Lich Games

Dash’s breath came in ragged gasps. She’d suffered a dozen scratches and more than a few terrifyingly close calls. The Everfree was dangerous, everypony knew that, but this? Dash shivered as she ran, trying not to jostle Twilight too much. The added weight of the unconscious unicorn hadn’t been so bad until every horrible monster in the area had started trying to get a piece of her.

What should have taken less than an hour had now eaten her entire afternoon. She’d lost track of the number of times she’d been forced off course, assaulted by some new terror. And Pinkie… Dash struggled not to be angry at her. After all, she had said that she thought somepony’s life depended on her reaching Ponyville in time. Rainbow had tried to tell her that somepony’s life was already on the line, but the pink mare was streaking off into the distance.

Rainbow leaped over a snarling timberwolf, and smiled, thinking of how proud Daring Do would be if she’d been watching. Dash had to admit, her moves so far had been pretty flipping amazing. A snarl from the bush she’d just passed brought her attention back to the present. Her lungs burned, her sides hurt, sweat was stinging her eyes, but through the forest she saw her goal: Zecora’s hut!

Her relief was short-lived, however, when she saw the zebra standing outside, wreathed in a green glow and waving a bizarre staff, speaking rapidly in her native tongue. It didn’t take an expert to see the mare was terrified, and Dash soon saw why. The lich stood before her, hood back, exposing his skeletal head. He too was covered in a green aura, though his was laced with black, and pulsed with a sickly rhythm.

The lich’s head swung to face her, and his voice pounded through her head, freezing her blood in her veins.

“DIE!” Dash’s heart stopped. She tried to breathe, but nothing happened. Black spots encroached on her vision, chasing flickering lights as the ground rose up to meet her. Through her tunnel she saw Zecora pounce, slamming the end of the staff down on the lich’s head.

“Direck noctul!” A concussive blast rent the air, the staff exploding into wood and bone fragments, causing the lich to rupture like a popping balloon, vanishing from the mortal plane. With his influence gone, Dash’s heart resumed beating, and she struggled to rise to her hooves.

“A terrible enemy you must face, but come inside where it is safe!” Zecora lifted Twilight onto her own back, grabbing the Necroequicon in her teeth, and helped Dash rise. Rainbow tried to thank her, but simply couldn’t get words out. It was taking everything she had just to keep moving, and she collapsed the moment they were inside. Zecora set Twilight down on her bed, and helped Dash settle onto a seat, before frantically moving about the room, grabbing ingredients and tossing them into the pot on the fire while flipping to different pages in the book.

“When it’s done, you must drink, and be pushed right to death’s brink. If what this lich has said is true, your friends’ lives are depending on you.” Dash weakly nodded, feeling like she was almost dead anyways, but she gathered her strength and asked,

“What did he tell you?” Zecora paused, and a dark shadow crossed her face.

“He offered me power to betray your cause, and deliver you into his grasping claws. When I said I would not, he cursed my name, and tried to bind me to his lich games. I was relieved indeed upon your arrival, it is the only reason for my continued survival.”

Dash struggled to sit up as Zecora resumed her brewing,

“I have to keep him out of my head.” She, with great effort, described the way the lich’s voice would rip through her mind, rendering her helpless. “And I think he stopped my heart just now.” She placed a hoof to her chest, taking comfort in the rhythmic thumping she felt. Zecora set a second pot on and started adding ingredients to that one as well.

“Together these are a dangerous mix, but we don’t have time for a better fix. This should keep his thoughts at bay, but for how long I cannot say. Now lay back while these brew, and prepare yourself for what you must do.”

Sweetie was bleeding from countless wounds. She felt a dull thud as another stone struck her, the shapeless mob cheering. Her legs had collapsed under her, and she couldn’t get up, though at this point she no longer cared. Empty eyes stared at the grey ground beneath her hooves, vision blurring as a rock shook her skull.

Green flames flickered among the crowd, and a pony shaped shadow walked up, kneeling down before her. It stretched its hoof out, and placed a razor on the ground, before rising up and melding back into the crowd. Listlessly, Sweetie picked up the sliver of metal, remembering what Rarity had done in the future the lich had shown her. But just before it touched her leg, a blaring trumpet sounded, and brilliant white light banished the crowd.

Sweetie looked up to see Luna and Celestia lowering to the ground, and tears filled her eyes. Luna’s own were soft, concern evident in her expression. Celestia, on the other hoof, looked mortified.

