(Along the Griffica/Equestrian border, township of Applecrest, Fields Wind Tavern, nine hundred ninety third Celestial year, thirtieth day of spring)

“UhuUUuuu!” A small purple ball groaned, as it wrapped itself tighter around a small silver cloaked lump on the bed they were both sleeping on. “Hmmm?” Blearily, the ball began to unroll itself as the time of day began approaching, its eyes opening to reveal bright magenta orbs as the creature began stretching its limbs.

Placing one of her hooves on the bed for stability, the lavender filly placed her other three hooved appendages upon the mattress, before, with a small heave, she lifted herself up. Rising slowly, the small pony took the chance to switch her gaze to the small ball, still buried underneath the sheets. ‘Time to wake up, little one.’ The lavender filly commanded gently.

The reaction was immediate as the lump jolted then began rolling a little, causing the fabric above to part in silky strands, revealing the small creature underneath, a small winged beast, with light brown scales and bright green eyes.’Morning mom.’The creature blearily noted, looking at the pony above.

Twilight looked upon her smaller beige drake companion with affection. ‘I’m sorry for waking you so early Fang, but I wish to leave town before dawn arrives. Here, have a compressed magicite shard to take your mind off your lack of sleep, I seasoned it with some changeling magic.’ Twilight lit her horn with arcane energies allowing her to telekinetically rifle through her saddle bags next to the bed. Finally, after a few seconds of searching, the filly found what she was looking for and smiled as she pulled out a greenish blue crystal from her bags, and floated it over to her ward.

Fang looked up at his mother and the crystal extended near his head. Lifting a wing underneath his chin in thought, he quickly came to a decision. ‘ Thank you, so Twilight how are you this morning?’ The small drake asked his guardian, taking a small bite out of the gifted magicite crystal. To say it was sweet to his palate would be an understatement, It was beyond delicious. ‘Mooom... I love this. Can you make any more of these?’ He asked in a rush.

‘I’m fine, thank you if a bit tired, and that shard will probably be the only one I’ll be able to make though, until we get to Bridlebit, sorry.’ The lavender filly answered, floating her saddle bags onto her back, trotting over to the entrance to the room. “Ready Fang?”

‘Uhh... just a second.’ The drake answered flying over to the silvery blanket he was laying within only moments before. Landing next to it, he gave a look at the lavender filly standing by the door, his eyes pleading ‘Can you?’. Twilight nodded, smiling slightly. Without warning, the silvery blanket began to morph, melting over the sheets. It floated upwards as it deformed into a brilliant technicolour, amorphous blob. Then it shot towards Twilight exploding around her unflinching form, then settling gently as it formed into a nondescript brown traveling cloak covering her saddlebags.

‘Are you ready now?’ The lavender filly asked mentally, raising an eyebrow.

“Pgergrgrgr, breaaa.” ‘Yeah, I’m ready.’ Fang answered flying over the the young filly, and landing on her back. Folding his wings, he nestled into the cloak, as it gently melted around him, hiding his restless form from the world around them.

“Silly Drake. Alright.” ‘Breakfast, then leave town’ Twilight braced a hoof on the door, then released her magic, unlocking the portal. Pushing softly, the door opens into a wide hall, leading to five other rooms and the front entrance of the main building. Stepping out of the room, Twilight examined the hall, noting the distinct lack of patrons this early in the morning. Twilight began trotting along the path, passing the other rooms, and turning right at the end. Twilight entered the main room of the complex, a bar with tables spaced around near the windows, or in wide open areas. Twilight walked over to the bar and sat on one of the wooden stools, before looking around the bar. She noted with a little annoyance that even the bartender was absent this early in the morning.

Sighing softly, Twilight pulled a shiny object from her back and placed it on the counter, then turned her stool away from the bar and hopped off, heading out of the establishment. Exiting through the wooden panel door, Twilight glanced at the deserted town streets, noting little activity beyond the wind and small creatures. Sighing again she let the cloak shift a hood around her ears, covering her horn and face in shadows as she walked down the street. Twilight reached the eastern entrance of town in short time, ‘Then again it wasn’t really a big town to begin with.’ Twilight contemplates as she left the village, just as the sun was rising over the horizon.

Outside of the village, free of the trappings of society, she felt Fang burst from her cloak, then begin soaring high into the air, far from the sight of civilization or other ponies. Fang reveled in his freedom, giving a few bursts of flame from his mouth, then screeching joy to the world around him.

Pulling several hay stalks and a few mushrooms from her saddlebags, she began mixing them in a small pewter bowl. Twilight pulled her journal from her saddlebags making sure to have the right page in mind and pulling her phoenix feather quill and black pigment ink. Settling her pace to a brisk trot while subtly managing her constant mana use, Twilight dipped her quill in the ink then placed it against the paper and began to write.

ζ, 30☯, 993♋

This morning has proven to be somewhat uneventful. I don’t know if leaving the key to the room on the bar was appropriate, but I felt Fang getting restless on my back, so I took to the road. I hope I didn’t upset them too much.

Further notation; My experiment last night was a semi success. However, I never expected them to regurgitate the love-infused apples. Either way, I’ve still made some progress on the alternate food source. I plan on meeting another representative of the hive in Pax Nexus, the largest settlement along the road. Hopefully things turn out well and I’m successful in making a safe delivery of the love-infused consumables, so they can eat it without their bodies rejecting it. On a further note, changelings seem to have an interesting bit of physiology during intercourse. When I examined Velt’s shaft, more specifically its underside. I saw a small slit, which leads me to believe that not only are changelings able to seek love from any pony but they are also androgynous, which probably means the majority of them are sterile save for the occasional exceptions.

My supplies are remaining steady despite the massive influx of buyers in each village or town Fang and I visit along the border road. The only thing I’m low on that I can’t replace is the Vampyre rose, I hope I won’t be needing it, because I only have enough left for either a regeneration potion or three more drafts of vigor.

Twilight Sparkle.

