Winter entered the graveyard of the next town she came across. All she could think about how much she had wanted a friend, and how that was taken away from her so quickly. Her staff glowed, all on its own, and Winter stared. It hadn't done that since...
Winter came running home, the medium-sized stick with strange inscriptions tucked under one wing.
"Mom, look what I found!" Winter grinned, running across the street. Only a few steps in, a carriage clipped her face, sending her flying.
"Winter!" her mother screeched from across the road, sprinting to him. "Are you alri..." her voice faded when she saw her face. The left side was smashed in, and a lot of skin was torn from her face and hanging off.
"M-mom?" Winter gasped, nearly choking on her own blood. "I hurt. C-can you make me better?"
"I-I'm sorry." Winter's mom sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry."
"A-am I going to die?"
"Y-yes." Winter's mom sobbed once more, hugging her little filly. "I'm so sorry." she whispered.
"I don't want to die." Winter protested. The stick she was carrying slipped out of her wing's grasp as she grow weaker. As Winter protested her death, it lit up and levitated itself above Winter.
"W-what is that thing?" Winter's mom asked fearfully.
"I don't know." Winter rasped. "I found it in the forest, I was going to show it to you. You always know what strange artifacts are. It's what you got your Cutie Mark for!"
"T-that's a Mage staff! It allows non-unicorns to cast spells!"
"Why is it levitating above me on its own?" Winter said, growing weaker.
"I don't know." Winter's mom whispered as Winter's eyes closed. The staff above grew brighter and Winter's body began to levitate in its aura, and the pendant that Winter's mom had given Winter glowed a bright red. It pulsed steadily, and Winter's body lowered. She opened her eyes.
"Mom? I feel better now." she said, as her mom looked at her in horror. "What did the staff do?"
"L-lich!" her mom said. "You're a Lich!"
"What's a Lich?" Winter asked curiously. "Is it like lint?"
"A Lich is an undead creature who can cast spells, and is immortal as long as its phylactery isn't destroyed."
"So I'm an immortal now?"
"A fake immortal! Liches don't compare to the real immortals."
"I can cast spells now? Cool!"
"You're undead. The only way to cast a spell like this is black magic." Winter's mother spat. "Now go. Before I change your mind and destroy your phylactery."
"B-but mom, that would kill me!"
"I'm not your mother anymore. You're already dead. Now leave."
Winter sobbed as she stumbled away through the snow, not really caring where she went. There was no point anymore.
Winter stared at the glowing staff angrily.
"Gonna ruin my life again?" she spat. "How could things even get worse than they already are?"
The staff glowed brighter, and the ground shifted under one of the smaller gravestones. One furry, half-decomposed paw rose from the ground, and Winter stared curiously. In a few moments, the cat was completely out of the ground, and the staff stopped glowing and fell to the ground. Winter quickly put it away in its pocket dimension and stared at the cat. It was moving without her controlling it!
"You're gonna be my pet." Winter announced, petting its head. "Now, to think of a name... How about Stitches?"
Stitches meowed enthusiastically, and Winter chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes. Hop on."
Stitches hopped on Winter's back, and Winter grinned. Okay, maybe it wasn't as good as a pony friend, but she had her very own pet! Winter hollowed out the area under one gravestone, apologizing to its former occupant, and covered herself up. It didn't feel very comfortable, but it was the only way she could safely sleep.
Wow. Winter's mom is awful.
5086388 She is pretty mean. Then again, her job is to know about evil things and artifacts, and she's learned that Liches are evil, and she thinks her daughter intentionally cast dark magic. Still, her overreaction was very mean, and she's beating herself up over it. She will come back into the story... eventually.
Silly little Litch, forgetting she has Polymorph on her list of prepared spells at a caster level of 11.
5086395 She'd better feel awful.
5086650 I originally wasn't going to bring her back in and have her feel awful, but then I thought about it... No mother could possibly not feel guilt from something like this unless they were completely evil or a complete psychopath.
Best Parent EVAH
5087030 Well... Have you read a few sentences onward from that? Complete 180 opinion...
5086436 Heh... That would certainly be nice and convenient...
5087038 Uh, I mean, who the fuck says 'yes.' when their daughter questions about her death?
5087079 At least she's honest. What would you say if your son/daughter was dying in front of you and asked you if they were going to die?
5087086 i mean, There is this scene in countless movie and novels, and I've never seen reply being "Yep. yur gonna die. Too bad :P"
5087089 True. I've never really been good at writing those touching speeches, or those rousing ones. Or any type of speech at all. I really suck at speeches.
Winter's mother is just cold blooded. Makes me wonder if she actually loved Winter at all
5088294 She's coming back into the picture eventually, begging for forgiveness. Read comments below for more information. You're right, Winter's mom was really mean, but for reasons that will be explained. Including a deeply ingrained fear of dark magic. Which her little filly just cast, and she doesn't realize was accidental.
5088325 Oh ok
5088333 Thanks for the comment, though! I always try to answer comments to help the reader get a better feel for the story, improve my own writing, and because it's fun.
5088365 Your welcome
By decreasing her face depth, you added character depth........... this story's progression will be interesting.
5088294 I agree.
I understand what the author was going for, but by making the mother too logical and rational it just came off as odd.
It would have made more sense for the mother to be irrational, scared out of her mind, and inconsolable.
By making the mother rational at such a tragic time it came off like the mother was a sociopath that deals with daughters turning into undead all the time...it was just...odd.
I was expecting a blubbering mess of a mother blaming the undead in front of her for taking away her daughter from her...may be even trying to attack her in a vain attempt to get back her daughter, and ironically accidently chasing her own daughter away.
Characters acting too rationally when there is tragedy is just odd unless they are a sociopath, or have had too much experience dealing with tragedy and are emotionally dead because of it.
6318197 Thank you for your comment. Looking at this now, with your comment in mind, I can definitely see what I should have done. I can't exactly change it now, but this will probably impact the way I write Winter's mother's character in the future. There will be a reason for why she acted the way she did.
Lichs' and undead kittens... I'm beginning to see a pattern.
Liches and stiches. Sounds like fun