“Dear child, what could have possibly caused you such distress to have a nightmare like this?” Luna gestured with a hoof at the bleak landscape, the angry mob held at bay by her force field. Sweetie shook her head, lowering her eyes to the ground, while both alicorns knelt by her sides.

“Come now my little pony,” Celestia said, using solar magic to impart literal warmth to her voice, “surely it is not as bad as you think.” Sweetie merely sniffled. After a time, she spoke,

“I… I killed my sister!” Both alicorns recoiled, but quickly schooled their expressions. “I, I was d-dying, and this l-l-lich showed up.” *Sniff.* “And he showed me-” Luna’s hoof met her lips, silencing the filly. They both knew what she’d seen.

“You made a deal with the dead, yes?” Luna asked, getting only a somber nod in response. Celestia looked away, not wanting Sweetie to see the tears in her eyes. Of all the ponies… Of course she would have gone willingly, to save her sister, her selfless sacrifice supercharging her Element. Celestia and Luna locked eyes, both unsure how to proceed.

Suddenly, Luna’s eyes narrowed, and her head snapped to the side. The crowd was dispersing, but it should have already been gone... She rose to her hooves, and Celestia followed suit. From the shadows of the mob, they saw one shape break away, fleeing the Dreamscape. Without a word the two alicorns took off, chasing down the fiend. Luna’s horn glowed for a second, pushing Sweetie’s consciousness into a dreamless slumber. It was the best she could do for the traumatized filly.

Fluttershy and Applejack had been following the animals into the Everfree for some time now, though where, exactly, they were going was as of yet uncertain. It was eerily quiet, with only the steady thud of their hooves, and the occasional groan or growl from a bear.

Thudda-thud-thudda-thud-thudda-thud!

Both mares spun around at the sound of approaching hooves, only to breathe a sigh of relief when Pinkie Pie came barreling down the path. Their worries returned, however, when they saw an unconscious Sweetie Belle on her back. Pinkie skidded to a halt in front of them, panting to catch her breath.

“What happened Pinkie? And what’s she doing with you?” As soon as the words left AJ’s mouth she winced, and again when Pinkie looked up at her, frowning.

“She tried to jump out of a window.” Something in Pinkie’s voice made Applejack shiver, or maybe it was the way her eyes seemed to pierce her soul. At least she had the good grace to look ashamed, a rose tinge on her cheeks.

“Ah’m, sorry. That was a right cruel thing to say. I shouldn’t hold her accountable for what that thing did to her.” Fluttershy patted AJ’s back with a wing.

“I understand how trying it can be, Applejack, but she is just a filly.” AJ just nodded in response.

“So what are you girls doing way out here anyways?” Pinkie asked, her voice back to normal. After clearing her throat, AJ said,

“We’re tryin ta figure out why these critters are fighting their way through the Everfree. Fluttershy says they been at it since a week after Rares, left.”

“Ooooh neato! I wonder if they know where the lich’s hideout is!” AJ and Fluttershy shared a glance, before the farmpony asked,

“Why would they know that?”

“Because Rarity is alive and she was using her magic to protect the boutique and she’s probably-” An orange hoof stopped her tirade. In a quivering voice, AJ asked,

“What was that first thing you said?”

“Rmphly mlff! Bleh. Rarity’s alive! Dashie saw her in a dream but then it wasn’t a dream and the lich pulled her back into the not-dream so Twilight tried to get her out but then she passed out so Dash and I were taking her to Zecora’s when I got a combination on my Pinkie Sense that I’d neeeeeever had before but I just knew I needed to head back to Ponyville right away!” She took a deep breath before continuing,

“That’s when I saved Sweetie Belle and we escaped the angry mob and ran back in here but I got a little lost and ended up following your hoofprints and then we met up and I told you that Rarity’s alive and Dash is going to try to help Twilight fight the lich!” For several long seconds everypony just stood there; AJ and Fluttershy trying to wrap their minds around what had just been said, while Pinkie was trying to count all the different butterflies floating around the trees.

Finally Applejack managed to piece the story together, and stomped her hoof.

“Then we need to go to Zecora’s and see if we can help!” Before anypony could move though, a black bear blundered through the bush beside them and growled something to Fluttershy. Pinkie looked back and forth between the two before asking,

“Well? What’d he say?”

“Oh, well, he says there’s something really bad in the cave just over here, and that we should go see what it is.”

“Now listen here, we ain’t got time-” AJ didn’t get to finish her statement since Pinkie had already bounced off through the bush into the clearing around the pond. When her two friends caught up, Pinkie pointed to the cave just off the shore. There was no denying the icy chill that rolled out of the black opening, and everypony there flashed back to the night Rarity was taken.

