, barely seemed to care. Blackest Night knew that he was dying, and could feel his mind fading. The only thing keeping him moving was his resolve and will, and the endless hyperviolent rage that existed just below his surface that even he was not fully aware of. He felt like a highly purified version of what all of them had felt like, back before Celestia’s genocide, except without any of the features that the kept the Exmoori controlled. He had no sense of honor, and no pride in his freedom- -all he had were his orders, and his Commander.

They finally arrived after several more minutes, and Rainbow Dash looked around, her eyes straining.

“I can’t see anything,” she said. She lifted her robotic arm near her. “Hold on…is the little triangle the brightness?”

She pressed the blue cube that hovered around her, and the light increased somewhat. As it did, she gasped, seeing what Blackest Night had already seen.

At the edge of the once beautiful throne room was the skeleton of a pony. He was transfixed to the wall by a large blade through his chest. It was not a sword like the constructs outside had possessed; it was made of some kind of silvery metal that had not rusted or dulled in the time it had taken for the pony’s body to be reduced to bone. Even in death, he still held the blade, his hooves cut deeply from trying futilely to free himself from the blade that held him. The blow, it seemed, had not been immediately lethal.

“Another one over here,” said Gell, sounding almost bored. Rainbow Dash fluttered over to where Gell was standing, her view lit with the orange light of Philomena. Blackest Night had already seen that skeleton, though. She knew what was there.

Unlike the other, this skeleton was far taller, its limbs more narrow than any normal pony. Lying at her sides were the skeletal remnants of a pair of wide wings, sitting in a pile of faded pink feathers. Here head, however, was missing.

“No no no no no,” said Rainbow Dash, backing away into the darkness of the room, her illumination cube following her. “That can’t- -that can’t be- -”

“What is the matter, Rainbow Dash?” asked Blackest Night, stepping forward. “Are you, of all ponies, afraid to face death?”

“But- -but- -but I- -”

Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped, bumping into something behind her- -something that was not part of the room’s original architecture. She turned slowly, her light illuminating what Blackest Night had only partially seen in the darkest part of the room.

It was even more beautiful than Blackest Night had initially assessed. Its form was not entirely clear, but it roughly resembled something crustacean in nature with an anterior portion consisting of four great mechanical arms. Two supported it, while the other two remained outstretched. There was no clear head, but rather a kind of cleft in its mechanical body where a variety of optic components had been placed.

In a way, it was like the constructs that wandered the wasteland outside- -and yet it was also profoundly different. Its metal was not steel, but rather a combination of dark, nearly black metal and brilliant silver material. Neither type had rusted or corroded like the lesser constructs, but simply tarnished. The metal surrounded its body, forming a thick layer of armor that meshed with plates and spiked, thickened portions of enchanted bone.

An uncharacteristic shout of fear escaped Rainbow Dash’s mouth as she jumped through the air away from it.

“What in Tartarus is that thing?!” she screamed.

Blackest Night did not answer at first, but rather crossed the room toward it, smiling uncontrollably. It loomed over her, standing almost three times taller than Gell, and it was absolutely stunning. Blackest Night had not known what exactly she would find in this room, but she had expectations- -expectations that had now been more than met.

“This,” she said, “is a necromancer.”

Brown approached it, limping beneath Rainbow Dash toward the creature. There was no sign of fear in his eyes, and none in his mind. Blackest Night recalled anecdotal recordings from millennia before even her own time, stories of how the dying would sometimes approach necromancers, as if drawn to them. She had never witnessed the phenomenon herself, though, even in all of her nearly seventeen millennia of original life.

Brown stopped at the foot of the mechanical body, and stared up at it. Then he turned to his right. “Its hand,” he said, pointing.

Rainbow Dash was the first to move forward toward where Brown was pointing, toward the body’s left hand. Unlike the other hands, it was closed, its claws surrounding something within- -something that seemed to be glowing with dim violet light.

“He’s right,” she said, “there’s something in here!”

She reached inside, between the silver-bladed claws that were almost as large as she was. She drew something out with her robotic hoof, but suddenly cried out.

