I'm a Lich and I know it!

by Dream Seeker

Meetings

Shining Sea, Bright Spark and Winter Aurora had finished packing, and started on their quest. While Winter didn't know where Calypsion was in relation to where they started at, she had high hopes that she would find either somepony who could tell her its location, or find a location she recognized, from which she could find her way to Calypsion. Once she entered Calypsion, she could check to see if any of her friends had been teleported there, or arrange for a larger search party. The weather was bright and clear, but the rolling hills served to block the group's sight, making it hard for them to find any civilization. For all they knew, there could have been an entire village just over one of the hills at their sides! It only got worse as the sun began to set, and the cold winds began to blow. Shining Sea and Bright Spark shivered as snowflakes began to fall, simultaneously reducing visibility still further and increasing the need for shelter. Thunder cracked in the distance, and snow fell faster.

"Winter!" Shining Sea yelled over the storm. "We need to find shelter! I don't know how much longer we can last in this blizzard!"

Winter turned back, only just noticing the shivering forms behind her. "Sorry," she replied, the wind blowing her soft words back to her new friends. "I stopped noticing the cold over a year ago. You're right, but I don't see any shelter. I'll have to improvise."

Winter brought her staff out and used it to cast a powerful spell, its crystal glowing with arcane energy as a giant dome of ice rose up, surrounding the group and keeping the cold ice and wind out.

"This is nice," Shining Sea began, "But how will we breathe?"

"There are small holes in the ice. The first few times I tried to keep a pet, I forgot that breathing is necessary..." Winter shuddered at the memory. "The holes are mostly at the sides, so the heat doesn't escape out the top."

"Thank you," Shining Sea replied, obviously relieved.

"I'm tiwed." Bright Spark announced. "I wanna sweep."

"Bright Spark's right," Winter announced. "We should probably rest for now."

---

Twilight and her friends struggled through the blizzard, protected from the raging storm by a series of spells Twilight had cast. However, for all of Twilight's knowledge, she could not find a way to improve visibility through snow without potentially hurting somepony. With a sudden thunk, Twilight smashed face-first into a wall of ice, the surprise knock on her horn canceling her spells, to the dismay of her friends.

"W-where did this come from?" Twilight asked, knocking on the ice sheet as she began to recast her spell. She heard a muffled noise come from the other side, and a moment later a pony-sized hole melted in the ice, revealing a mare and two fillies in what appeared to be an ice-cave of some sort.

"H-hello," one of the fillies said, flinching back. Twilight swore she seemed familiar...

"Hewo," the other filly said. "My name is Bwight Spark. What's yours?"

"Hey, I know you," The mare pointed a hoof at Twilight. "You're Twilight Sparkle, aren't you? Didn't you, like, save Equestria twice, and help the Glorious Spike save the Crystal Empire?"

Twilight blushed and scuffed the ground with a hoof. "Well, yes, but I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends," she looked up, panicked. "My friends! They're still outside! Oh, goodness."

Twilight turned around, to find that her friends had already entered the ice-cave and were staring at her with deadpan faces.

"Oops," Twilight chuckled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry we damaged your ice cave, I'll fix it."

Twilight's horn glowed, and she added a layer of ice to the wall.

"I found some holes in it, I think it was starting to melt. I patched it up."

"Those were to allow air to circulate so we don't asphyxiate," Winter muttered.

"Oh my goodness!" Twilight gasped, immediately punching small holes in the ice. "There, we should be fine now. I'm curious though, how did you set that up? It takes a talented unicorn to erect such a large structure.

Shining Sea glanced hesitantly at Winter, who shook her head lightly. She turned back to Twilight. "Everypony has a few secrets they'd like to keep."

Twilight nodded. "Fair enough," she glanced up at the sky. "So, seeing as we're going to be here a while... Where are you going?"

"We're looking for a relatively new town. I have friends there," Winter replied.

"Interesting," Twilight replied. "We're looking for a place called Calypsion. Have you heard of it?"

Winter's head shot up. "Why would you head there?" she asked. "Going to bust it up with your Alicorn magic? Destroy everything in the name of peace and harmony?"

"Winter!" Shining Sea scolded, causing Twilight to gasp.

"That's where I recognized you from!" she exclaimed. "You're the Lich!"

Winter flinched back, summoning her staff as Twilight walked forward. "S-stay back! Please! I'm warning you."

"Twilight, I think you should give her some room," Fluttershy spoke quietly. "She's scared of you. I think you traumatized the poor dear when you took off her disguise."