Without another word, the three ponies and their sleeping friend moved towards the gaping maw.

Rainbow Dash was speeding across the Nether, desperately hoping to see some sign of Rarity. Shades and other horrible things danced at the edges of her vision, but everything there seemed to pay her no mind. Her heart was pounding, and sweat beaded on her brow. I don’t have time for this!

Finally, she saw something. Something blue, and she rocketed towards it with renewed vigor. She felt the gale of icy winds before she saw the lich, but heard no sound. With a grin of determination, she continued towards her friend. I’m comin for ya Rares!

*THWACK!*

Rainbow fell to the ground, vision blurring from whatever had just crushed her nose. She smelled iron, and huffed out droplets of blood, eyes darting around to find her adversary. On instinct she turned to her left and bucked, catching the lich in the chest. Her moment of joy was cut short when she felt cold hooves clasp her legs. Flexing her wings to escape his grip, she flapped as hard as she could.

Dash had been hit by lightning before. Not the little sparks from an errant storm cloud, or a prank from another pegasus, but real lightning. The kind that jumps from a cloud 50,000 hoofspans in the air all the way to the ground. What went through her now was worse than anything she’d felt before. She couldn’t even scream, though she tried, as the current ripped through her. This was it. She was so close, and now-

The pain abruptly stopped, and she dimly felt herself hit the ground.

“Get up Rainbow Dash! You must get to Rar-”

“Bankshvala!” There was a sound like several drums being struck in reverse, and then an explosion of force. Luna and Rainbow turned their heads to see Celestia get flung across the Nether, fading to a white speck in mere moments. From the lich’s hoof erupted a ball of black and green fire. Luna swatted the attack aside with her magic.

“You won’t-” A blizzard swept through the area, and Luna screamed. The sound froze Dash’s blood in her veins. She clapped her hooves over her ears, but the cry went on and on. She’s dying! It was the only explanation, and Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let that happen. Ears folded tightly against her head, she charged the lich, rearing up for a forehoof strike, but kicking low with her hind leg instead.

It didn’t have much force behind it, but it got the job done. The lich’s concentration broke, and Luna fell to the ground, panting. Before it could counterattack, Dash flew up over and behind it, coming down to stomp on its back. The lich was faster, its cloak undulating and reshaping, leaving it looking right at her. She couldn’t stop her downward momentum before it grabbed her hooves.

“Oh shi-” The rest was drowned out by her attempts to scream, and the roaring pain of the electricity surging through her. After a veritable eternity, the torment stopped, and she was thrown to the side, landing next to Luna, who was quivering on the ground.

It was all over.

The lich calmly walked towards them. A single tear rolled down Dash’s cheek. Sorry Rarity.

“Phloedrudinkla.” A sound like a propeller winding down thumped through the air, and everything slowed. In a flash of fuschia, Twilight appeared, mouth a thin line and eyes narrowed. When she spoke, Dash shivered.

“Baenocoliardiruin.” She practically whispered it, but everypony heard her clearly. Glowing white fissures appeared on the lich’s cloak, and it frantically threw the thing aside. Just as it landed, it flared brighter than a star, and winked out of existence. The rotting body of a zebra stood before them, exposed bones and swollen organs, fiery eyes dancing furiously. Reality swirled in on itself, and the lich was gone.

Akuji reassembled in his body, rage pounding through his head. So close! He’d been so-

*CRACK!*

When everything stopped spinning a moment later, his head turned to face the source of the new fracture in his skull. Applejack stood not two hoofspans away, foreleg cocked for another blow, which Akuji only just managed to dodge. When her hoof hit the wall, the stone cracked.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were back by the entrance, making sure the lich couldn’t flee, and watching over Sweetie Belle. It didn’t matter. In a voice so cold her friends felt it chill the air, Applejack said,

“I’m going to kill you.” Quick as lightning AJ spun, bucking the lich with everything she was worth. The force of the blow shattered his decaying body, splitting bones and crushing what organs were still intact. The stench of rotting meat filled the cave, but Applejack didn’t even hesitate. She reared again, bucking higher this time, pulverizing the thing’s skull against the stone wall. With nowhere to go, the bones exploded under the pressure, and Akuji’s hold on his body slipped away.