“What the hay!” she said, staring down at her leg. A large gash had been cut in the metal.

Blackest Night stepped closer, and saw that the claw was more complex than she had initially expected. It had large fingers, indeed, but also a secondary set of smaller appendages that were tipped with knife-like blades of violet crystal.

“I liked that arm, too,” she said. Still, she held out what she had pulled from the creature’s hand. It was a narrow pink-violet octahedron that glowed with a dim light. “What is this dingus?” she asked.

Blackest Night’s eyes widened. For the first time in a long time, she felt a surge of excitement pass through her.

“Give that to me!” she said, throwing off Five’s pointless mechanical gauntlets and reaching upward.

“Sure,” said Rainbow Dash, somewhat taken aback by Blackest Night’s reaction. “But what is it?”

Blackest Night took the piece in her hooves, and felt the magic surging around it. “This is…this is a phylactery,” she said, in awe.

“A what now?” said Rainbow Dash.

“It is…it is a theoretical device,” said Blackest Night. “It is designed to hold the soul of a pony after death…”

“Wait a second,” said Gell, who was still standing across the room over the narrow skeleton, but who visibly cringed. “You’re not- -tell me you’re not saying what I think you’re saying.”

“I am,” said Blackest Night, nearly laughing with joy and amazement, pacing in front of the mechanical body. “This isn’t just a necromancer. Not a pony in an enhanced body, or one warped by magic…this is a lich.”

“A what now?” said Rainbow Dash. “Again?”

“A necromancer who has transcended mortality, whose soul no longer requires a body.”

“An abomination!” cried Gell. “Raising the dead is bad enough, but a lich- -it defies the will of Satin! All souls- -ALL SOULS- -must pass through Satin Veil for judgement, and for only the most perfect to be selected for eternal torment- -but to preserve a mortal soul- -it is perverse!”

“And you are one to talk about ‘perversion’,” hissed Blackest Night. She held out the crystal before her, examining it closely. In actuality, it was not a true crystal, but rather a construct built purely out of unicorn magic, an indivisible singularity powered by the soul within. “Except…it isn’t possible. Phylacteries are only theoretical. Every attempt to make one, even by trihorns, failed.”

“Why?” asked Brown, still staring at the creature.

“Because of their paradoxical nature. One constructed too soft would inevitably fail. One that was durable enough to survive would be too hard to link to a body, and trap the necromancer eternally with no physical form…” She looked up at the machine before her. “But this is technology, something that they…that I…was too arrogant to even consider. I think…yes. Yes! With machines, it would be possible to deceiver even a hardened phylactery.” She paused, frowning. “But still…it should have faded within five decades, even if perfectly made…”

She once again looked deep into the crystal. As Blackest Night turned it over in her hooves, she saw that there was something in the center- -a simple blue-gray stone.

In that instant she understood how it operated, and she actually started to laugh. She remembered that stone, and where it had come from- -and in that, she understood how it worked, and the genious of how this impossible feat had been accomplished.

“This isn’t funny!” snapped Gell. “Just destroy that crystal so we can get out of here!”

“Funny? If only you knew!” said Blackest Night, wiping away the tears from her eyes. “If only you knew.”

She looked up at the creature again. Now she was standing directly before it, looking up at its massive and perfect form. Until that moment, she had been the only one ever to have truly succeeded, but by taking the opposite course. Instead of forcing herself into a crystalline body, she had forgone a body entirely.

As she stared into it, she noticed something directly below its optics, something buried deep within its torso. Surrounded by synthetic, magically grown bone that merged with black metal, was a hoof-sized octahedral slot.

A thought suddenly occurred to her. It was not from her own mind, but from the mind within her, the one that was watching. Once again, Blackest Night was forced to smile, this time pleased by just how devious Five truly was.

“Yes,” said Blackest Night. “Destroying this crystal would end this lich’s influence and his constructs would fail. We would then be able to use Five’s Pocket, and guns, and eventually leave. Or…”

“Or what?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Or I could do this.”

Before Gell could stop her, she slammed the phylactery into the slot in the center of the lich’s chest.

