Present Day: Equestria:

"Okay. Let's start off slowly today." Seven began as he levitated several small metal disks out of a bin made of cloud. Usually the training room was occupied by several guards bashing on training dummies or doing other such things. For the moment, those guards were either patrolling Haven, or deployed throughout Equestria.

Shyvanna had just returned to Haven after her mission. Seven didn't even have to ask to know she had been successful. Stealing the Elements of Harmony out from under the noses of the Princesses wasn't exactly the most noble of acts, but it was definitely one of the more impressive displays of her skills. The Elements now resided in the Haven vault until Seven deemed them safe to be returned, or transferred elsewhere. Shyvanna, of course, was beaming with pride.

"You know the drill." Seven said as he dropped one of the disks next to Shyv. It hit the cloud floor softly.

Shyvanna nodded and stared down a dummy modeled after a Pegasus. Bulls-eyes were painted on the head, legs, chest, and wings. She shut her eyes and began to focus. The disk was quickly surrounded in a red aura. Seven watched intently as it slowly rose up off the floor. Shyv grunted and the disk began to wobble slightly in the air.

"Focus... don't force it. You only need to put so much effort into holding it up." He calmly explained in a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb Shyv’s concentration further. She nodded quickly and took a deep breath. It had been a while since she had gotten to practice this strange power he had been trying to teach her. The disk's wobbling slowed and became less erratic until it became nothing more than a slight vibration, then was held in the air motionless.

"Very good." He continued to watch the disk, looking for any error in control. "You’re still putting too much unnecessary energy into it. It's just bleeding off the sides. Continue." The disk reared back for a bit and flung itself at the target dummy. It landed where the neck would be on a real Pegasus. Some splinters flew from where the disc firmly lodged itself.

"Excellent. You are improving." Seven allowed himself a small smile.

"Forgive me, my lord, but what is the point in this? Why should I learn to use what you do when you do not need any help?"

Seven chuckled. "Ever heard the saying: 'It is better to have and not need, then to need and not have?'" She scowled, causing him to sigh. "Trust me, okay? It'll all make sense to you one day."

She smiled a bit at his comment. "You always have some sort of master plan, don't you?"

"I try. Now let's continue. Please." She continued to carefully levitate discs and fling them towards other dummies, severing wooden heads, wings, legs and -- a feat which made Seven proud -- a horn. After a few minutes Seven ordered Shyv to stop. She was panting heavily from the strain it had put on her.

"Why... does this always hurt so much? It's like... it's like..." She trailed off.

"Flying for the first time? Flexing a muscle you never knew existed? That's exactly what it's supposed to feel like. It's not something you were aware of and it takes time to master it. Longer than the hundred years we've worked on it."

"How... how long did it take you?" She asked him in between breaths.

Seven's smile quickly turned to a frown. "I don't remember."

Shyvanna gave him a look of surprise. "You don't remember? Is that even possible?"

Seven nodded and looked at the training dummy solemnly. "Let's continue. This time with something a little heavier." A tired groan brought the smile back to his face. Shyv was motioning herself towards a pile of weapons when a guard burst through the door, his sky blue armor was painted with a shade of crimson. Seven and Shyv recognized immediately.

"Sir! There's been an incident..."

Past times:

"So, how did your little act of heroism work out?" The feminine voice of Six echoed through the crystal.

"Fine, actually. I think I made the right choice, anyway." Seven replied triumphantly smirking at the crystal.

"You shouldn't be expending your energy on such wastes of time." Six scolded, obviously irate. "This world has very little left, and you will need every bit you can get to track down Eight."

"Pfft. He can't do anything that I can't do better." He said, still smirking.

"That's where you’re wrong, Seven... He's been draining the inhabitants." The mention of this act caused Seven to grimace.

"How long?" The shift from his proud demeanor was clear.

"Too long." She replied. "It's probably the only reason they agreed to send you here. You can't fight him alone. Not the way you are now, at least..."

