Twilight lit her horn, casting a thick barrier between her and the cackling necromancer standing at the forefront of the crumbling tomb. “Get behind me while we think of a new plan,” she called, motioning for her friends to fall back behind her shield.

Her five terrified friends huddled close behind the alicorn and her blazing horn, with even the brave Rainbow Dash reluctantly falling behind.

“Fools! No barrier in existence can save you from my magic!” Cackled the robed unicorn standing at the foot of a lectern. Her stance was tall and unafraid, the multilayered shield obscuring her features slightly. “The powers of Nel-Zad flow through me and with his strength I will destroy you fools and usher in an age of true darkness!” The necromancer threw back her head and laughed, revealing a long flowing black mane that cascaded over her grey shoulders.

“What's the plan, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously, glancing up at the laughing necromancer standing mere feet away.

“I don't know, her barrier spells seem endless and keep us from getting close. I don't like it, but we have to bring down the entire tomb, Applejack buck that-” Twilight ducked suddenly, narrowly dodging a magic bolt that had somehow pierced her shield.

“What, do you really think I’m just going to sit here and let you come up with some sort of plan?” the necromancer asked, her teal eyes flashing with maleficent intent.

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Kinda, we were hoping you'd get caught up in the usual bad guy monologuing and evil laughing bit.”

Rarity jabbed an elbow into the pink mare’s side. “Pinkie, that was supposed to be a secret.”

The party pony blushed, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Whoopsie.”

“Don't worry Pinkie, I’ll-” Twilight started, dodging as a bolt of sickly green and black slammed into the ground where she had been standing only a second earlier. With a growl of annoyance she dismissed her shield, realizing just how useless it truly was.

“I will not be swept aside like those ignoramuses that came before me. Prepare to feel the touch of the void, fools!” The necromancer flipped through the pages of her massive tome, and began a strange chant. Her voice became unnaturally deep, her words blurring together as they reverberated through the room.

The effect was immediate, with everyone but Twilight taking a step back, their fur standing on end as their teeth began to chatter. “I don't know, Twilight, maybe we should just get out of here,” Rainbow Dash whimpered, eying the staircase behind them.

“Yeah, I kinda like my soul bein’ in my body,” Applejack added.

“No! We can't let her win! Just pull yourself together! We are the elements of harmony!” Twilight cried.

She turned on her hoof and ignited her horn, pouring all the power she could muster into the greatest lightning bolt spell she had ever cast. Static electricity danced through the air and centred around her horn, which had grown so bright it was nearly blinding.

Her horn flared one last time and with its release, the lightning bolt exploded from her horn and screeched across the room before pounding into the barriers that had held the elements of harmony at bay. Electricity cracked and magical walls exploded into millions of pieces and for a moment the necromancer’s eyes went wide, a sliver of doubt worming into her mind for the first time since the fight began. Twilight dropped to the ground, her horn dull and her magic almost completely expended from the prolonged battle.

Between them and the necromancer stood no barrier, nothing to hold the six friends from saving themselves and the world. Twilight’s friends all charged at once, seeing their way out from the almost crushing fear bearing down on them. Even Fluttershy ran galloping at the wide eyed necromancer, desperate to end this terrifying adventure with her soul still in her body. The necromancer sped up her chant, words spilling out of her mouth as fast as she could read them. Though they had been across the room from the evil spell caster, Rainbow Dash was as fast as ever and within a matter of seconds she was mere feet away, hoof raised to strike the evil unicorn.

“Klaatu barada nikto!” The necromancer cried suddenly, raising her hooves high above her head in her moment of triumph.

Rainbow Dash who had been only a few feet away from the mad necromancer was the first to be hit by the wave of green and black smoke that rushed out from the necromancer. The second the smoke billowed across her body the mare fell, her lifeless body skidding across the ground. The necromancer stepped out of the way as the corpse tumbled end over end, until it finally came to a stop against the lectern with a soft thump.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy cried, her eyes wet with tears.

The pegasus made it a mere foot before the wave hit her, making her tumble to the ground, her eyes glassy and distant before she could even whisper her death rattle. The mare’s body tumbled to a stop next to Rainbow Dash’s as if reaching out to her friend even in death.

Rarity and Applejack were a bit further back, giving them mere milliseconds before the wave hit them. Noticing they were out of time and had no escape, the two mares embraced one last time before they too fell to the ground like a pair of puppets with their strings cut. Pinkie Pie was second last, her entire body contorted strangely as she tried to jump over the wave, only to crash to the cold stone like the rest. Her body eventually came to rest on her back, her limbs splayed in all directions and a confused expression on her face.

Twilight’s eyes went wide and she had little more than a second before the wave hit her as well. With her last moments she closed her eyes tight, tears pouring down her face, her thoughts going out to her friends, wondering if they would meet again in the next life. Then she too fell, as the concussive wave of force finished its deadly propagation, shaking the very foundations of the tomb. Stone work shattered, chunks of the wall and ceiling fell, making the necromancer worry if she had accidentally doomed herself as well. All around her the pottery and few pews still semi-intact after their centuries of misuse lay broken and shattered by the powerful spell. After a few seconds of rumbling, punctuated by the sound of loose stones clattering off the ground, everything suddenly grew still.

In the silence the necromancer cracked a wild, evil smile, her chest heaving from the recent exertion and her mood lifted by the fact that she was not about to be buried under several hundred tons of stone and earth. “I won! I can't believe I won!”

The necromancer squealed in delight before clapping a hoof over her mouth. “You are a necromancer and herald Nel-Zad, you do not squeal like filly.”