The reaction was immediate. The crystal was pulled into the socket, and lines of its energy flowed through the lich’s semi-mechanical body. It immediately shuddered back to life, the tarnish burning away from its metal. The optics lit up, some of the deep hole-like ones springing forth with glaring pony eyes.

It lurched forward, its numerous rear legs writhing like so many insects, and its forward hands and fingers shifting as it rose. Its body expanded and shifted, restoring itself to its former posture.

Watching it in motion was even more glorious than Blackest Night had ever imagined. The way it moved, the way the joints were precision constructed and aligned, the way the parts moved in unison, linked all at once to the depraved soul trapped forever within the stone in its chest- -it was something that simply could not be captured by a still specimen.

Then it did something mildly unexpected. Part of the center cleft separated, and the contents that had formerly been secured beneath its armor were revealed to Blackest Night: linked into the machinery was half of a bleached, white unicorn skull, its eyes glowing with violet fire. The other half had been built into an exquisite abstract flair of metal, the perfect artistic representation of the lich’s signature techno-necromantic style.

“Bless you, Blackest! Get down!”

Gell crossed the room rapidly and threw Blackest Night against the floor. As Blackest Night fell, she saw the unicorn’s horn flicker with pink-violet light and produce a beam so powerful that she felt her body burning from the corona force alone.

The Blast struck Gell in the left shoulder, and tore directly through her demonic body. It barely missed Brown, and continued onward, passing through the several inches of enchanted and reinforced blast shield that surrounded the throne room. The room immediately filled with a cold wind, and with gray light from outside.

Even though the light was dim, the lich reacted to it, staring around the room confused. His gaze eventually fell upon the thin skeleton lying against the far wall.

The lich cried out with a terrible sound, and pushed Gell aside. It skittered across the floor, tearing into the already damaged tiles as it moved, pushing over the skeleton. Then, with shaking hands, it reached down and drew up the bones, cradling them in its fingers as it released a mechanical screaming sound. Although there was no mind left within the lich to read, Blackest Night understood that he was weeping.

“Brown! Shoot it!” cried Rainbow Dash.

“Hold your fire!” screamed Blackest Night to Brown. “Or are you foolish enough to believe that a weapon he created can harm himself?!”

The lich reacted to Blackest Night’s voice. A space opened up on its back, and numerous tiny feelers within its body constructed a new set of rear optics that stared at her. Slowly, it set down the skeleton and turned toward her.

“Blackest Night,” it said in a deep but profoundly clear voice.

“Yes,” said Blackest Night. “It is me.”

Rainbow Dash watched as the monster stared down at Blackest Night. Even “monster”, though, was hardly even an appropriate word. This thing was more than that. It was not simply a robot, but something far worse. On an instinctual level, Rainbow Dash knew that it was long-dead. It had a certain smell, like metal and manure, a smell that only came from dead things.

It spoke again, its voice booming and ominous yet oddly panicked.

“The battle- -the defenses. Blackest, what is the status of the battle?”

“Your phylactery was violently disconnected from your body,” said Blackest Night. “You have been offline for some time.”

“Time?” said the monster. It leaned closer to Blackest Night, and she did not even bother to recoil. “How- -how long?”

“Four hundred and five years.”

“Four hundred and…no!” it said, recoiling onto its arms. “No! Blackest, please! Please don’t lie to me!”

“Shoot it, Brown!” screamed Rainbow Dash. She was almost kicking herself for having dropped her sword, even if it would have hardly done anything against a twenty-five foot tall half-undead robot. “Shoot it!”

The lich shifted its attention toward Rainbow Dash, its optic front moving oddly close to her. She recoil from the gaze of all those angry, horrified looking pony eyes mixed in amongst the lenses and violet light, and the skull with flaming eyes that sat below them.

“It can’t be you!” he said, reaching up toward her with a clawed hand. Rainbow Dash moved out of the way rapidly, and the lich pulled away his hand and stepped back. “I saw you die! I was at your funeral!” He turned back to Blackest Night. “Did you return her?”

