Hello, everyone! New chapter out, but in order to really get the gist of what's going on in this chapter, you will probably have had to read my first fanfic, as it uses elements and characters from there not introduced here. Otherwise, just enjoy this chapter!
Magnus was waiting in the castle, with Spike guiding him towards Twilight's throne room. They entered, and found Twilight was pacing back and forth in the throne room. She saw the two enter, and she welcomed them with much fear in her voice. "Magnus… Spike… thank goodness you came!" she said relieved. She rushed to Spike, and hugged him tightly.
"Yeah, I told you I'd be coming," Spike said, a bit surprised at her sudden grasp.
"It's not when you arrived I was worried about. It's about if you arrived at all!" she said with tears in her eyes.
"What do you mean by that?" Magnus asked.
"Canterlot… has officially fallen to this disease," she said brokenheartedly.
"WHAT!?" Magnus and Spike exclaimed in disbelief. Spike then spoke up. "But it was completely untouched when we walked through town to arrive here!" Spike said.
"Doc told me that the outbreak occurred not long after you left, and now the whole town has been infected by Pinkie Pie," Twilight said sadly. "The only strongholds in the city now are the CDC, the castle, and the front gates."
"Wait… Pinkie Pie was at the CDC when Magnus left… wouldn't the disease have started there?" Spike asked.
"That's just it. She escaped into town, and when she went hungry, that's when the infection spread. They locked the CDC after that, and have been holding it off from the ponies outside," Twilight said.
"So the CDC is safe? That means... Alan and Doc... they still have to be OK…" Magnus said nervously, trying to reassure himself. "Twilight, what was it that you originally called me here for?"
"Magnus, I was going to inform you that there was a way to cure this disease," Twilight said.
"There is? That's incredible! What is it?" Magnus asked happily.
"I… I don't know. I've been desperately looking for the answer. But I know how the disease spread. I've read the details that Spike handed to me earlier before the contagion started. I've read anything and everything about the details before it started, and I found it out. When Alan brought the Amulet of Rebirth to your grave, it detected that he wasn't the bearer of the amulet, and so sent off a discharge. That discharge contained the evil that it contained from your control of the Amulet.
"When the evil energy hit the corpses of the ponies in the cemetery, it resurrected them. They only resurrected because they were possessed by demons created by some of our gods; the Four Horses. These demons, a combination of Death, Famine, and Pestilence, rose from the graves and roamed for a meal. That was just the beginning, unfortunately.
"When these possessed corpses bit into the live ponies, they spread their evil into their bodies, and within a few hours, the ponies would be fully turned. But there was a difference between the infected and the undead. The concentration of evil was not as strong for the infected as it was for the undead, so they could fight this evil magic and eventually gain control of themselves, but they would still have the evil present in them when they were weak in spirit, mind, or body.
"There was a way to fully exorcise the demons from the infected ponies, but so far... I've had no luck finding it. The undead ponies, unfortunately, had no way to remove the demons, and so need to be eliminated permanently," Twilight said, finishing her lecture. Magnus thought deeply, and spoke up.
"So these ponies were raised by the evil contained in the Amulet of Rebirth? Maybe that's the key to exorcising them... but… you said the undead ponies had no other way to be stopped other than to be killed again?" Magnus asked.
"Yes. I've looked for clues, anything that related to the Amulet of Rebirth stopping this demonic plague, but there weren't any," Twilight said sadly.
Magnus then looked down at his Amulet, and it shone brightly. His eyes widened, placing him in a trance. He continued viewing into the Amulet of Rebirth, and stood staring. Twilight and Spike noticed something was wrong with him, and they rushed to him. He was not paying attention to anything around him, however, and he continued to gaze into the Amulet.