_____________
Ran into an interesting pony today. Thankfully he didn’t notice Fang soaring above otherwise I think he might’ve panicked. Anyway, he was an earth pony that could write with his tail. I couldn’t believe it until I saw it. The way he managed to use the appendage was just astounding. It gave me an idea for a new spell. I’ll see if I can get it to work, If I can then It will be a near perfect substitute for soul sprites, when making golems. Other than that I’ve just finished restocking my thyme and thistle, along with some honeysuckle. I wonder if I’ll come across a few mint leaves? The sun is set and the moon has risen. I’ll be taking my rest with Fang, I just hope he’s tired as well.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 31☯, 993♋

I ran into a group of strange ponies today. They didn’t confront me personally, but I did hear some of what they were saying. It wasn’t good, apparently they waited for other ponies, preferably in groups of three or four, to pass by then they attacked them, killing the victims and taking all of their possessions. I’ll see what I can look up about those kinds of ponies the next time I come across a library. Other than that encounter, nothing special happened today and I was able to travel another sixty or so miles towards the next town.

Twilight Sparkle.

_____________
I had a small group of visitors earlier. They weren’t friendly, One of them was a pony, two were griffons. They attacked without warning or reasonable cause. I swiftly dealt with them, I didn’t know what griffons were until after the fight when I looked them up in the Kitabu Cha Maarifa. I had to move camp sites because of the bodies and the fact that they would attract predators. I’m hoping to avoid being discovered for the rest of the night, and continuing on the road tomorrow. Hopefully Fang gets enough sleep as well.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 32☯, 993♋

The weather is strange out here, I’m used to the heat of the day beating harshly on the ground below by now, however instead I find the days gradually getting warmer, but never going beyond moderately hot. Whatever is controlling the weather must be extremely powerful to even keep the temperatures in check as well. I faintly recall memories of pegasi controlling the weather in Canterlot. I’m nearing Highreach. I will take a night to rest before entering. I see a good resting place a few miles up the cliff.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 33☯, 993♋

The day went well. I entered town without difficulty and was able to rent a stall in the town square for forty bits. I made ten times that in sales to normal and special customers, a large amount was used to purchase enough materials to feed the towns homeless, while I healed several patients that were in financial straits. I made sure that Fang had plenty of time to exercise his energy out in the morning. Thankfully I was able to tire him out long enough for me to leave town before nightfall, without incident. I didn’t know that he’d tire out so quickly playing tag, I honestly thought he would have won with ease, due to his flying advantage.

Twilight Sparkle.

-----

ζ, 37☯, 993♋

Hard Stone is an impressive little town, mainly its signature homes made of solid stone. I never thought I would find a Vampyre Rose along the road , but I was impressed when I found a small glade choked with the flowers. I cleaned it out a little and took enough to last me a while. I don’t think I’ll be very appreciated at this village, it’s quite small, I think I’ll just do some healing work before moving on.

On a side note, the shadows that had been following me since I arrived at the border in Windbreak Valley, have mysteriously disappeared, I wonder what happened to them. But that isn’t here or there, I’ll likely be on the road again this afternoon.

Twilight Sparkle.

_____________
Surprisingly it went as I expected, however there was an interesting situation of note. Rather than healing, this poor stallion needed a unicorn’s help to get him out of a chimney. Thankfully, I was there to help, across the way was another poor pegasus who got trapped underneath one of the towns iron minecarts. After taking care of a few of the towns minor problems, I was able to return to the road. I only had to make three potions for the entire town, all of them general invigoration potions, to deal with diseases.

I’m running low on honeysuckle again, but I haven’t run into any forests within the last few days, mostly just small abandoned structures and the occasional sign. I’m about thirty miles out from Hard Stone and will be sleeping in a small cave alcove about forty five meters up a sheer cliff about half a mile off the main road. I’m glad Fang found this place. It has a good view of the area, not to mention the small spring of mineral water flowing out and around the inner walls of the small cavern.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 38☯, 993♋

Fang seems to be acting a little strange, ever since the meeting with those two changelings in Applecrest. He’s been taking longer flights, and occasionally making some strange noises under my cloak ,not to mention when he’s resting inside it, occasionally his tail leaves the cloak and grips around mine. If it persists I might contact my old mentor to see what the actions are about. I hope he’s fine, but I’ll wait a few days for his symptoms to clear up before saying anything.

The cave, as it turned out, was actually a sanctuary for a group of interesting creatures, however whenever I get close enough to look at them they always flee, I don’t know if they were sizing us up to be eaten, but never the less we had to leave soon after dawn broke. I’ve almost completely restocked all of my regular medicinal herbs and spices, the only thing I’m low on is hemlock; though poisonous to some creatures, it is an extensively curative drug for ponies.

I hope I can find some tomorrow, because I will be entering a city for the first time since I left Mshaurie’s tutelage. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to do well there and will be able to help all of the patients that cross my path.

The sun is setting, I’m going to leave with this remark, no matter how much we learn, there will always be something new to understand and learn about.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 39☯, 993♋

I’ve entered an interesting valley, there are timberwolf tracks everywhere, but I don’t see many trees. This is a little strange, and disconcerting. I’m going to be passing through a bog soon, I hope I have enough manticore fat left over to keep my saddlebags from rotting and to keep them supple, I don’t want to get chafed, while I’m passing through. As I neared the swamp, I noticed the local timberwolves, or should I say wolves. I can’t really tell, as this one was bipedal with silver fur and amber eyes. What’s strange is that it was manipulating something with it’s front paws when I saw it. When I went to say hi, it jumped and ran into the swamp, disappearing, I hope I didn’t scare it too bad.

The swamp water and plant matter is worse on my packs than I thought, and the sun beating down isn’t helping any, I’ve noticed the lower strap holding my saddlebags still and firm to my back has been loosening. When I get to my resting place for the night I’m going to have to water and oil it so that it’s in perfect condition again. For now I’ll have to make do with rubbing manticore fat into the strap.

I saw another one, this wolf was almost as black as obsidian, with green eyes, it was handling a spear of some sort, but it looked more decorative, like one of Mshauri Zecora’s walking staves. I wanted to greet it but realized I might scare it off like the last one, so I contented myself to watch while we passed ways.