Blackest Night shook her head. “No. I am afraid that in this limited body, I no longer have the power to restore the dead to life. Rainbow Dash simply never died.”

The lich turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Is it…really you?”

“Yeah, I’m Rainbow Dash. And I’m the Rainbow Dash that’s going to kick your shiny metal plot!”

The lich almost looked hurt. “Do you…do you on not recognize me?”

“She’s a bit thick,” said Blackest Night.

The lich turned back to Blackest Night. “The war- -my war. Are you sure that it is over?”

“Look for yourself. You have many eyes.”

The lich paused for a moment, and then released a slow mechanical sigh. “Indeed. It is over. And I have lost. The Crystal Empire has fallen.”

He retreated to the far end of the room, to where the pair of thrones had been thrown aside long ago, and sat on his haunches. “Then I suppose I no longer have use for this unwieldy body.”

The body started to change, its parts shifting rapidly, the claws falling to the sides and planting themselves into the floor. The cleft in the center separated, exposing the skull and the articulated, snake-like tubes that held it in place.

Around the skull, the machines began to change. The same feelers that had built the optics descended upon it as violet magic swirled around the skull. As Rainbow Dash watched, black and silver metal came together, forming a spine and chest and robotic innards.

The machinery was combined with organic parts as bone and blackened, dead muscle grew around a rapidly developing mechanical skeleton. The legs flexed, and the incomplete form of a pony began to walk out of the manufacturing supports that were building it.

As it did, the process began to finish. Its body was filled out with machinery and undead flesh, and as it continued to walk forward on metal hooves, it began to develop tight, gray-white skin. The skin stretched over the mechanical elements of its body, holding itself in place over them with small metal clamps.

Some pieces remained exposed, however. The machinery surrounding the violet crystal in its chest remained, as did some splits around the joints, and one on his flank - -a metal flank that, Rainbow Dash realized, had been engraved with a cutie mark of a kite shield superimposed over a star.

The white stallion finally stepped free from his former body, and the remnants that he left behind darkened and became still. He opened his eyes, and his brilliant blue mechanical irises focused on the world, calibrating themselves.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash,” he said, looking up at her and speaking in a voice that drained the strength from her wings. “It’s me. It’s Shining Armor.”

Before Rainbow Dash could respond, Gell stood up from the ground. Even with a hole through her chest and side that was large enough for a pony to fit through, she still hardly seemed to notice any of her injuries.

“What did you just say?” she said.

Rainbow Dash was immediately reminded of what had happened when they had first entered Megatropolis 616, how Gell’s voice had sounded then, and she landed near Brown, at the very least to try to protect him. She did not like when Gell sounded like that.

“I know you,” said Shining Armor, smiling- -and revealing the fact that his teeth were now pointed and made of silver metal. “You’re one of Blackened Shield’s friends. Bluntforce Gelding, was it?”

“How dare you say his name to me? How dare you say that name, after what you did to your sons!”

Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed, and he no longer looked like a pony, but like the gaunt undead monstrosity that he was. “I only have one son.”

Gell leapt forward with a scream, spilling her reeking black blood across the floor and reaching for Shining Armor’s neck. Before she could attempt to strange him, though, she stopped. To Rainbow Dash, though, it did not seem voluntary. She was still reaching forward, sweating and straining, as though some invisible force were preventing her from reaching Shining Armor when she was only inches away.

“You lich filth!” she screamed, tears running from her eyes. “I should have known you would do this! After what you did to them! He was your son, Shining Armor! Holy Armament was your son!”

“Holy Armament was a genetically inferior insect,” said Shining Armor, coldly. He did not even bother to step backward, but eyed the cloven hooves on either side of his throat carefully. “And I was going to apologize for putting a hole in you. But now I am contemplating taking your head.”

“I want to kill you,” spat Gell. “I want to murder you, to shatter that cursed crystal- -but for reasons that are not mine to comprehend, you are beloved to Satin Veil, and the Goddess will not let me harm you.” She lowered her legs, putting them back onto the floor and stepping back. “Suffice it to say that even as a corpse you still have an excessively round face and an annoying voice.” She turned her attention to Blackest Night. “You!” she said. “I now have a hole in me. A big one, because of this bigamous fool. That, and Brown is a tenth of a pint away from losing consciousness. Get back out here to heal us before I beat you out!”

