"So... you are Rarity's sister, yes?" Kel'Thuzad asked, floated gently along after the small group of children, the only sounds beside their occasional laughter the gentle crushing of snow beneath hooves or claws.
"Yes, mister Kel'Thuzad. In fact, I helped her make your new set of robes!" Sweetie Belle chimed, hopping up and down in excitement. The lich chuckled at her antics, but winced as his ornamental headpiece shifted once more, the small colt known as Pipsqueak making himself more comfortable on his shoulders.
"Blimey! I can see the whole town form up here!" he exclaimed, his hooves gently grasping the archlich's horns like some sort of horrific bicycle. Sighing, the lich attempted once again to make small talk.
"Rarity made me a new set of robes? Why?" Kel'Thuzad asked. Sweetie Belle stopped, and turned to the colossal undead mage, a look of pure disbelief on her face. Kel'Thuzad returned her look, along with a hint of uncertainty.
"You don't know about Hearth's Warming?!" Sweetie Belle asked, her form shaking form both disbelief and the cold of the air around her. "How?!"
"Wait... you celebrate Winter Veil?" the archlich asked, immense confusion mixed with questions plaguing his voice. Spike took the opportunity to turn around, a look of disbelief adorning his muzzle.
"I don't know about this... 'Winter Veil', but we celebrate Hearth's Warming. It's the time of year when the weather is coldest, and ponies and their loved ones gather to exchange gifts and be together." Spike explained. Kel'Thuzad nodded slowly, processing the information.
Well, perhaps this book can be a... 'Hearth's Warming' gift...
"You seriously didn't know about it?! How? Hearth's Warming is the most awesome holiday ever!" Scootaloo exclaimed, her diminutive wings flapping excitedly as they propelled several feet into the air. Kel'Thuzad laughed, before explaining his thoughts.
"On my homeworld, Hearth's Warming is called 'Winter Veil', you see. I effectively celebrate the same holiday, just with a different name."
"Ohhhhhh. So you do celebrate Hearth's Warming?" Sweetie Belle asked, continuing their trek through the frozen streets of Ponyville. Kel'Thuzad chuckled once more, before nodding.
"Yes, Sweetie. I do celebrate Hearth's Warming. I guess I'll have to find you and your sister a gift, then." he smiled, gently putting the small colt down, his antics causing quite the annoying case of neck stiffness. Pipsqueak quickly ran to the front, his adorable form clumsily trotting through the snow, much to the lich's amusement.
"So, how much further to the library?" Kel'Thuzad asked.
"Maybe a few blocks, why?" Spike replied, stepping around a particularly large patch of ice coating the street.
"No reason." Kel'Thuzad claimed.
In reality, the lich was terrified. He didn't know much about reincarnation, or LEGITIMATE reanimation. These were more his brother's or a shaman's fields.
But he did know souls.
Souls never change, no matter the form.
For instance, his soul is the same it is now as it was nearly a millennia ago, when he was born into the mortal world of Azeroth.
If Twilight was Jaina in a pony's body, he would know.
But even if Kel'Thuzad was reunited with his friend, he had not the slightest idea what he would say to her. He didn't even know if she would remember him, for god's sake!
Yet, even if Jaina was Twilight, and she remembered him when he gave her the book, he wouldn't regret it.
If anything, no matter how painful it was, he would have closure.
Kel'Thuzad shook his skull, snapping himself out of his thoughts just long enough to see the pink blur of a pony rushing his torso.
"KELLY!" Pinkie exclaimed, ignoring the biting cold of the lich's body, before hugging her pink form tightly around his ribcage. Miniature panic attack aside, and the frostbolt in his left hand extinguished, Kel'Thuzad chuckled. The archlich humored her, wrapping a single massive arm around her, raiaing the temperature of his frigid body, as well.
"It's good to see you to, Pinkie."
"Have you come down to celebrate Hearth's Warming? You have to come to my party tomorrow night! The Cakes would flip!" Pinkie exclaimed, proposing the interesting idea to the undead mage.
Yeah, they'd flip alright...
"Thank you for the offer, Pinkie. But I think I'd rather celebrate with Shining and Cadence at the Crystal Capital." Kel'Thuzad admitted.
For a number of reasons, he was quite doubtful that the general public of Equestria would not exactly enjoy their colts and fillies hanging out with a centuries-old lich from another world, no matter how friendly he acted or was...
"Oh silly! Shining and Cadence are coming down from the Crystal Empire, too!"
Well... damn it. Guess a reality check is order, then...
"I... I guess I will be attending, then!" he laughed. Pinkie jumped and hopped around him for the next few blocks, cheering about how she had never had a 'leech' at one of her parties before.