"Ah think she's right, sugacube," Applejack put in. "How would ya feel if a pony walked up to ya and took apart yer fancy magic spells when you were a filly, then got ya in trouble for it?"

A look of guilt flashed across Twilight's face, before she stopped and backed up a little bit. "You're right. I'm sorry, Winter. But, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. I don't want to hurt you."

"Fine job you've done so far," Winter grumbled.

"Winter, you're wealy nice! Tawk to Twiwight, I think she's wealy nice too," Bright Spark said. "Pwease? I don't want to watch you fighting."

"Oh, alright," Winter sighed. She looked up at Twilight, her staff flashing as she removed her disguise. "What do you want to know?"

A series of gasps followed the revelation, as Twilight's friends looked at Winter's true face for the first time.

"Well..." Twilight looked a little less sure now, and more than a little disturbed by the damage done to Winter's body. "I was wondering if you could tell me why you were traveling with Sombra? He's evil."

"He's the only one who would accept me," Winter replied flatly. "I traveled the frozen north for over a year before finding even a single pony willing to accept me, despite my appearance."

"But what about your glamour spell?" Twilight asked. "Surely you could have used that? It was so well designed, that I doubt most ponies could have sensed it's existence unless you told them about it."

"Sombra taught it to me," Winter replied. A wistful look flew over her mangled face, causing Twilight and her friends to shudder. "Though, to tell you how we met, I'd have to go back a bit. Basically, I just had enough of being treated like an abomination by ponies who didn't know me. I sat down and occupied a graveyard, like a normal Lich is supposed to. I met a single filly who wasn't scared of me. She told her mom about me. Immediately, her mother flew around to find somepony to cure her filly of the 'mind control' spell she said I must have casted. She never even considered the chance that just maybe, I wasn't evil. So, I took off, sure that they would send the guard in after me shortly. I heard about Calypsion in a nearby town, found my way there, and met Sombra. He's one of the nicest ponies I've ever met."

Twilight frowned. "But, when we met him he was crazy and evil, trying to take control of the Crystal Empire."

Winter rolled her eyes. "And you blasted him with the Crystal Heart. What happened when you blasted Nightmare Moon, hmm? Didn't it purify her corruption? Why should Sombra be any different?"

"Actually, we used the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon, not the Crystal Heart. However, I have been considering that theory that the resonance unleashed by the Crystal Heart had similar Harmonic properties, and-"

"In Equestrian?" Applejack interrupted flatly.

Twilight blushed, noticing the confused looks she was getting. "In other words, I think it's definitely possible that Sombra's insanity was cured by the Crystal Heart."

"Exactly," Winter said. "Of course, not that any normal pony who recognized him would believe him."

"So," Twilight said. "I have one other major question. How did you become a Lich?"

Winter flinched. "The full story is rather... Personal. But, the short story is, well... Do you know what this is?" Winter levitated her staff over to Twilight.

"Hm... Ancient runes, I know I've seen this pattern before... Oh!" Twilight gasped in surprise. "I recognize this! This is the Staff of Averum Aquaestinitum, created by Starswirl the Bearded. How did you end up with this?" Twilight questioned.

"I found it in the forest," Winter replied. "I didn't know it's name, or what it did. I only just learned its name, in fact, when you told me. It turned me into a Lich when I died, only about a year ago. I had told it that I didn't want to die."

Twilight frowned. "Interesting. I wish I could say this helped me in my research, but I'm guessing that the result won't be the same unless the exact circumstances of your life and death were duplicated. It won't be possible to extend my brother's life span this way," she sighed.

"Well, he IS trying to kill me for good," Winter muttered.

Twilight smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure I can get everything sorted out with him. Though, I would like to visit Calypsion first, if you would let me?"

Winter chuckled. "Oh, I have no power in Calypsion. You'd have to ask Sombra, but I have no idea where he went after I used the staff to teleport us 'to safety'."

Twilight's mouth opened in a silent 'o' of understanding. "So that's why you were whispering to the staff. That makes sense. But, you say it teleported different pieces of your group to different locations? How interesting."

Winter nodded. "I'm not sure why, but it's a good example of why I don't use its most powerful ability very often."

"So, how were you planning on finding Sombra?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Well, I was just going to see if, maybe, the staff teleported him to Calypsion, and if it didn't I was going to try and arrange a larger search party."