…
Magnus looked around sometime afterwards, but saw only darkness. He walked a bit, and he bumped into something. He looked up, and saw the Amulet, larger than before. It glowed brightly, and replaced the darkness around him with a vision of what appeared to be a village in the past during the dark hours. He looked around, and noticed this village was burning brightly with flames that ravaged the town. In the town, ponies were being chased by Runners and Shamblers. The townsfolk then saw a hooded figure coming towards them, and they turned back to the Runners and Shamblers. They could not decide what was a worse way to go; the lone figure who stood shadowed in their way, or the group of savages chasing them.
The figure approached the ponies, but walked past them towards the Runners. He lifted off his hood, and Magnus instantly recognized him. It was Caelum, king of Caelum Lux for over a thousand or so years. He wore the Amulet of Rebirth around his neck, considering he was the Phoenix King at the time. It shone brilliantly in the night sky, and he used the magic from his horn and the magic of the amulet to blast the Runners with a red beam of light. It zapped the Runners, and when it did, it caused a black cloud of some sort to form around them. The cloud then phased and disappeared completely, and the Runners now lay unconscious. They stood up moments later, and looked around, and saw the Shamblers approaching them slowly. The newly exorcised ponies now took up arms, and charged at the Shamblers, attacking and dismembering them.
Caelum then turned to Magnus, and spoke calmly. "Now do you see what you must do?" Caelum said calmly. Magnus could not, and was completely confused on what Caelum meant.
"What happened here?" Magnus asked.
"The Black Plague happened, which occurred sometime when I was still around in medieval Equestria. Do you see that you are the only one who can cure the ponies?" Caelum asked.
"I don't understand… why can't Twilight, Celestia, or Luna do this?" Magnus asked.
"They all have their own roles to perform, Magnus. Celestia is the dawning of life, Luna is the dusking of life, Twilight is the balance between, and you are the manager of those who have passed. Those who have died prematurely are brought to you, and you have the option to bring them back, if they have been murdered. That is why when I died naturally, you rose from the ashes. When you died prematurely at the hooves of Don, you couldn't be brought back. The Four Horses knew this, and they had determined this as the only solution."
Magnus turned on Caelum. "So they kill every pony else just to bring me back!?" he yelled in anger.
Caelum nodded solemnly. "Yes, they brought you back. Now they ask that you help them in stopping this plague once again."
"Why should I? Why bring me back if every pony else is killed?" Magnus asked angrily.
"Because without you, the Four Horses cannot properly manage the deceased. You can, and considering you have the power, you can bring those who have fallen to this plague back to life," Caelum explained, trying to calm Magnus down. It worked, and the fire on his mane died off a bit.
"Are you sure? I haven't done this before, and I don't know how to manage souls," Magnus explained.
"You will soon. I had to learn as well... and when you do, you will be the judge of the forsaken souls. For this exorcism spell to work, you must meet the Four Horses," Caelum explained.
"So… kill the undead ponies, resurrect the devoured ponies, and exorcise the possessed ponies. Where? Where do I meet them?" Magnus asked.
"They all await you in Purgatory, north of here, past the Frozen North. Head there, and stop this plague," Caelum said.
"Wait... how can I perform the spell? I don't have a horn!" Magnus accused Caelum. Rather than answer back, however, Caelum shone the Amulet of Rebirth brightly on Magnus, and Magnus's eyes went blind for a moment.
…
Magnus regained his eyesight, and he looked around, back inside the throne room. He found Twilight and Spike closely inspecting him, and they stepped back when he moved again.
"Magnus, what happened!? You didn't move for the past five minutes, and we were worried," Twilight said.
"I know what I must do to end this plague. I'm heading to Purgatory, and I'm going to meet with the Four Horses. They will tell me how to end this, and I'll finally do what I was meant to do in this world," Magnus explained.
"Will you head there alone?" Spike said.
"Yes... I must go there alone. I don't know when, but I will be back. Remember, kill the Shamblers, and avoid killing the Runners unless it's absolutely necessary. Take caution, and good luck," Magnus said. He bid farewell to both of them, and bounded out of the throne room. He then headed outside the castle, and opened his wings. He took off from the ground, and flew north towards his destination; Purgatory.