I’ve found a resting spot for the night, it’s in the middle of a peat bog but that’s ok, I’ve also made it before the moon had fully risen, that will give me enough time to fix the straps properly before I travel off again in the morning. Fang isn’t too happy, he says the air is too wet for him to fly easily, so he settled on my back for most of the trip in the swamp. I think he’ll feel better once were out of this area.

I’m making a few proximity wards in case we have some visitors.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 40☯, 993♋

Even without the ward, I would’ve known that bear was coming, I had to put it to sleep before waking up for the morning, I’m never using strate fellis weed again. The odor is more pungent than I thought. No wonder Zecora uses extra honey in her brews when that plant is involved. Anyway, my saddlebags are repaired and Fang is chivvying me along, so we can get out of the bog and into open air, I really don’t blame him.

Just my luck, as soon as we left the bog Fang flew above the clouds while I got drenched in the torrential downpour. If I hadn’t fixed my saddlebags last night I would probably be in a lot of pain from chafing. My staff isn’t much of a raincoat as I found out, not that I expected as much from an amorphous elemental soul shard weapon, though I probably wouldn’t be half as mad right now if Fang would just stop laughing at me. I’m cold, wet, and thoroughly upset. If I can find some mordrake root I should be able to make a potion that can combat the cold and remove most of the rain from my body, as the showers did let up half an hour ago.

The funny thing about timberwolves is, when they're not hungry they’re playful… and they play a lot, and hard. I ran into a pair of them that were having a playful time frolicking amongst the shrubbery, I played with them for a bit, helping pass the time, however after a bit they left. Strangely, we parted after a rainbow maned pegasus passed overhead, I wonder if it’s a coincidence or not. Either way, I look forward to using the mordrake root I found while playing. Fang tried to join in but as soon as he let out his first breath, both timberwolves fled into the shrubbery. He was a little put off to say the least. I had fun with them, but now I’m tired and ready to just get some rest as soon as we find a place to settle for the night.

We’re making camp in an open field a few miles from the road, I brewed the fire potion and drank the spicy substance as fast as I could. Its effects were as expected: I flashed with fire completely for half a second, just enough time to evaporate the majority of the water and remove the dreaded cold I was feeling. I’m going to have a really nice sleep tonight and so is Fang.

Twilight Sparkle.

ζ, 41☯, 993♋

Interesting, I feel a strange magic nearby, Fang has taken to hiding in my cloak every time I get closer to it. His instinctual reaction to whatever this magic is, I guess. I also felt a strong aversion spell that pushed me back every time I entered the foothills beyond the main road. It was towards the nearby forest. Whatever or whoever is casting these spells must be really powerful. I’m going to take a few extra days to study it unless I can find a way through, then I’ll just study what’s within and the core of the spell… I wonder if there’ll be any books?

Twilight Sparkle.

The fresh spring breeze swept through Twilight’s lavender mane as she watched a faint outline in the grass before her, stretching indefinitely to either side of her. She gazed up into the sky where she knew Fang was watching and waiting. She stepped towards the invisible dome of energy, taking great care to avoid the sparks of magical energy coming off of the barrier. she tapped a hoof over it, noticing that several specific parts of the barrier were now warping around her hoof as it passed through, like air. Twilight first glanced at the barrier, then her hoof.

She continued like this for a few repetitions until she felt a small weight land solidly onto her back. Blinking in surprise, Twilight reacted swiftly, turning her gaze back to her reptilian companion that landed on her back. He immediately buried himself under her cloak, hiding from sight. Facing forward with a roll of her eyes, the young lavender unicorn stepped through the opening in the barrier.

As she finished passing through, she looked back more out of curiosity than any expectation of something to happen, only to notice that the barrier was back in place. Blinking a few times to make sure that it was actually what she was seeing, Twilight looked forward again shaking her head to wind the gears of thought back into motion.

Twilight examined the trees as she passed, noticing the distinct lack of life in their being, as if they were being drained by something. Passing further through the empty forest, Twilight noticed an opening further ahead, keeping her pace steady she examined the end and as far beyond as she could. ‘Hmm… Trap, maybe?’ Not giving it a second thought, she changed her direction to weave around the trees and into the woods on a parallel path with the opening, after a few minutes of this Twilight changed direction again, heading back towards the area that the opening presented.

As the trees thinned out, Twilight began stalking through the foliage, remaining low and silent, avoiding dangerous plants, and never raising her head or tail above the bushes. As she neared the clearing she saw in the distance as the trees ended, she felt her hoof press onto something soft and wet, Looking down she noticed a mud puddle. ‘Hmm useful.’ She thought offhoofedly as she brought a small mote of energy to bare, lifting and spreading the mud over her purple fur, sticking some debris from the forest on herself as well. Remaining low, she gently hoofed forward, one hoof padding before the other while she neared the clearing, like a predator stalking prey. Keeping her eyes open and her ears sharp, she examined the area before her with every ounce of skill she wielded. Reaching the end of the high shrubbery Twilight stopped and gazed at the massive field before her.

Twilight immediately noticed a few half-rotted pony and griffon corpses laying around the field, along with several weapons and indentations in the shorter grass, telling of items within and underneath the visible line. Twilight closed her eyes, focusing on several angular runes within a circle. She grasped her core, pulling another mote of power and pushed it through her horn and into the runes. ‘Now comes the ‘FUN’ part.’ she thought with a slight annoyance as she finally noted the small light breaching her eyelids from the spell. Grasping the mote on instinct, Twilight pulled it towards herself, letting it flow into her eyes. Twilight winced slightly as the energies passing through her lids blinded her for a second before finally taking effect.