"You have a plan?"

"Of a sort... The Alicorn race in this world is extremely powerful. Immune to death by aging. Maybe you could band together with them... but finding them won't be easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Eight already anticipated we might seek them out. He's been wiping them out left and right. We've only got three confirmed that we know are still alive. The rest are either in hiding or dead... probably dead." She paused before adding. "One of the three we know about is trying to fight back. As stupid as that sounds, it may be useful to you. One ‘Queen Gaia'. She has apparently taken residence in a city known as 'Canterlot', in the middle of Equestria. Where are you currently?"

"We stopped seeing mountains a while ago, so I think we've crossed into Equine territory. Maybe we're on the border, but we should be in-"

"We?" Six cut him short, voice full of concern. Seven motioned to the dull-blue mass lying asleep on his back. "Why do you have a foal sleeping on your back?"

"You really didn't notice that until now? You need to pay more attention, sister." He playfully scolded her.

"And you didn't answer my question." Six retorted, annoyed.

Seven sighed. "This is the result of my heroism. She's one of those pony-hybrids. That yelling we heard was a dragon about to eat the poor filly. Figured since we're heading in the same direction it wouldn't be too much trouble to take her to Equestria. Maybe find somewhere she can stay over there."

"Growing a soft spot, are we now?" A soft chuckle came through the connection.

"Pfft. Whatever. So, Canterlot, right? And where would Eight be?"

"Give me a second... seems he's taken a castle from an Alicorn King by the name of Terra... it's hidden in a forest near a town called 'Ponyville'..."

Seven rolled his eyes. "They must be running out of names for cities."

"A name is a name and nothing more. You of all people should know that." Seven could feel her scowl as though she was actually there. "In any case, avoid that place for now. You were sent to kill him, not the other way around."

"Right." Seven replied with a slight shrug.

"And, Seven? Make sure you have your priorities straight. Stopping Eight comes first. Don't buck this up for yourself by letting your sympathy for some useless pony get in the way." She reprimanded him.

Seven's tone suddenly darkened. "Who I associate myself with is my concern alone. I'll get the job done. Good day, sister."  Cutting the connection, he sighed and continued his trot through the forest. The forest was already showing signs of decay from the lack of sunlight; only a handful resilient trees and bushes still stood. Eight could be drawing energy from the sun, but instead was blocking it out for everypony else.

'Probably blocking it out for me.' He sighed again as the familiar feeling of weakness crept up on him. He found another healthy-looking tree and sapped away what small amounts of energy it had. He took no pleasure in robbing other living things of their lives to sustain his own form, but without the sun or the stars to draw fuel from, he had no choice.

The soft thud of the dead tree hitting the ground was enough to rouse the filly from her sleep. She looked around, curious as to why she was moving before remembering what had happened and jolting up. Seven looked back at the filly and smiled. "What's wrong, little one?"

She remained silent. She hadn't spoken a word to the strange pony since he had helped her.

"Still don't feel like talking? That's alright." He turned his gaze forward, resuming his trot through the forest. "With any luck you won't have to deal with me for too much longer."

She didn’t know what to make of that remark and remained silent for a few minutes until her curiosity finally won over her need to be silent.

"Wh- where are we going?" She asked, more out of fear than curiosity.

"Well. I thought we might stop by Canterlot and see if we can find somepony to take you in."

She was silent again for a moment. “Why are you helping me?" Her voice didn’t betray any feeling of thankfulness; this was out of curiosity.

"Because I'm already going in that direction. It wouldn't make any difference to me having you tag along." She frowned a bit, disappointed. She meant to ask him again, letting it clear that she was talking about the dragon incident when a loud grumble was heard, causing the filly to jump, startled.

