Winter awoke to a knock on the door. For a moment, she thought it was all a dream, that she was still at home with her parents. She sat up, overjoyed that the nightmare was over, when she realized that the bedroom was made of ice, crystal, wood, and green goo. Her heart sank.
"Come in!" she called to whoever was knocking at the door.
Sombra opened the door and entered, smiling at the pegasus filly. "Ready for breakfast?" he asked.
"Sure. Then what?" Winter asked.
"Then, I can take you for a tour, we can have lunch, and finish up with Dark Magic training."
Winter grinned. "Let's go!"
Winter followed Sombra downstairs, and through the city. She glanced from side to side, staring at the strange confluence of creatures. There were zebras, griffons, timberwolves, and even a manticore or two wandering purposefully around the town.
"This is my favorite place to have breakfast," Sombra pointed to a nearby shack made primarily from green goo. "It's mostly staffed by Changelings, but that's a good thing. Changelings are literally fed by your appreciation for their food, so they'd better do a really good job of making you satisfied. The Windigos who work in bars, on the other hoof, get fed by bar fights. Don't go in unless you want to come out with a bloody nose and a black eye."
"I'd probably come out with an eye missing," Winter muttered.
Sombra smiled sympathetically. "I knew a Lich or two in my day. Granted, that's over a thousand years ago, but I helped them work out ways to keep their skin intact. I remember one research paper I wrote on the regenerative qualities of Liches. Did you know that if your body is destroyed, your skeletal structure will regenerate from your amulet?"
Winter shivered at the mental imagery, and Sombra frowned. "That's right, you've not been a Lich for as long as them. Sorry, I'll try to contain my enthusiasm. It's just, I haven't had a friend who's lifespan is on par with mine for so long."
Winter looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"
Sombra smiled sadly. "Through Dark Magic, I have become immortal. In my foolishness and short-sightedness, I cast the spell in a way so that not even I could revoke it. It was a precaution in case mind magic was used to make me remove my immortality, but I never considered that I may want to remove it one day. As a Lich, you also have immortality, so long as your Phylactery remains intact. Unfortunately, my old friends who were Liches were destroyed during a Lich-hunt within the last thousand years, while I was frozen in time."
Winter frowned. "That must suck, to outlive everypony you know and hold dear. How did you deal with it?"
Sombra looked at the floor sheepishly. "I went insane, enslaved the Crystal Empire, and then banished it for a thousand years. After that, I realized what I had done... and went crazy again, tried to steal the Crystal Heart, and enslave the Empire again. A baby dragon, of all things, stopped me and got the Crystal Heart back to its rightful place, where it was activated."
"What did that do to you?" Winter asked excitedly.
"It made me explode, then cured my insanity. I reformed from the remaining dust within the next year or two," Sombra replied.
Winter stared. "Kind of anti-climatic, when you say it that way."
Sombra cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're here for breakfast, not story time."
Without further ado, Sombra stepped into the green building, followed by Winter. "Bugze, are you here?" Sombra shouted. "I got a new friend to meet you!"
A Changeling grinned as he stepped out from behind a pillar that supported the roof. "Hey, Sombra! What's up?"
"The sky," Sombra said, rolling his eyes. "Now, Winter, say hi. This is Bugze. He's a little strange, but so is pretty much every person in this town."
"Hi," Winter said shyly. "I'm Winter Aurora."
Bugze grinned. "Hey, Winter! I'm Bugze! You've come for breakfast, I assume?"
Winter nodded. "I heard this was the best place around."
Bugze chuckled. "Nothing too fancy, but we serve generous portions of any common food you could possibly want! So, what would you like?"
"I'd like a hayburger and an oatcake."
"I'll pay for her," Sombra quickly added. "I'd like my usual."
"Nonsense!" Bugze's smile grew. "First meal's on me! I'll start prepping your usual, you find a table."
Sombra smiled. "You can always count on Bugze to light up your day. He's probably the most friendly Changeling you're likely to meet. Now, where would you like to sit?"
"I'd like a seat near a window, please," Winter suggested.
Sombra and Winter sat down at a two-person table by a window of ice. "How do you keep if from melting?" Winter questioned, gesturing to the window of ice.
"The Windigos exert a certain amount of energy each day to keep all ice in the city stable. Luckily, anger from ponies outside our little kingdom is enough to keep them fed and still have enough left over to keep the ice stable," Sombra replied.
"Won't that be a problem later, if our settlement becomes more widely accepted and liked?" Winter said with a frown.
"There will always be haters," Sombra replied. "Besides, when we get popular we can always just buy glass and ordinary building materials."
Winter blinked. "Good point."
"Here's your food!" Bugze said as he walked over to them. "One hayburger and an oatcake for little Winter, and a nice hot coffee with hay bacon and hay fries for Sombra! Eat up!"
Winter stared at Sombra. "You know, that's really unhealthy."
Sombra pouted. "I don't actually have to eat, you know, and neither do you. I just eat for the taste, and it tastes better than any other breakfast food to me."
Winter rolled her eyes. "I guess, just my parents always ingrained it in my mind to always eat healthy to keep my body in good condition," Winter let out a snort at the irony. "Guess I don't really have to worry about that any more."
Winter and Sombra finished their food, thanking Bugze. "See you around?" Sombra offered.
"Sure. See you, Sombra and Winter!" Bugze waved as they left."
"Now what?" Winter asked.
Sombra grinned. "Time to learn Dark Magic!"