Opening her eyes, Twilight finally saw the energies clearly. All of the corpses were connected to a tether of energy leading inside a cave on the distant side of the field, connected to a small cliff face. ‘I wonder why the magic is connected to the bodies, shouldn’t it be coming from the equipment instead?’ she wondered, slightly cocking her head to the side, a worried frown appearing on her face as she rubbed her chin with a hoof. Placing her hoof back down, Twilight shrugged slightly, setting the puzzle aside for later. “Well, nothing here to worry about, I wonder what’s inside the cave?” Feeling the spell wear off, Twilight stepped out of the bush, into the field, keeping her senses sharp as she began trotting towards the cavern at a brisk pace.

Twilight was only thirty paces from her cover when she noticed it. At first she thought it a trick of the wind but then, it happened again. One of the griffon corpses twitched, its lifeless limbs spasming somewhat randomly while orbs of blue light started to take shape within the corpse’s eyeless sockets. Stopping her motion entirely, Twilight watched as the animated griffon corpse lifted itself from the ground onto all fours, in all its decayed glory, as other corpses around it began stirring as well. ‘So that’s why the magic was connected to the bodies… Hmm, this requires some study.’ She ignored the griffon corpse as it ripped a rusty iron sword from the ground and grabbed a rotting wooden buckler from off the ground next to it. Opting instead to glance up at the sky to see how long she had left. ‘Only a quarter till noon? Wow, I thought more time had passed. Oh well, at least I have daylight. That should help me understand the spell being used to animate these corpses.’ She thought as the armed corpse unsteadily shuffled towards her at a moderate gait.

Turning back towards the rotting griffon, Twilight let loose a sigh, then smiled widely as she trotted towards the corpse. Before she reached it however, she felt something small and scaly fall from her cloak, onto the soft ground. Rolling her eyes, Twilight reached into her pool of energy and pulled forth a sphere of energy. Condensing it slightly, she summoned an oval-shaped rune, inscribing three arrows pointing inward she releases her magic into the spell then turns around as the animated griffon is sent barreling end over end into a tree, it’s sword embedded past the tip just above it. Twilight took a look at the ground to spot what fell out, ‘as I expected.’ Twilight thought. “Fang, what are you doing?” The lavender filly asks aloud, her horn lighting up with another force spell as she pointed it towards a pair of animated earth ponies wielding rusted claymores.

‘MOM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??! RUN!!!’ The young drake screamed into the powerful filly's mind in panic. Twilight released her spell, receiving similar results to the first.

Rolling her eyes slightly in amusement, “I’m studying the magical formulae holding these decomposing bodies together and giving them life. From what I have seen, I’m hopeful I can come up with a formulae to make my golems more stable.” The young filly answers while dragging one of the unarmed corpses over to her.

Before it could even react, Twilight tapped her horn against the bare bone of the pony’s skull. Reaching forward with her will, she grasped the spell, pulling it out of the corpse and towards her. The light vanished from the animated pony’s eyes as the energy feeding it dissipated, causing it to drop lifelessly to the ground. Having only a few seconds to study the formulae, Twilight spent those few seconds decisively memorizing as many portions of it as she could, including the main body, consisting of a nine pointed star surrounded by three circles. She also swiftly learned the spell for the eyes, an oval bisected by a pair of triangles pointing towards and cutting into each other.

Twilight nodded slightly ignoring a jet of flame behind her as Fang desperately fought to keep the walking corpses away from him and his lavender companion. Smiling widely, Twilight jumped over the corpse and continued with the same trick, ripping the spell out of an animated griffon carrying a rusted halberd, then again with a great hammer wielding pegasus corpse that landed heavily before her. ‘MOM!’ Sidestepping a swing from one of the earth pony corpses, she parried, tapping her horn against its head and ripping out its command structure, giving her insight into how the corpse thought, and how the thoughts worked. ‘MOM! HELP! HELP! HELP!’ The drake screamed harshly inside Twilight’s head as he blasted ice spears and fireballs into the seven undead surrounding him, blasting the heads off three and only limbs off of the others. Seeing his tactics weren’t really working, he jumped into the air and fluttered over to the lavender unicorn who was standing above her fifth victim.

Turning around, Twilight waits for a second, letting the terrified drake land on her back and hide under her cloak. Sighing in relief, she surveyed the field. ‘Hmm… only four left? I thought there’d be more. ‘It’s okay Fang, have a rest. I’ll take care of these thralls for you. ‘’ She watched as the animated bodies shuffled towards her, their uncaring steps leading them over the ground as they charged towards her.

Before they even get close, they freeze in place, as an annoyed gravelly voice calls out. “WHAT IS GOING ON OUT HERE!” The voice belonged to a yellow colored unicorn stallion with icy blue eyes and an orange mane fading through blue, then grey as it tapered off at the end. He stepped out of the cave and into the sunlight, revealing his cutie mark, a silver veil cut between a sphere the top being a light orange the bottom being silvery white. “I can’t get five days without an interruption, what is it this time! Minotaurs?” He gazes over the field, spotting only four standing corpses and a lavender unicorn filly. “Tartarus in a hoofbasket!” He swore vilely. “Would be a filly wouldn’t it?” he growled under his breath. Raising his voice he asks. “Well? What do you want?” ‘great now I’m set back by a year of work.’ he groaned mentally as he counted the corpses that were still standing. “And how the blazes did a filly like you kill so many of my walkers in the first place?”

“Is that what you call them?” Twilight asks scratching her head with a hoof. putting the limb back on the ground firmly she smiles brightly and answers. “Honestly I was just studying the spell. matrices that were holding them together. Sorry if I damaged them, though to be fair the three broken ones were Fang’s fault.” She adds in, her smile turning sheepish as she noted that of the thirteen that were there originally, only four remained standing. Lifting her hoof, she rubbed the back of her head. “I guess I kinda got carried away. Heh, yea. Sorry.”

Growling unintelligibly, the yellow unicorn began walking towards the young pony. ‘At least she’s not killing them for sport… hmm maybe.’ He spoke finally. “What did you learn then? I’m hoping that my walkers weren’t wasted on pure curiosity, I expect you to help me reanimate the walkers later,” He stops in front of the lavender filly. “But first, tell me your name.”