He didn't have the heart, metaphorically and physically, to correct the party pony.
As the topmost branches of the treehouse that was the Ponyville Library came into view, an epiphany hit Kel'Thuzad like a brick.
It was 1:32 in the morning, and children were running around. Now, the archlich didn't know children too well, seeing as the Scourge was quite lacking in younglings, save Frost Wyrm whelps Plague Hound pups.
Despite the obvious terrifying psychological effect undead children would have on their enemies, Scourge necromancers and death knights were given STRICT orders to not resurrect or deface the corpses of children or younglings of any race or sort. When he argued the effects it would have upon their enemies, Arthas was curiously adamant about that particular rule.
Perhaps a relic of his Paladin teachings.
Regardless, even though he was still under the influence of the Scourge's foul and suppressive magics, he would never have been able to forgive himself if he would have allowed such atrocities to be committed by himself and his underlings and colleagues.
Anyway, back to the point. Children are usually not supposed to be running around in the small hours of the morning.
"Come to think of it, aren't you little ones out a little past your bedtime?" he smirked, the several youngsters turning in horror to his revelation. The group stammered heavily, attempting to find a good answer.
Seems even colorful ponies need their youthful freedom...
Although... maybe I can give them their gifts a little early... along with every child in Equestria...
"See... we... um... heh..." Scootaloo attempted, but was stopped by the archlich, the undead mage raising his hand. She lowered her head, ready for a scolding. What she got was a chuckle from Kel'Thuzad.
"Children, it may not look it, but I was once young. I understand the rebellion that comes with it." Kel'Thuzad smiled. Nearly all of them sighed, clearly thankful that the lich took pity on them.
"And, as for your Hearth's Warming gifts..."
With a snap of his fingers, the mage cast his spell.
Slowly, the frozen forms of snowflakes fell from the sky. With cheerful smiles on their faces, the foals and whelp began to run around, their mouths open to the sky, desperate to catch their frozen treat.
"Enjoy it, children."
It won't be leaving for a few weeks... I imagine the schools won't like me very much...
.........
With a single, heavy hand, the loud knocking of bone on oak door sounded through the night air.
"Coming!"
The distant sounds of hooves impacting wooden flooring steadily got closer, and archlich's meaningless breaths slowed.
Here we go...
With a metallic squeak, the door swung open, revealing the violet mare inside.
When Twilight opened the door, the last person she expected to see greeted her.
"Kel? What are you doing here?"
.........
.........
.........
.........
"Jaina..."
Without another word, the lich embraced the mare.
"I... I'm so sorry, Jaina. I... I wasn't myself. I... I didn't mean to kill you!" Kel'Thuzad sobbed, squeezing the life from the unicorn's body, much to her confusion.
"Kel'Thuzad, who's Jaina?! What did you do?!" Twilight attempted to get words out of the unusually affectionate archlich, but all she got was more uncomfortable, Kel'Thuzad squeezing her harder to his ribcage as she attempted to retreat.
Everything screamed Jaina to him. Her unusually bright soul. Her eyes, for the first time, matched her deep intelligence. Her voice, confident and sure.
How did he not notice before?!
How did he not recognize her?!
"Jaina... its me. Kel'Thuzad!" Kel'Thuzad held the mare close, looking down to her confused face. "You... you don't remember me, do you?"
"I... Kel'Thuzad... what?" Twilight responded, her brain drawing blanks. Thinking quickly, the lich let the unicorn down. Grabbing a handful of snow from outside with one of his colossal claws, he hurriedly transferred it to his magical grip. With a few precise blasts of ice, a model of his old staff, built to scale, was before the mare.
"Where... where did you see that?!" Twilight gasped, falling back on her haunches in disbelief.
She felt... cold around it. As if she was bathed in ice water.
She felt... dead.
"You recognize this staff, Twilight?" Kel'Thuzad excitedly asked, to which the unicorn slowly nodded.
"Twilight... have you heard the name Jaina before?"
"I... I... feel like I have... but... I..." she stopped, looking down at her hooves.
"Jaina... I... I..."
The archlich looked to his right, his heart racing. With a flick of his wrist, the book was before Twilight.
"Kel'Thuzad... I... where?"
.........
"Happy Hearth's Warming, Jaina."
Tears filled the unicorn's eyes. With a heart-wrenching sob, the archlich prepared to be blasted to pieces. To spend another few days in the voids that was the Twisting Nether.
.........
Instead, he felt the pressure around his ribcage return.
"Happy Winter Veil, Kel'Thuzad."