Shadow of the Crusaders

by Spore Harvest

Scroll 2 "first contact"

It was a beautiful afternoon in Equestria. The birds were flying, the bees were buzzing and a yellow furred, and red haired earth pony was walking through the most dangerous part of the entire land. The Everfree forest, but she wasn't afraid she did this multiple times already so she got used to it.

"Ahh, today was a wonderful day. Got a good grade at school, helped a couple of ponies get their cutie marks and now I have the rest of the day of. Nothing could possibly ruin this day."

Right after she said that she tripped on something and went face first into the ground.

"Well Apple bloom that's what you get for jinxing yourself. What did you trip yourself on? And you're talking to yourself great."

Then she finally noticed what she tripped on. It was a black crystal gauntlet with blue and purple accents.

"Wow, this looks awesome."

And then something started to come out. I immediately dropped the objects and smoke started coming out. After a couple of seconds the smoke turned into a vaguely pony like shape. The only difference was that he didn't have a muzzle and he had way smaller eyes. After that his eyes turned on me and I immediately felt calmer. After that he started talking.

"Hello friend. Thank you for letting me borrow a bit of you're magic, since you helped me I give you one wish and if it is in my power to grant it I will"

He was so scary I nearly passed out, but then it hit me.

"A wish? Are you some kind genie?"

"No I am not a genie I am a lich. My name is Mike by the way."

"Oh sorry for not introducing myself the name's Apple bloom and a lich? But aren't those evil?"

That put a slight frown on my face "That is a common misconception, not all liches or monsters are evil, some just want to live in piece and prosper take me for example I was a king of an entire empire but than some uneducated moron decided to destroy everything I have ever worked on. And then... oh sorry didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh no it's okay I can see what you mean. So about that wish. Do I have to use it now or do I have some time."

"No you have some time the only condition to that is that you help me get the rest of my armour pieces."

"What? Why? Didn't me releasing you do enough."

"Well yes it did but you see I want to get my empire back up and running and to do that I'm going to need you're help. And if you help me I will forever be in your debt."

The offer sounded good. There didn't seem to be any hooks to this deal, so after some time to think things over, I decided to agree. So I put my hand into his and then he smiled. I didn't like it one bit and my fears were confirmed because after that I felt some sort energy travel up my arm. It was a weird felling it was hot and cool at the same time. after a couple of seconds there was a huge blast of energy. With that there also came a huge wave of pain. It was so strong that I started to scream. After a minute of screaming I finally blacked out.

***Dreamscape***

I awoke to find myself in a black abyss standing on something that I couldn't see. I thought that I had to be dreaming, but after that all the memories of the last couple of minutes came back to me, so I checked my right arm to see if it was damaged. To my surprise I found the gauntlet on there instead. I tried to pull it of but I just couldn't do it. After a couple of more attempts I heard footsteps behind me I whirled around to find Mike standing behind me. He looked like he felt shame for what he did to me and my suspicions were confirmed when he got in front of me and bowed low. after he did that he said.

"I'm sorry for putting you through so much pain, but as I said earlier I need your help in gathering up the rest of my armour. I don't know what you know about liches but we have falactories basically places where we keep our soulless so that if our original body is killed our destroyed we regenerate around them. So here is the final deal you help me gather up my armour to complete my falactory and you are going to get a wish and a position of power in my empire. So how does that sound."

"First of all, what did you do to me and second a position of power. I am barely thirteen years old. So I don't know how credible of a position that would be."

"To answer your first question I gave you all my powers and a fused us together and to answer the second, if I said a bloody parrot is to become a new minister nobody would question it because I said so and my judgement is final."

That made my eyes bug out. I was fused with a lich, I had his powers, he is giving me a position in his empire and a wish to boot. I don't know if i'm going crazy or did that actually sound reasonable.

"Okay i'm going to help you only on the condition that you give my best friends wishes aswell. Do we have a deal?"

"We have a deal Apple bloom and thank you for helping me. Now it is time to wake up, when you awake just make sure to keep this a secret between you and your friends okay. I know for a fact that you don't want to be exiled or something of the sorts right."

And with that we shook our hands. After we finished the world around us started to get bright and the ream was broken.

***Real world***

When I awoke, I noticed that I was still in the Everfree forest. I checked myself over and I noticed that I was absolutely filthy. My jeans and my flannel shirt were cowered in dirt. I patted myself down as best as I could and then I noticed my gloved hand.

"So everything was real."

"Yes Apple bloom everything was real and I know what you think, how am i going to hide the gauntlet from the other ponies and the answer is that I'm going to turn it invisible. Simple as that."

"Oh, you can do that?"