"Sounds like somepony's hungry." Seven said with a tinge of his usual playfulness. He gently put the filly on the ground, and then focused. An apple fell onto the ground next to him. He levitated it over to the filly, who was too hungry to question how he made a fruit materialize out of thin air until after she had eaten it whole. "Very hungry indeed." Seven chuckled as another apple fell onto the ground. She began to eat that too, but then gave him a quizzical stare. "Something wrong with it?" Seven asked with a raised brow.

She shook her head. "Why aren't you eating anything?"

He chuckled again. "I already ate thanks for-"

The feeling of weakness returned, more quickly than he expected. 'Damnit.' He thought to himself. 'You idiot, you know you don't have the energy for that.'

The filly let out a startled yelp. Seven turned to face her, and managed to catch a glimpse of the ground in his peripheral vision. The grass around him was browning, and wilting. He was draining its energy without thinking about it.

'This is bad.' Seven thought to himself. He scanned the canopy again and found a pair of trees that looked reasonably alive. He closed his eyes and drained them dry. The weakness disappeared, albeit slowly.

'Going to have to watch for that. Wouldn't want to kill the first pony I see.' Seven turned back to the filly, who was staring at him fearfully.

"Sorry about that." He said. "I was a bit more hungry then I thought. That's how I eat, see?" She gave him a confused look, but didn't voice any questions. She resumed eating her already half-eaten apple. 'That's... not the reaction I thought I would get. Good.'

Seven hated being reduced to what was basically a pseudo-vampire, but reminded himself that without the sun or any reasonable source of radiant energy he had to in order to survive.

Seven began to take notice of the sounds of the forest. Things were extremely quiet. ‘Almost... too quiet.’ He turned around and faced the little filly.

"I think we should get moving, little one." The filly nodded and ate the rest of the apple in a single bite, eliciting another chuckle from Seven. He levitated the filly onto his back once more and continued in the same direction he started in; occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure the filly was still there.

Even under the strange eclipse, he could tell the world around him was becoming more colorful. That usually indicated that one was close to a more civilized area of Equestria. But as he continued on, he noticed the world becoming darker again, until it had suddenly become even darker than before.

"Something’s not right..." He thought aloud, bringing the little filly into ‘full-alert’ mode. Seven noticed that something moved. A shape, darting between the trees. It was soon joined by others, carefully creeping through the canopy towards the two. Seven turned to face the incoming attack.

"Cover your eyes little one." Seven told the filly, expecting the worst. She did as he asked as he levitated her close to his side. The first of the creatures stepped forward from the trees. It had the shape of a pony, but it wasn't trying to fool anypony. Its coat was black and seemed to be oozing off of its rotting flesh. It had horrible red orbs for eyes, which were not that much unlike Seven’s own. It moved with a limp as it shuffled into view.

"THE WORLD IS DYING." It said, it's voice booming omniously, causing the filly to shudder with fear. "BUT THE MASTER HAS SEEN THAT WE SHALL LIVE ON. WE SHALL GIVE YOU HIS PROTECTION."

"No thanks. We'll do just fine without it." Seven replied nonchalantly, giving a quick glance to the creatures silently circling behind him.

"YOU MISUNDERSTAND US. WE ARE NOT GIVING YOU A CHOICE."

One of the creatures leapt out from the side, sending them both flying just barely over the filly and landing on the ground, pinning Seven down. He casually kicked it away, sending it flying through the forest and causing it to hit a tree trunk. The impact was accompanied by a loud cracking noise as its skull collided with the tree. The creature writhed for a second in a most gruesome way before it stopped moving all-together. Seven noticed the other creatures stop and look at him with curiosity.

"What?" He asked, a sly grin creeping up on his face. "What did you expect, exactly?" They stared on for a few moments more before howling a guttural sound and continuing their lurching march from earlier.

Seven closed his eyes and focused. A red aura surrounded him and the little filly, causing the pony-things to hesitate for a moment. A red halo suddenly exploded outwards, sapping what little energy the undead ponies had and causing them to collapse in heaps of bones and flesh. The two remaining undead, fortunate enough to be just outside of the ring of energy, turned and lurched away, showing that despite everything they did have some measure of self-preservation instinct left within them.