“Fine,” sighed Blackest Night. She turned to Shining Armor and gave a chillingly seductive smile. “You and I will speak again, my dear lich.”

Blackest Night gasped as the gray stain around her cutie mark expanded, forming tendrils through her black flesh and reaching up toward her eyes, which faded from green to blue. Within seconds, the blackness retracted from her, returning to her flank as Five returned to her body.

Beside Rainbow Dash, Brown finally collapsed to the floor.

“Brown!” cried Rainbow Dash, turning him over. As she did, she saw the blood-stained fluff on his chest sparking with blue Order. She looked up at Gell, and saw that she was starting to heal as well.

“Anhelios?” said Shining Armor, clearly surprised. “You’re not Luna.”

“No,” said Five. “Nor am I Anhelios. I am the Fifth of her bloodline.”

“But you have Blackest Night.”

Five nodded. “When Luna died, she was transferred to my great grandmother.”

Shining Armor blinked. “Luna- -Luna is dead?”

“As is Celestia. And,” she looked over her shoulder at the now disrupted winged skeleton behind her, “so is Cadence.” Rainbow Dash saw her eyes shift suddenly to one of the remaining dark points in the back of the room, but only for an instant before returning to Shining Armor. “What happened here?”

“Buck that!” cried Rainbow Dash, pausing for a moment to make sure Brown really was breathing before stepping past him and Five to stare down Shining Armor. “How in the name of Firestorm’s horn-penetrated rear did you become a necromancer?!”

Shining Armor blinked, which was a strange sight indeed considering how his eyelids were not made of skin. “Well. You really are Rainbow Dash, aren’t you? Even with the…robotic bits.”

“Answer the question, before I answer it for you!” Rainbow Dash paused, realizing that her threat was nonsensical at least- -but she was terribly angry, so she ignored it.

“I’ve always been,” said Shining Armor, as though it were obvious. “Well, not always, I guess. Actually, if I recall, I started my work immediately after you died. Or failed to die, I guess.”

“Am not caring,” said Five, pushing Rainbow Dash away. “Answer my question.”

“And you!” cried Rainbow Dash, turning back to Five. “How is it that you can fix a hole in Gell that a flock of geese could fly through but you can’t give me back my legs!”

“Because you are not linked to me,” snapped Five. “And cease interrupting me!” She pushed Rainbow Dash away. “Now you, lich, robot, whatever you are. Whoever you are. What happened here?”

Rainbow Dash glared at Five, and then glared at Shining Armor- -if he even was Shining Armor. He certainly looked the part, at least somewhat. His skin, though tight and more gray than white, was nearly the right color, and his eyes were the same shape and color, even if they were continually rising by some kind of mechanical means. He even got the vein of light color in his mane and tail correct, even if his hair was gray and made of some kind of fine metal fiber.

He seemed different, though, in a way that made Rainbow Dash dislike him. It was not even the fact that he was technically dead. That was surprising, but Rainbow Dash had seen stranger things. It was the air about him, the way he talked and the way he moved- -or failed to move. He was different, and somehow wrong with him.

Still, she was actually rather curious herself about what had happened. When she had left, the Crystal Empire had been as beautiful as ever. The castle had just been finished, and the population had consider of happy and smiling crystal ponies. Now it was a dead, frigid land populated by half-robotic zombies. She could not help but wonder how it had gotten that way.

Shining Armor looked to her, and then to Five.

“My memory is…damaged,” he said. “Things from that time are blurry. I remember fighting, and then…then this.”

“Fighting with whom?”