"No, we can do that if you want to turn yourself completely invisible you can with a simple thought and force of will."

"Really I can do that, but I'm not a unicorn. Well I can see that I'm not a unicorn but I'm also not a regular earth pony anymore. Am I?"

"Well no, you are part lich now and don't worry your pretty little head there will be no side effects to your appearance or health. We can continue this discussion once we get you out of this forest. What do you think?"

"I think you are right."

"Well, if you want to talk to me again you should just call me okay."

And with that he was quite. Well that was definitely something. I should probably heed his warning and go out of this forest. I did scream pretty loud so I'm going to Ponywille. With that in mind, I got my way out of the forest.

***

Ponywille. A place where you can't go out of you're house and not see one pony that you know. It's a simple town of mostly houses with thatched roofs, but that is not to say that there weren't any more colourful buildings like the shops there was carousel boutique, sugar cube corner, the spa and the joke shop. Now any pony could settle down here and be happy until they die of old age, but that is a lie Ponywille is a town which seems to be the epicenter of all things destructive. Why? Because it seems to be attacked almost every few months. There was the Nightmare moon incident, than there was Discord, after him there was Trek and only a few weeks ago there was even the second attack of queen Chrysalis. That last one was the most gearing for me because they replaced my sister.

"Okay Apple bloom could you please stop monologing to yourself it's kinda getting annoying." Mike said annoyed.

"Oh sorry, I didn't know that you could hear my thoughts."

"Well I can, and I would be happy if you would ether stop monologing or if you would do it in a far away corner of your mind."

"Okay I'll try. Oh yeah could you hide the gauntlet for me now. We'll be coming out of the forest pretty soon."

"Done and done, but you are going to be learning how to use my power as well."

With that said the gauntlet on my arm turned invisible and Mike got quite again. I got out of the forest in about five minutes and went to find my friends and tell them the news. With that in mind I went of to the park to hopefully find Scootaloo.

The track through Ponywille sadly it wasn't without interruption. I did have a little run in with Pinkie pie and her pinkie sense. It went along the lines of this.

***Flashback***

"Hey Apple bloom we are being followed by someone."

"Huh? Followed? Who would be following us in the middle of the day?"

"Well if i knew who I probably wouldn't be asking you now would I." Mike said in a voice filled with sarcasm.

"You don't have to be a smartass about it. Could you describe her."

"Well let's see she is wearing a light blue, dress with the same colored knee high boots. Her fur is a bright pink colour and her big bouncy hair looks like it has a slightly darker shade of pink and looks like it is literally filled with air."

"Oh that's just Pinkie pie. Where is she?"

"She is currently hiding behind that haj bale over there."

With that said I addressed her to hopefully get some answers, but i highly doubt it.

"Hello Pinkie. What are you doing?"

"Oh, hey Apple bloom, how's it going. Nothing to interesting. My pinkie sense was going off telling me that there is a new pony in town, but my sense is always directing me towards you, but i already know who you are and then I go away to search somewhere else. And lo and behold I return back here."

"Okay Apple bloom don't look suspicious or we'll both be in trouble. I can sense some sort of magic coming off of her so be careful." He said in a troubled voice.

"Well Pinkie I don't know about a new pony now, but if you're pinkie sense tells you that there is. Well the only thing that I can say is good luck." I said in as calm a voice as possible.

Pinkie looked at me with a very scrutinizing gaze, which almost made me tell her everything. Then her face turned into a smile and she said.

"Okie, dokie, loki. I believe you and thank you."

And with those words said she skipped away.

"Apple bloom be careful around her I have this distinct feeling that we'll be running into her allot more in the future."

"Yeah I'll be careful." And then it hit me. "Wait Pinkie has magic. How? She's not a unicorn."

"Well, you see the simplest way for me to explain is, that she is something like us. She made an accidental pact with a sister of fate. Those are basically creatures that can see a short distance into the future that explains her pinkie sense."

"So wait. She is like us only that she is fused with a sister of fate. Well that explains allot."

"Yeah keep you're distance if possible I'll hide away better inside you're mind. So that she stops looking for me. Okay. Talk to you tomorrow."

And with that he went away again.

***Flashback end***

That is how that encounter went. With that thought. We arrived at the park.

Author's Note:

Here is another scroll for you all to read. Hope you enjoy, if you do like, comment, criticize and share to your hearts content.

See you in the next scroll.

Comments

[BrownieBorn]

So safe to say once she gets all the armor, that he is going to consume her body and soul so that he won't have is soul tied you her anymore. At least that's my guess

[Spore Harvest]

7889858 No that is not what's going to happen, but stay tunned and you will find out what will though.