‘Hmm, Should I tell him my real name? … He is a hermit nonetheless, I doubt others will hear…’ Closing her eyes she bowed her head slightly with a soft breath, then lifted her gaze back to the pony standing before her. Taking one long look at the soiled bodies around her she decided on her answer, ‘On second thought maybe not’ “Glimmering Wisp, I...”

Before she could begin her explanation, the pony noticed her cutiemark and cut her off while pointing at it. “I have only met three other ponies with a cutiemark like yours before and each one was a hunter of the undead, and demons, are you the same?” He asks his horn sparking alight, energies swirling about it lazily as the spell took form within and expels outwards into a more defined shape.

“I, no I’m not, I do not hunt for sport. What sort of pony hunts others for casting different kinds of magic? I see no wrong in making use of the bodies, it’s the same as predators feeding on them.“ Rubbing the back of her neck, Twilight sheepishly added. ”Maybe a little less pleasant than golems, but I can see the advantage of their use.” Her horn charged slightly, a near invisible prick of light signaling a spell being prepared to cast.

Gulping some excess saliva, she continued smiling a little brighter. “What drew me here was the feeling of a new form of magic. With the thought of learning something new, I just couldn’t help but investigate. I’m quite impressed. I think I have the spell down, if you send over several strands of energy connected to yourself I can reanimate all of these bodies and reconnect them to you.” Twilight responded happily but before the other pony could respond, the young filly added a little more. “Though I think a better idea would be to introduce living sparks within the bodies when animating the corpses. It would save you from having to think for them. since they would already know how to use the equipment they’re given and would be a little better trained and less distracted.” Twilight lowers her hindquarters to the ground smiling slightly. A subtle golden glow floated around her body as her primary spell armor activates, “What do you think of that? I could also teach you the spell so you could recreate...”

Twilight stopped speaking as the pony before her raised his hoof, “I get what you’re trying to offer. But I’d rather just use the method I know that works already and experiment once I’m safe again and that the traps you deactivated upon entry are reapplied.” He answers firmly. “Oh, and since you haven’t asked yet I am Diurnal Requiem or Nagash if you wish you use my calling name.” He stated with a small amount of unguarded mirth within his voice.

Twilight nodded once before tilting her head to the side a little, “Um… which name would you prefer? Nagash, or Dirunal Requiem?”

“Nagash, since it doesn’t waste time and it is a gift from my previous master in these arts.”

Twilight’s ears perked up from the little tidbit. “You had a master? Where is he now? Can I speak to him?”

Nagash just gave her a blank stare with his ice cold eyes, “Master Sandro died during a Solar Flare assault on a vampire coven, he was caught in the crossfire by a paladin's light spear, and several knives thrown by the vampires.” He answered almost as emotionlessly as the corpses standing nearby. Twilight folded her ears back, opening her mouth to respond she stopped as Nagash spoke, “I care not for your apologies or sympathies for my loss. He died as do the rest of us. He succeeded in his goal and passed on his knowledge to his apprentice, as I will to mine someday, my notes and knowledge as well. Until, eventually down the line, one apprentice becomes a master and achieves immortality through these arts.”

Twilight nods in solemn agreement. “Alright, would you be willing to share some notes while I’m helping you reanimate your walkers?” Her tone was hopeful, as she turned her gaze back to Nagash.

“Only if you prove yourself competent, and give me a copy of your notes on the summoning of these… Sparks you mentioned. Now come, we're wasting time, I have several ongoing experiments that require my attention before the sun sets.” He answered, turning away from her to a nearby inanimate griffon corpse, lighting his horn a sickly green and passing energy directly into the corpses empty eye sockets.

’Is it safe to come out, mother?’ Fang asks, ruffling her cloak restlessly from underneath.

Twilight nods imperceptibly. ‘Yes Fang you can come out, it’s safe. Just don’t antagonize the animated corpses and you’ll be fine.’ No sooner had she thought the phrase than her brown cloak seemingly tore open silently as a young drake leapt into the air, before closing again over her saddle bags undamaged. The drake flies back down and landed on Twilight’s back.

Nagash ripped his gaze away from the corpse as it began to twitch slightly, and directed it towards Twilight, “What was that?” The yellow coated mage growled in annoyance, before noticing the brown creature standing atop the purple unicorn’s flank. “Whatever it is, keep it in line.” He stated simply before turning back and began reanimating one of the earth pony corpses. Twilight taking the hint began working on the spell as well as summoning energy and power, which she focused into a simple matrix she placed within a pegasus corpse, then, grasping an energy line, she tethered it to the power at the tip of Nagash’s horn .

They continued like this for the next thirty minutes, Fang occasionally honking annoyance or boredom directly into Twilights ear. The corpses lying back down into the tall grass under Nagashes command, he turned and trotted towards the entrance of the cavern he had left from. “Well!, are you coming?” He asked out loud, without looking back.

‘Ohh I wonder what else he can teach me...’ Sucking in a deep gleeful breath, she called out in return. “Coming.” Smiling with childish joy, she charged towards the entrance, Fang leaping off and flying along side, to avoid getting jostled around by her swift gait. Upon entering the cavern, Twilight noticed several lanterns filled with a strange white-blue fire. Following the path of magelight through the cavern, Twilight finally came upon a massive stone chamber, filled with all manner of instrumentation and a small shelf on the side for books. After a few seconds of looking around, Twilight finally spotted the elder unicorn sitting on a stone slab near the central fire pit of the cavern. His horn and forehooves glowed slightly in concentration as stood on his hind hooves, his mouth chanting unspoken words in a constant, silent rhythm.

Trotting over to the wizard, Twilight politely halted several feet from the fire pit. Nagash finished chanting as the deep red fires over the pit began to glow a soft pink and purple, releasing soothing layers of warmth from their embrace. Before Twilight could ask what he’s doing, Nagash reached forward and swiped his hoof through the relaxing flames, coming out on the other side unaffected. “Hmm...” He turned to Twilight, then back to the fire, then back to her before nodding firmly. “It seems I can actually trust you… Fine then.” Standing before the lavender unicorn, he emotionlessly lowered his rear to the ground silently, before continuing. ”Tell me, how were you able to understand necromancy so swiftly?”