"I can help you find him faster," Twilight offered. "I can try to scan the surrounding area for dark magic. I'm not particularly experienced with this spell, though, as I haven't every really needed to use it, but I'll probably be able to find his location to within a couple of miles."

"You can do that?" Winter asked, incredulously.

"I can try," Twilight lit her horn, casting the spell. She blinked for a moment before letting her aura die down.

"I sense more different sources of Dark Magic than I expected. You," she pointed at Winter, "Sombra, who appears to be using a large quantity of magic," she pointed in the correct direction, "a third, unknown source that appears to be using a large quantity of Dark Magic within Sombra's general vicinity, and finally, a conglomerate of Dark Magic from multiples sources that appears to be moving along the railway between Equestria and the Crystal Empire."

Winter blinked. "I have no idea who the latter would be, but it sounds like Sombra's in trouble! We need to get to him quickly."

"Or, he's helping a fellow Dark Mage with something," Twilight pointed out.

Winter shook her head. "It doesn't matter, either way we should get to him as quickly as possible."

"The storm's letting up," Shining Sea pointed out. "we can look for him soon."

---

Sombra gazed brokenly around his hometown, examining the shattered windows and collapsed buildings, heart crying out in pain as he wondered who could have possibly done this. After a few more minutes of searching, he finally found his original home. He collapsed, sobbing as he remembered his past. A shadow fell over him and he turned to look at the pony behind him.

"It's been a long time, Sombra," the evil grin of a pony tainted with Dark Magic's insanity met his gaze.

"Light Storm!" Sombra replied. "I remember you, we used to be best friends. What happened here? What happened to you?"

"After we discovered your inner evil and insanity, I decided that the only way to fight Dark Magic, and prevent its corruption of the common pony, was to study Dark Magic. The fools told be to stop, they feared I'd become like you, but I never succumbed. I destroyed the fools who opposed me, because they must have been corrupted by the Dark Magic if they couldn't see that I was only doing what was necessary! I became the law, preventing any evildoers from rising to power. In the end, they all rose up against me, somehow corrupted during the night. They tried to stop me, told me to calm down, told me that I was the corrupted one, but I didn't listen!"

Light Storm's eyes drifted in opposite directions, as he gave a creepy smile and a creepier laugh.

"I destroyed them all. Obviously, they were already lost causes! Corrupted by the evil, Dark Magic you left behind! I created a spell to keep me in stasis until your return, and have waited here for you since then for you to come back home, hoping to find a town already conveniently corrupted and ready for your use!"

By the end of Light Storm's speech, flecks of spit were beginning to fly from his mouth as Sombra backed up, horrified.

"I had no intention of enslaving my hometown! Even now, I'm not quite sure how I got here, and the only reason I'm still here is because I'm grieving for my dead hometown because you killed them all!"

Somber took a shuddering breath as he fought to control himself. He could feel himself losing the battle, and slowly slipping back towards the insanity that had made him capture the Crystal Empire. He closed his eyes and ignored Light Storm's raging response, struggling to stop himself. On the verge of losing himself, he suddenly found himself picturing Winter Aurora.

"Cannot let myself fall..." he muttered. "I must endure. For her."

Then Light Storm unleashed his first first magical blow on Sombra.

Author's Note:

The Staff of Averum Aquaestinitum is latin, roughly meaning, 'The staff of unpredictable truth', meaning that it does what you want, but not necessarily the way you want it done. Of course, it doesn't go out of its way to get your command wrong either. The short way: It's a 'Genie Staff'.

I actually have some neat ideas about where I'm going next from here, so the next few chapters should come out quickly rather than slowly! (Hopefully)

I hope you don't mind cliffhangers... But, on the bright side, it's better than waiting longer before the chapter is released, right?

Comments

[Brony God]

Things are going to get very interesting between Sombra and this Light Storm

[Kit-San]

True, I agree with the authors notes. Also, yeah update!

[Jyggy]

I just cant keep reading this. Its all over the place and new characters are being introduced every other chapter.

And as a lesser issue, the general writing style just bothers me too much.

[Umbra Animo]

so if you were super specific on your wish your fine? but being vague or just saying the base wish like i want to be tall would make it do something werid or unhelpful or over the top?

[subjectdeltapunch]

7717419
That sounds really bad... like evil genie bad...
" I want to be tall", Grows your bones at a enormous rate and causes you to explode out of your skin... (this happened In a game I played for a bit, Fallen enchantress, there was a alchemist who brewed up a potion of growth... and it only grew his skeleton...