About two weeks later, Winter Wrap Up was still on hold because of Celestia’s death, and I had made very many Shells.
So Nightshade did three things for me.
The first was make me a fake mane and tail, both made of blades of all kinds.
Also, they were prehensile.
The next was change my voice to be more demonic and yet godly, and hearable even without moonlight.
The final one, happened to be something great.
A week long vacation.
I knew where to go.
Shade offered to change my size down to normal, but I politely declined.
If I was going to pose as a God of Blades, I would need to not only act the part, but look it.
I went through the Everfree without trouble, and stepped out into the open.
It was day, and the sun burned slightly.
I knew that was because the armor was made from forces of darkness.
I slowly walked to the town, smiling behind my helmet.
The moment I arrived I was set upon by a colorful wave of equines.
Every pony from Ponyville was there, except two.
Seka, and Ms. Doo.
Ms. Doo was watching from a distance, and Seka was nowhere to be seen.
I was assaulted by questions.
“Who are you?”
“Where are you from?”
“Why are you wearing that armor?”
“Are those blades real?”
“Why are you here?”
And the ever so popular question also came up.
“Are you going to eat me?”
I gently shrugged all the ponies away.
“The God of Blades, far away, because it is my physical presence, yes, I’m on a break, no.”
This seemed to satisfy their thirst for knowledge, so all of them left except for three of them.
Blondebolt, Fable, and Blitz.
To keep the image of ‘I don’t know any of you’ I motioned to Blitz’s injury.
“Weird disease.”
The response I expected from her.
Blondebolt was the least fearful.
“I’m Blondebolt!”
I chuckled to keep up the ruse.
“Direct I see. That will aid you in life. So will carrying a sharp blade at all times.”
I felt a small prod on my left wing, and when I looked, there was Ms. Doo, flying in the air, poking my wing.
“Dozens? Hundreds?”
“I never took the time to count.”
We then made idle chatter as the other three left.
After a few minutes I sated her want to talk, so she excused herself.
I was then set upon by Luna herself.
I was taller than her, but only a little.
And she was angry, confused, and sad.
At the same time.
“WHO ARE YOU WHAT DO YOU WANT WHE-”
I put a plated hoof in her mouth to quiet her.
“Were you not told?”
She slapped my hoof away and glared.
“I’ll be back soon.”
She then teleported away.
I began to chuckle and walked to the library.
On the way, I saw a light azure coated mare with an odd grey/blue/cyan and blue/cyan/grey mix for mane and tail, wearing what appeared to be a stereotypical magician’s hat and cape.
She looked very, very decrepit and old, and appeared to be slight rotting alive.
I thought of it as a disease of some sort, though I felt an odd compulsion to note her carefully, so I did in secret.
I felt she had outlived her normal lifespan illegally.
When I arrived, I looked at the sign, then went inside.
Fable turned to look, went wide eyed, and the slight mess was instantly cleaned.
“I was not expe-”
“Silence. I am merely here to sate my curiosity.”
I then went and looked at the books on the shelves, using the magic I got from Shade’s blessing to bring some interesting books over.
When I grabbed five of them, I sat down out of the way, where you would have to actively search for me, then began reading.
I must have fallen asleep at some point, because when I woke up, the sun and moon had swapped places in the sky, and Luna was standing over me.
I looked up at her eyes.
“Well, Princess?”
“Well what?”
“You want something?”
“I did not know you existed.”
“I do.”
“Since when?”
“Since I said so.”
“…”
I began to chuckle as I curled up to rest.
“Are you inherently good or evil?”
“Evil, although I am neutral.”
“…”
She left without another word, and I slept.
When I woke up, there was Steve.
He had matured since I last saw him, for he was taller, about head height with a pony, with small wing stubs, and his hand and feet were thick, blunt claws after the last joint.
“Have you seen Knifer?”
His voice had changed.
The term ‘more Scottish’ came to my head.
“I have heard of his plight.”
“Where?”
He sounded desperate.
“Deep in the Everfree, may or may not continue to live.”
I stood up and used my magic to put the books back, then left the tree.
When I got outside, there was a sudden swarm of ponies surrounding me.
“Explain the meaning of this!”
I then saw Luna approaching through the crowd.
She was incredibly angry.
“You and me, to the palace. NOW.”
I wasn’t even given a choice.
When the flash died down, I was restrained to a wall by ropes.
I looked at them for a few moments.
“That’s the best you can do?”
I quickly cut them with my mane and stood up.
“Try harder.”
“WHY?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you in Ponyville of all places?”
“Because I feel like it. Now then, I had plans, and I really should stick to them.”
“What were they?”
“Take a respite for a week, then get back to work.”
“On what?”
“Stuff involving blades.”
I willed myself back to where I was before.
She eyed me carefully as I faded away back to Ponyville.
When I faded back in, I was right outside.
I walked back into town, acting like nothing happened.
None of the stupid ponies paid attention, even though they could see me.
I went about doing casual business.
Six days later, and I saw that strange looking magician mare from earlier duck into the Everfree.
I followed.
She went far off, deep inside the forest.
When she stopped, there was an obelisk.
It was about ten feet tall and three feet wide, with four sides, grey in color.
There were odd markings on it that glowed blue, and the center of the obelisk slowly turned, with the top and bottom unmoving.
A half dead Pegasus pony was tied to a table of stone, covered mostly in a large paper sack
She chanted strange words in a strange language, and the more I thought about it the more I realized something.
Those markings were characters for a language, and she was chanting in it.
It was old Equestrian.
The gift Nightshade gave me translated it for me.
‘Grant me this soul and its life.’
As I was busy thinking, the obelisk let out tendrils of magic, and the life in the sacrificial pony ended, and the life force went into the unicorn.
I watched as she recovered from her age and rot, looking more like a young adult than an elderly pony.
She was a lich.
“Trixie thanks you for ‘volunteering’ to help her.”