Twilights ear perked at the word, having heard it sometime before… Images began floating before her eyes of a white castle, fit upon the backdrop of a setting sun, its spires reflecting the golden light of Celestia’s orb. Closing her eyes and shaking her head of the images and thoughts she returned her attention back to Nagash. “Necromancy? No I’m just proficient at reading spell formulae after a few years of applied practice.” The young filly answered automatically, “My Mshauri taught me some more practical skills that my spell searching didn’t yield, including some fundamentals on alchemy, and elemental spell casting.” Twilight lifted a smile up towards the yellow mage before her.

“You do know that I’m a necromancer, right?” He responded, stroking his chin with a hoof. Twilight nodded, “Ughhh, fine then, thank you for letting me know what you’re capable of. Are you able to read written spell formulae? If you can, I can give you a few of my more powerful spells in trade for this animating spark spell you were talking about earlier.” He offered calmly, with a slight inflection of scholarly interest. His horn lit with a swirling green miasma of energy, over near one of the walls a few scrolls lit up in a similar energy field and floated over Twilight.

The lavender filly grasped the scrolls with her magical field. Nodding to the necromancer, with a smile on her lips, she answered. “I think we don’t need to trade, I don’t mind sharing the spell freely, but I’m grateful you’ll let me read some of your spell notes… Erm sadly, eh heh I don’t have any physical notes on the sprite spell, buuut I can teach it to you without too much difficulty. Do you mind?” Nagash grunted in slight annoyance before shaking his head negatively.

“I wouldn’t mind but I would prefer you write down the spell after our session.” He lifted out a blank scroll from the pile then from a different quarter of the room he pulled out a quill and inkwell. Placing them next to the youthful scholar, he took a deep breath, “Shall we begin?”

“Yes, I’m guessing you’ll want to know the spark spell first, so you can practice while I read the spell formulae within your scrolls?” Twilight asked while lighting her horn and summoning a visible manifestation of the spell matrix she would use to summon the spark, a square tilted at forty-five degrees within another square penetrating a circle with a triangle overly covered by smaller spheres at its points. Next came the energy filling the spell weave with runes as it flowed across, the energy folding in on itself as the runes and circle began to take effect, the magic bending and collecting upon a central point. Cuting the majority of her magic, she fed the small amount of energy into the circle to keep it glowing as the small sphere of energy created by the spell floated upwards and then over to the lavender filly. Twilight giggled as it gently began poking at her extremities flowing over her body in sure easy motions, then it finally broke off as Nagash grunted for attention.

Looking over to the hard unicorn stallion, the lavender filly smiled, lifting over the parchment he had given her but a few moments ago, the sheet covered in small explanations pointing to parts of an exact replica of the spell circle still floating above the floor. Nagash blinked in surprise at first, not having seen the young filly even begin writing while casting the spell, staring back at the filly he nodded once. “You’re fast, fellow scholar of the magical arts?” He asks while lighting his horn with his unearthly green miasma of energy summoning a smaller version of Twilight’s spell, sweating during the entire process as the magic took its toll, finally the spell finished and a tiny spark of energy floated over to the tired mage.

“You could say I’m a scholar among other skills and abilities.” Lighting her horn, she lifted out a vial of sparkling blue liquid from her pack, and floated it over to the necromancer. “Here take this, it should revitalize you somewhat. I think you have it down, take some time to study it and interact with the wisp you created.” Twilight nodded towards the tiny spark of light floating near the necromancer, dancing mutely in the air.

Grasping the glass of liquid in his own magical grasp, Nagash drew the container towards his lips, and downed the vile substance in one gulp. Grimacing in distaste, he began to question whether the substance was healthy or not. Suddenly a spark lights atop his horn as he felt the potion run its course. “Hmm… Think you could leave a few of those here?” he asked calmly.

Twilight’s ears perked up. “Sure, I can leave you three if you can spare seven spare blank scrolls, I’m going to need them for studying and spell crafting purposes.”

Nagash nodded, “I foresee no problem with that. Agreed.” His horn lit once more as he grasped several blank scrolls and floated them over to Twilight, who in turn lifted out three more vials of the sparkling energy potion.

Twilight’s cloak melted down her legs, parting from her back as it pooled on the ground, then it solidified into a shimmering curtain of cloth before the lavender filly, floating over to the scrolls it picked them up and held them up before her. Smiling softly, she opens the first of the rolls, preparing herself for an interesting session. Before she could peruse the contents written within, she was interrupted by a grunt. Twilight looked up, noticing the look of incredulous annoyance on his face, she sighed. “This is my staff. I magically constructed it under my Mshauri’s instruction and teachings. It contains a piece of my will and is formed from pure elemental magic giving it the ability to transform into anything I wish, it is also able to decipher and follow my thoughts with ease. But unless I keep it in line, it acts autonomously.”

Grunting in acknowledgement, the necromancer turned away and continued studying the spell scroll Twilight created for him, while using his magic to put the potions she gave him away for safekeeping.Twilight returned to the unfurled scroll before her, gazing upon its formula, Twilight let the residual spell fade from her horn, the massive image within the center of the room fading from sight as the magic feeding it dissipated, the magic within the construct floating away to be absorbed by the world around it. Twilight’s wisp floated above her head glowing softly and giving her a steady light to read the scroll by.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight leaned forward stretching her back, lifting her hindquarters slightly in the air as a small ring of cracks disturbed the otherwise quiet cavern. A tranquil peace that would otherwise only be disturbed by the occasional rasp of paper and the soft crackling of the nearby fire. Glancing around the cavern, she looked towards the tunnel leading to the entrance, noticing the orange colors bouncing cheerfully off the walls into the cavern. ‘The sun’s setting. I guess I’ve been in here longer than I expected.’ releasing a gentle breathy sigh, she turned back to the scroll she’d been reading for the past half hour, the light of her conjured wisp illuminating the words enough for her to read them with ease. Sighing once more she turned away from the sheet as she was about to read it for the fourth time.