“I don’t…I don’t know.” He seemed to be becoming agitated. “I remember…yes. We were betrayed. They attacked us, and I summoned my army to defend us…” He started crossing the room, his hooves clicking on the floor. “I remember. They attacked quickly, and communication was cut off. I couldn’t stop them. They broke through, and got to the castle. They came and…and…” He looked down at the long-legged skeleton on the floor, and dropped to my knees. “Oh Celestia,” he whispered, and closed his eyes. He began to release a sound similar to the one he had before, but now it was certainly clear that he was weeping. “They took her…they took Cadence from me…my beloved…why? Why would they kill you?” He turned to Rainbow Dash. “Why would anypony do that to her? She never hurt anypony- -she loved them all, and they loved her. Why?”

Rainbow Dash could not answer, but she felt a pang of sympathy run through her. She understood how he was feeling, because she had felt the same way when she learned that her own friends had died. His pain, though, must have been even worse than hers. Her friends had simply died in the course of their lives; Cadence had been lost due to Shining Armor’s failure.

“It was probably a political assassination,” said Five flatly, to the point where she sounded nearly cruel. Rainbow Dash wondered if Five was enjoying Shining Armor’s suffering. “A kingdom cannot be taken while its ruler still lives.”

“Yeah,” said Gell, standing up and spitting a wad of coagulated demon blood into a far corner of the room. “Besides, you’re ‘army’ was pretty weak.”

“They are over four hundred years old,” snapped Shining Armor. “They are damaged, broken, without a leader. They were once a sight to behold. And will be again…”

“I’m actually kind of surprised Cadece went along with the whole necromancy thing,” said Rainbow Dash.

“She loved me,” said Shining Armor. “She was not a fan of my chosen path, but she supported me. In this and in everything. She was a beautiful pony, and understood why I needed to do this.”

“It makes sense,” said Brown, also standing.

“Brown!” cried Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, Rainbow, I am,” said Brown in what was perhaps the most humorless joke possible for a pony to tell. “But using reanimated corpses is a logical course of action. They can’t die. It frees higher quality soldiers for tactical positions and for special operations. Even if it is immensely cowardly.”

Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed, and Rainbow Dash was sure that she was about to see yet another hole punched in Brown. Instead, Shining Armor stood, and his expression changed from insulted to perplexed. “What are you supposed to be?”

“I am Brown,” said Brown.

“A clone soldier,” explained Five, marginally improving.

“You’re an Exmoori woolen pony,” said Shining Armor.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “How does everypony know that?”

“Because Twilight was obsessed with them,” said Shining Armor, smiling. “Oh, the stories. Every time we got togather, it was always ‘Exmoor this’ and ‘Exmoor that’. I guess she finally succeeded in getting one of you guys back.” His expression lightened. “That’s right…Twilight was an alicorn. She must still be alive.” He looked down at Cadence. “This…this must have crushed her. But at least I still have her…”

Nopony spoke. The room fell completely silent, save for the almost imperceptiable sound of snowflakes falling in through the hole that Shining Armor’s magic had punched through the wall.

“Well,” said Five at last. “Somepony has to tell him.”

“She’s- -” started Gell, smiling vindictively.

“No,” said Rainbow Dash, holding up her hoof. “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” said Five. “I mean, you’re the only one here that I can’t rebuild.”

“She was my friend,” said Rainbow Dash. “This is my responsibility. I owe her at least this much.”

She stepped forward and looked into Shining Armor’s robotic eyes. He was slightly taller than her, as he had always been. Immediately, she regretted having taken this task upon herself. It was as though if she refused to admit the truth, it would somehow not be really true. If any of the others did it, though, she would never be able to forgive herself. Even if he was a lich, he was still Twilight’s brother.

Rainbow Dash took a breath. “Shining Armor,” she said. “Twilight is dead.”

Shining Armor blinked, but his expression did not change- -until his pupils narrowed tightly.

“How?” he asked, almost sounding nonchalant. “She was…she is…an alicorn. She’s immortal. She has to be.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I…no, we, we left her. All her friends. Cadence. Celestia and Luna. You. She just…she just couldn’t take the pain.”

“No. No, Rainbow Dash, please. You’re breaking my heart.” Even though he was dead, he looked as though he was about to cry.