Hopping down from her lectern she turned towards several green tinted soul jars sitting behind her, happy to find that five of the six seemed to be filled with a colored light. The farthest to the left had a blue light that bounced around inside its container, trying to escape. Beside it a yellow light sat at the furthest back, trembling against the glass. The white light next to it sat still, slowly turning in a circle. The pink light spun in circles chasing its tail and lastly the orange light repeatedly rammed itself against the seal at the top, much to the necromancer’s amusement.

“I wouldn't bother trying to escape if I were you. Souls cannot interact with the material world.” she said, pointing at Rainbow Dash’s soul, which responded by ramming itself into the glass between it and the necromancer’s hoof.

The unicorn rolled her eyes and looked down her collection, inspecting the single empty jar. Frowning, she turned the glass jar over, fearing that it had been broken in the fight only to find it was completely unharmed. “Strange,” she muttered.

A groan drew the necromancer’s attention behind her, where Twilight Sparkle was stumbling to her hooves.

“W-what?” the unicorn shrieked. “That's impossible!”

The alicorn shot her opponent a glare. “I won't give up that easily,” she said through gritted teeth.

The necromancer stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over the soul jars in the process. “How did you survive that?”

Twilight just charged her horn, sprinting directly at the terrified necromancer.

The unicorn launched a beam of green and black energy at the attacking mare, only for it to harmlessly pass through her. She gasped, backpedalling several feet. “What are you, a lich?”

Twilight’s horn flared and she popped out of existence, reappearing in a flash directly in front of the unicorn, a hoof already cocked and ready to strike. “I'm a princess, bitch.”

With earth pony magic flowing through her the alicorn delivered a catastrophic uppercut to the other pony’s jaw. It knocked the necromancer into the air before landing on her back, already unconscious before she even hit the ground. The alicorn took one look at the unmoving mare before nodding and turning to the soul jars. A cursory glance told her that her friends were alright, the five lights glowing brightly, and bouncing around happily in their jars.

With a sigh of relief the alicorn picked up the jars with her magic and levitated them over to their corresponding bodies before cracking the seals. Twilight watched as each light faded into its proper body, only allowing herself to breathe a second sigh of relief when life began to return to the former corpses, with Pinkie Pie waking up first, stumbling to her hooves.

“Oh this is going to take forever to get out of my fur,” she remarked, sticking her tongue out as she ran a hoof down her chest only to stop and blink in disbelief. “What the hay… darling please tell me you did not just put me in Pinkie Pie’s body!”

Rarity rose next, rolling her eyes as she did. “Very funny, Pinkie,” she groused, dusting off her hooves.

Pinkie Pie giggled, hopping up to Twilight and hugging her around the shoulder. “Yeah, it was pretty good, wasn't it, you shoulda seen your face Twilight!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I should have known.” She hugged Pinkie back, giving the pink mare a gentle squeeze. “I’m glad you girls are alright. The rest of you are in the proper bodies right?”

Fluttershy glanced down at her hooves before nodding.

Applejack did the same before putting her hat back on her head. “Looks like it.”

Rainbow Dash shot into the air, did a quick loop and then smirked. “Yup, still awesome.”

“Whew, thank goodness. I did not want to have to deal with the shenanigans that would have come out of that,” Twilight lamented.

Fluttershy glanced over at the necromancer, her brow furrowing as she looked over her unconcious form. “Are you sure hitting her that hard was necessary, Twilight? It looks like you dislocated her jaw.”

The alicorn tensed slightly. “Fluttershy, she killed you girls.”

The pegasus winced. “I guess she did. At least it didn't hurt though…”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Serves her right for not fighting fair.” The pegasus flew over to the unconscious body and horked a loogy on her robe.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Cut it out, ‘sides we’re gonna have to drag her outta here anyway.”

“Augh fine, but don't expect me to be nice about it,” Rainbow whined.

The earth pony shrugged. “Drag her all the way up the stairs if ya want, or just grab her other leg, will ya?” She hoisted the unicorn up, grunting as she did. “She's heavier than she looks.”

Rainbow Dash grumbled but did as she was told, hauling the unicorn away with a nervous Fluttershy following close behind. “Careful girls, she might have a concussion.”

The pair just grunted and continued to drag the unicorn across the room, ignoring the thump as her head bounced off loose rocks and bits of pottery.

Rarity had finished dusting herself off by then and glanced up to where Twilight still stood near the lectern. “Is there any other world ending horror that we have to stop down here? Because I’d rather like to get out of this nasty old tomb.”

Twilight nodded slowly, her gaze lingering over the black tome standing atop the lectern. “Yeah, I’ll meet you girls up top in a second, I wanna check something out.”

Rarity nodded and turned, following the others closely, imagining how good a bath would feel right about now.

Pinkie seemed about to follow her before running up to Twilight and giving her another brief but squishy hug. “Thanks for saving us, Twilight, and for the record I don't think you are a leech.”

The alicorn chuckled. “She called me a lich. Which is a form of undead that house their souls in objects. Which is just silly, as I’m already immortal.” She smirked. “Besides, liches can't eat anything which means I wouldn't be able to enjoy your baking and that's not something I’m willing to give up.”

Pinkie smiled back. “Good! Because when we get home I am going to throw the biggest, wediedbutnowwereokay party ever!”

The party pony bounced away, following the rest of her friends up the winding staircase that lead to the surface.

Rather than following the rest of her friends Twilight grabbed the black tome and whisked it away to her pocket dimension. The alicorn trotted after her friends, meeting a curious Pinkie Pie who poked her head out from the stairwell.

“Forget something?” she asked.

Twilight shrugged. “I just grabbed one of the soul jars for study. Now come on.” Twilight trotted past her. “Let's get out of here before this tomb becomes ours.”

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