Nearby, Nagash looked over towards the lavender unicorn filly in his cavern, “You should get some rest, you’ve been studying those scrolls far longer than you need to.” he spoke as softly as he could in his gravelly voice, the bright light of his own greatly improved and enhanced wisp flooding the cavern brightly from above his head. Twilight looked up at the necromancer with exhausted lavender orbs surrounded by dark purple bruises, the tired filly nodded slowly in reluctant acquiescence. Rolling the scroll closed, Twilight sent a small stream of energy out of her horn, locking it onto her wisp above, without even a second thought she pulled on the connection, lifting herself off the ground and sending herself careening over a ledge above. Spotting a sleeping form laying below she pulled on the connection one more time to slow her ascent, then released it, freefalling several feet to a surprisingly soft landing next to the dark winged form.

Blinking her eyes a few more times, Twilight lays next to the small sleeping form, reaching a hoof around its body and dragging it closer to her, allowing her to spoon it with ease. A dark amorphous form floated up from below and gathered around them like a blanket, its color changing to a dark grey, blending it with the surrounding stone. The lavender filly stirred underneath the warming blanket, pressing her lips upon the scaled forehead of her companion she sighed in joyous relief, and allowed her tired mind to drift as sleep began to take her.

‘Mom… What’s that feeling down there? Why’d she kiss my lips?’ The young drake thought, before letting his tail wave a little stronger as he backed into the lavender filly behind him, purposefully extending her forelegs around his neck and rubbing the scales just above his tail right into the young fillies teats. ‘Hmm…. feel, good…. hmm….. ’ his mind eventually shutting down as he too slipped into the ocean of dreams.

(Along the Griffica/Equestrian border, Hurricane range wilderness area Nagash’s cave, nine hundred ninety third Celestial year, forty second day of spring)

‘.... ...ther, ….ight. Twilight? Are you awake yet?’ Waking up with ease born from practice in the forest, Twilight responded by opening her eyes and staring directly into the pair of emerald orbs set before her.

‘Fang? What time is it, what do you need?’ She grumbled mentally as she slowly stretched her legs from their embrace around her young charge.

‘Um… I think it would be better if you saw it.’ he answerd, standing up. He faced Twilight. After a few seconds of confused looking, she noticed the problem.

A blush tinged Twilight’s cheeks as she got a good long look at the young drake’s fully erect, pointed, pink phallus. ‘Uh, huh. Fang, it’s alright, you’re doing just fine. Your penis is just erect. You want to make it go down I presume, yes?’ She asked calmly.

“Mraa, aerr!” ‘Yes that would be much appreciated, this is very awkward to have bouncing around.’ ’Why would my thing be out… I don’t see any females around.’ He thought, his head jerking around to confirm his suspicions. ‘Though it could be mom… but no she raised me, it’s not like that.’ He affirmed resolutely, a small sliver of doubt only remaining buried within the back of his thoughts. ‘Maybe it could.’.

Twilight lifted a hoof to her horn, before casting a simple cantrip, ice began to form on the hoof before she moved it away. ‘Now, hold still. This might sting a bit, but it will definately remove the erection.’ She said before pressing the frozen bottom of her hoof to the jutting appendage.

“AAhh!” ‘Hah, that’s cold!’ The drake protested darting backwards against the ledge, however he realized that the young filly’s methods, crude as they were, actually worked, and Fang’s prick shrinks back into it’s sheath within seconds. Sighing with relief, the young drake waddled over to his lavender savior, and folded his wings around her in a warm hug. ‘Thank you for the help mother.’

‘Any time little Fang, now let’s see what the morning brings us.’ she responded kindly, before leaping over the ledge with her magic, dropping over forty feet to the cavern floor, landing softly as she used her magic to compress the air below her at the last second, cushioning her fall, and slowing her descent. Looking around the cavern, she noticed the great pink bonfire from the night before had run its course and was now little more than embers. Near the main entrance sat Nagash, pondering deeply over the scroll she had made for him the night before. “Good morning.” The lavender filly greetedcheerfully as she trotted towards the necromancer.

“Hrmm!?” Nagash jerked upward, his head swiveling around until his eyes locked onto the lavender filly coming closer to him. “Oh it’s you. What are you doing up so early? It’s not even past moon set.”

“I’m usually up by this time… and I think I’ve spent plenty of time here. Fang? Are you ready to go?” In response, the young drake floated down from above, landing on her back and curling into a ball on top of her saddle bags, before a dark shadow dropped from above covering him, and forming into the cloak Twilight was wearing the night before. The lavender filly turned back to Nagash. “It was really nice studying with you, but I’m heading off. There are many places yet for me to see before I turn around and head back north, I’ll see about returning here if I can. Keep the scroll, I have no need for it, and you might want a reference for when you wish to start experimenting with the spell.” Twilight, without warning, leapt forward and hugged the golden unicorn, before leaping off the surprised necromancer and trotting out of the cavern.

She had only gotten three meters out of the cavern before Nagash came out tearing after her. Twilight paused, letting the necromancer catch up. “You should take this, before you go.” He pulled out a small white bone with a simple angular rune carved into it. “It’s connected to the fire pit so if you run into any trouble, burn it and it will take you and whoever you’re in contact with back to the origin point, however it can only be used once, so don’t waste it.”

Twilight gazed at the bleached bone critically before smiling back at Nagash. “Thank you, but why?”

Growling unintelligibly, with a small blush forming on his cheeks, he turned his head to look away, “You’re the first pony that I’ve come across, except for my master, that has been open minded enough to accept my magic with a scholarly interest.” He responded embarrassedly “I would rather like to see you again.”

“Don’t worry, I will be back. It’s just a matter of when.”

“Agreed, now begone, I’ve had enough company to last me a month.” He muttered, before turning back to his cave, and leaving.

“Have a nice morning!” Twilight shouted to the necromancer before sprinting across the field, and melting into the forest.