“Shining, please don’t blame her. Please don’t. You know how she was, how important all her friends were, how we were to her. She couldn’t take it, so she…she…” Rainbow Dash felt the tears coming from her own eyes, and she took another breath. “She made the pain stop.”

“Suicide,” said Shining Armor. “You mean…she killed herself?”

Rainbow Dash nodded, trying to stop herself from breaking down into tears.

“Very well then,” said Shining Armor.

He stepped back from them, and started to cross the room. Rainbow Dash thought he was taking the news surprisingly well, until he released a tremendous roar of agony. As he did, his horn ignited with pink-violet light, the force of which knocked back both Rainbow Dash and Five. Brown leapt forward, catching both of them.

Magic surged from Shining Armor, slamming into the crystal reactor in the center of the room. The pair of overturned, ornate thrones near it were instantly vaporized, but the crystal itself seemed to absorbe the force of the blow, filling it with light of the same color that momentarily illuminated the room before flowing up and down the tower and dissipating.

“Was it all for nothing?!” he screamed. “All this! All that I did! Everything! Just to be alone!?”

“Shining!” cried Rainbow Dash, pulling away from Brown. “You’re not alone!”

He turned toward her, his eyes now narrowed to the point of nearly lacking pupils. The light of his magic seemed to be seeping out from behind them. Rainbow Dash gasped and choked as she felt herself being lifted into the air, not by the force of her wings but by magic that was constricting her neck.

“Drop her!” yelled Brown, leveling his rifle at Shining Armor’s chest. Before he could fire, however, the weapon was surrounded with light and pulled away from him. Shining Armor caught it in his hoof.

“Shining!” gasped Rainbow Dash, clawing at the magic. “Shining Armor- -please! This isn’t- -isn’t what she would- -what she would want!”

His expression softened, and then changed to one of horror. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground coughing and gasping, and immediately Brown was over her, helping her up and trying to shield her with his body.

“You’re right,” said Shining Armor, turning away from them. “Oh Rainbow Dash, please…please forgive me…”

“Rainbow, are you permanently injured?” said Brown, a look of genuine concern in his eyes. For once, they looked more like real eyes than the dead, soulless pits that they usually did.

“No,” said Rainbow Dash. She coughed once more. “It’s alright. I mean…I was pretty messed up when I woke up too…” She also now understood why Five had been so slow in telling her the truth about her friends. If she had been told- -and actually believed it- -she probably would have reacted the same way that Shining Armor just had. “I mean, the guy just learned his wife and sister just died, and that he lost his kingdom.” She clapped her hooves over her mouth, suddenly realizing that she was not helping.

“The last assertion is incorrect,” noted Five.

“What?” said Shining Armor. “What do you mean?”

“The kingdom was not lost. We fought our way through the killing fields.”

“Well, some of us did,” noted Gell.

“But there was nopony there save for the dead,” said Five. “No enemy. Only your soldiers.”

“You mean...” He chuckled.

“It may have taken four hundred years,” said Five, “but you now stand victorious.”

“Indeed I do,” said Shining Armor. His horn glowed, and Brown cringed. Instead of bringing pain, however, the area around them started clinking as metal in unseen housings grinded together. The blast shields around them opened, and light poured through the broken stained glass.

Shining Armor looked down at the rifle in his hand, and seemed to contemplate it for a moment, turning it over. Then he looked at Brown.

“Exmoori,” he said. “You took this from one of my soldiers?”

“Indeed I did,” said Brown, coldly. “She lies dead in the snow now, returned to her forever-sleep.”

Shining Armor smiled, and then tossed the rifle back to Brown, who caught it.

“That horn belonged to a pony named Snowprancer. I oversaw her execution personally. Take good care of her.”

“You are…giving this to me?”

Shining Armor smiled, and looked to Five- -although it was clear that he was looking not to Five herself, but to the pony-like thing that dwelt within her. “In my studies, I came across an ancient creed, one that I have grown rather fond of. ‘You keep what you kill’, it goes.” He paced across the floor, stepping over the bones of his long-deceased wife, and looked out across the icy land that had once been the Crystal Empire.

“You keep what you kill…”