"You can open your eyes now, little one." Somehow she had managed to resist the urge to open her eyes throughout the entire ordeal. She reluctantly obliged and when she did, she saw Seven staring at her, smiling. "Nothing to worry about." He reassured, reading her emotions.

"Wha- what were they?" She asked with a cracking voice.

Seven frowned. "I have no idea. But they're gone now, so you don't have to worry." To his surprise, she smiled. "Let's go on for a while, and then stop for the day, okay?" She nodded and felt the familiar vertigo of being levitated. She unceremoniously landed on Seven's back and soon drifted off to sleep, forgetting the day’s events entirely.

He waited until the filly was fast asleep before turning around and finding the corpse of one of the creatures. He summoned the blue crystal, which sparkled to life as his connection with Six was established.

"Didn't expect to hear from you again so soon." She said nonchalantly.

"Well, here I am. I've got something for you to take a look at." He held the crystal in front of the black heap on the ground.

"Ugh! Why are you showing me that?" She asked with a tinge of disgust in her voice.

"A group of them just tried to kill us. I was wondering if you could tell me what they are exactly?"

"They're undead. Isn't that obvious?" Six asked incredulously.

"But how? I know we can do some crazy things, but I didn't think bringing the dead back like this..."

"That's because it’s macabre, and not something we normally allow. It involves sucking the energy out of a sentient living thing and then putting a small amount back in. Just enough to run basic functions. Making them incredibly suggestible... not to mention vicious. They can hardly be considered alive, let alone ponies, and have a nasty habit of turning other ponies into them by draining them in a similar manner." Six said, her complete lack of emotion catching Seven off guard.

"That sounds... horrible."

"I'm surprised that's coming from you."

"And why is that?"

"Because you made them." She said nonchalantly.

Seven blinked a few times. "Am I getting some sort of interference?"

"No, you heard me right. You made them. Or at least, discovered the method to making them."

He shook his head. "I... don't remember everything from... before."

"Huh. Well, that's something to look into, but not now. At any rate, the worst they can do to you is provide you with a little snack. The filly though..."

"She'll be fine." Seven quickly cut her off, detecting the manipulative tone Six was taking.

Seven could hear her snort on the other end of the connection. "If you say so. Your choice of company is not my business after all."

"Nice bit of satire there." Seven replied with sarcasm of his own.

"Right, right. Okay, so it appears you are heading towards Ponyville... which you were supposed to be staying away from."

"I can't help it if I get lost! The forest get's dark after a while!"

He could hear Six sigh. "Just get back on track. Keep going in this direction, then when you see the town take a right. Simple enough for you?"

"Maybe. Can you draw a map?" Seven asked playfully.

"You're hopeless!" Six said angrily before cutting the connection. Seven let out a chuckle and trotted on a ways before the quiet voice of the filly interrupted his thoughts.

"Wh- who were you talking to?"

"No pony." He lied. "No pony at all." She looked at him curiously and was about to ask another question before Seven picked on. "And here we are!" He said gleefully. "Ponyville... I think..."

The filly stood up on Seven's back to get a better look, and gasped in horror at the sight. The town itself was in ruins. They could see some buildings on fire in the distance. Those that weren't, looked horribly decrepit. The smell of decay surrounded the settlement, screaming at any daring ponies to back away with all their lives could muster.

"Would make sense he'd wipe this town out first..." Seven thought aloud. He continued to walk towards the small town until both heard loud groans. Seven lowered himself a bit, prompting the filly to mimic. Black shapes were haggardly moving in the distance.

"I think we should skip this town, huh?" He asked the filly. She looked at him wide-eyed and nodded vigorously.

"Alrighty then!" He said as he levitated the filly onto his back once more. "Canterlot or bust!" He shouted, laughing as he galloped through the tree line.