As she reached the barrier’s location, she sensed it being lifted by Nagash’s familiar powers. She stepped outside of it and continued trotting along, already knowing that the field would be back in place.

After several minutes she found the road again, and headed South-West along the path. Fang, sensing a distinct lack of the dark energies that were sending his instincts haywire earlier, leapt from the folds of Twilight’s cloak once more to take flight in the air around the young filly. Twilight giggles gently as the small drake began pulling celebratory acrobatics midair. ‘It feels good to be on the road again.’ The lavender filly nodded, as she pulled her notebook from her saddlebags, along with a quill and ink. Dipping the quill into the ink, she placed the device to paper, and began to write.

ζ, 42☯, 993♋

Amazing, I have never met a Necromancer ’I hope I spelled that right’ before it was amazing. The way he cast spells was definitely new from the style I’m used to. Usually the spells are quick and relatively harmless, and use a set amount of energy per cast, however his magic can be used for as long as needed, much like a barrier or such. By reading several of the constructs he had made and the spell formulae that went into them, I was able to deduce a way to improve the efficiency of any elemental or creature I create, making them faster and stronger than before. I wonder if I can somehow give a few of them the ability to cast spells beyond the simple intelligence I give them using the Soul Sprites..

Diurnal Requiem or Nagash as he prefers to be called is quite friendly, if a bit grouchy, it must be all of the time he spends alone with his skeletons. Anyway, he helped me learn a few more of his spells, and we made a very nice trade. I now have plenty of ink and paper to use now and more spell knowledge to study. I hope to see him again within the next few months, but I have a planned study session with the changelings when I get to Pax Nexus. Maybe late summer, I have a few more ingredients to gather before I reach Bridlebit.

Twilight Sparkle.

[/hr]

The moon is nice tonight, though I still wonder why is has the face of a unicorn implanted on it’s surface? I’ve found plenty of the herbs when I discovered a glade with Fang’s invaluable assistance, I might make him another mana crystal as a thank you present. There really isn’t much else to say other than that the road is an interesting place. The ponies in each town are interesting in their own little ways. I’ve found it an absolute joy passing through the area.

I came across a sign a bit back saying another hundred miles to Bridlebit, I hope to get there tomorrow, if not I’ll spend the night in a tavern the day after next.

I came across that strange pegasus again, the one with the grayed out rainbow mane, tan coat, and compass cutie mark. This time she was flying around a small cliff face. She was holding a strange golden idol of some sort. Anyway I ignored her campsite when I found it, considering it wasn’t that hard to miss if you knew the signs. I’m making camp for the night in another cavern this time behind a small waterfall made by one of the creeks near the road at this junction.

Twilight Sparkle.
ζ, 43☯, 993♋

The small cavern that Fang suggested was in fact a bear den, I had to relocate during the night, however that doesn’t bother me half as much as the stupid half wolf half ape like creature that tried to take me and Fang underground when he found us wandering through a particularly dry stretch of ground, I’ll have to thank Fang again, he sure knows how to liven things up. He set the dumb creature’s back on fire, it yowled in pain before letting me go and darting back into its hole, Fang wanted to chase after, but I realized that it would have been a really bad Idea, and told him not to.

Fang’s spell breath has only gotten stronger since he first started using it a month ago. I came across a deer, he was quite a pleasant creature despite the fact that he had no others of his kind nearby, I’m assuming that the deer don’t travel or gather in herds like pony’s do. But I’m off topic. Anyway we decided to share some time together, his interest was because he never saw a pony traveling alone along the road, and the fact that it was a pony traveling along the road in the wilderness areas instead, and I because I had never met one of his kind before. We shared some spells, and he showed me a new spell that allows me to make plants grow. It’s painstakingly slow and requires that I be in a certain mood to cast it. but the results are far beyond my expectations. He showed me what the spell could do and I was impressed when he caused a barely grown blackberry vine to cover the wall and produce fruit within the space of several minutes. I showed him my sprite spell and revealed to him several of its uses including how to animate an air spirit or an earth golem. He was quite impressed. we exchanged notes on how the spells were cast and he impressed me when he summoned four, FOUR sprites at the same time using his antlers as focus points, they may have been smaller than mine but it was still amazing how he summoned that many. I wanted to ask if he could teach me but I realized that it would probably require a set of antlers similar to his, anyway after we parted ways on a cheerful note, I gave him a small mana crystal as a parting gift.

It’s night and the moon’s out but I can see a few lights off in the distance illuminating the sky, it must be Bridlebit. I’ll be arriving there tomorrow morning as I expected, I hope the people there are as nice as the ones in Windbreak.

Twilight Sparkle.
ζ, 44☯, 993♋

I’m getting closer to the town, I wonder what those ponies are doing behind those rocks, didn’t they notice the timberwolf tracks, or the Sanguine Rose vine? I hope they notice soon. Dying to a timberwolf pack isn’t pleasant. I’m making a few invigoration potions before I enter town, and taking an immunity potion, my mouth and throat may burn for the rest of the day, but at least I don’t have to worry about getting sick before I leave tomorrow.

Hmm, These structures seem familiar, but I know I’ve never seen them before… it must be something about their tall rectangular design. Three to four stories is an impressive feat to build a structure without magic.

I’ll write more once the day is over and I’ve made it to a room for the night, I hope Fang stays safe. He chose to fly around the city and visit the countryside beyond it.

Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Notes:

AN:So yea, new chapter yall get to read my messed up world and madness, anyway I have several people to thank for helping me fix the major and minor issues of the chapter.

First off is my oldest and most trusted prereader janushyde.
Moon Shade Gave me some insightful opinion after his preread.

My first Editor was Aeondragon He was also Quite insightful and was able to help me repair a tone of the minor fissures of the story, not to mention helping me fix and replace certain scenes that didn't fit with the characters.

Editor two was Firedon he's an awesome fellow and has actually helped me fix what me and Aeondragon missed the first time through.

hopefully all of you like the chapter, just leave comments in the bottom, and let me know what you all think.

I just realized that the chapter looks a lot nicer in the doc so Here's the link.