It took some time, but finally Pinkie managed to pull AJ away from the mess she’d turned the lich into. Every bone was shattered. Every organ was pulp. It was impossible to tell what the creature had ever been. Slowly, they made their way to the pond, and Applejack began the laborious process of washing the lich off of her. It took everything she had not to vomit, both from the smell, and the horrifying reality of what she’d done.

In her heart she knew, if that had been a living pony, she would’ve done the same thing, and she shivered with fear. Until a soft, downy wing came to rest on her back.

“You did the right thing AJ. I don’t think whoever that was would’ve wanted their body being used like that.” Applejack could only nod as she washed, trying to hold back her tears and her lunch.

Rarity looked around blearily at the ponies before her. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. Through the fog in her mind she heard muffled voices. Were they asking her something? It could wait, couldn’t it? She just… needed a little sleep.

“Rarity.”

“Rarity.”

“Rarity!” Her eyes snapped open and the barrier fell. Before her hooves gave out from under her another set reached out to hold her up. She smiled, trying to catch their words, but she could only hear the light tones, feel the tears staining her coat. Still, it felt nice.

“Come my little ponies,” Luna said, horn aglow, “it is time we left this awful place. The living have no business here.” Behind her, reality swirled, and the lich reformed. His putrescent corpse had been replaced, and now a young zebra knelt in the Nether, though he was nearly transparent. On his flank he bore a strange pattern of zigs, zags and swirls, somehow giving the impression that his stripes were draining into it. The four ponies turned to regard him, with varying degrees of scorn.

Anger thundered across Dash’s face, cheeks twitching as she snarled. Twilight looked almost serene, but there was a smoldering fire behind her eyes that belied her calm demeanor. Luna… Luna’s was the face of a murderer. Eyes like ice held the zebra, gleaming with cold hatred, though not a single muscle in her face moved. Before any of them could move or say anything, however, Rarity stepped forward, shakily moving closer to Akuji.

“Who are you?” she asked, surprising everypony present. For a time, the startled zebra just stared at her, before he finally answered.

“Akuji. It means dead and awake.” The other ponies blinked.

“Why? Why’d you do it?” Akuji sighed, shaking his head.

“She was just a foal. There’s no strength to be gained from a foal. So I offered her a deal, based on images I was able to pull from her mind before she died. I figured I could get someone with more power.”

“Power?” Akuji merely nodded. Rarity nodded in return, knelt down and hugged the fading zebra.

“What the hay?” Dash shouted.

“Thank you,” Rarity whispered, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost her.” Having no idea what else to do, Akuji wrapped his hooves around her as well. With a soft blue glow, the zebra’s image seemed to strengthen, becoming more solid, until he became opaque. His eyes widened in shock.

“But, why?” Rarity gave him a tired smile.

“You gave me my sister back. It’s the least I could do.” She rose, and left Akuji kneeling there, thunderstruck. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked uncertain when Rarity said she was ready to leave, but she insisted, and, finally, Luna tore her gaze away from the lich and swept the friends up in her magic, carrying them out of the Nether and back into the Dreamscape.

When Dash and Twilight came to, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Sweetie Belle had already arrived at Zecora’s hut. There was a tearful reunion, with many elaborated tales of their adventures. But it wasn’t until the door opened, and Celestia, helping a severely weakened Rarity, walked in, that the party truly got underway.

After a long while, the friends headed out, insisting Zecora come visit them for the party in Ponyville. It promised to be one to remember.

For two days the town danced, cooked, ate, drank, laughed and played. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were the mares of the hour, and wanted for nothing during the festivities. When Spike saw Twilight he burst into tears and ran to her, hugging her fiercely, all the while claiming he’d simply gotten dust in his eyes. It seemed like everypony was trying to make up for lost time, now that the pall over the town had lifted.

Innumerable ponies offered gifts and mumbled apologies to Sweetie Belle when they thought nopony was looking, shame making their cheeks burn. Sweetie forgave them all. After all, had she not been about to do the same thing when Pinkie rescued her? She let Spike struggle for a while, trying to find the words to apologize for his behavior, before she finally giggled and pulled him into a hug, whispering that it was all okay. The blush the poor dragon sported as he waddled away caused Scootaloo and Applebloom to snicker behind their hooves for a long while.

It wasn’t until early on the second day that a somewhat shaken Luna showed up on the scene, having presumably just finished a lengthy session of night court. When asked she would simply say she couldn’t discuss it, and proceed to drink another mugful of cider. Though from time to time, if one watched closely enough, one might see her stare morosely into her glass, dark thoughts tempering her mood.

----------------------------------------------------earlier----------------------------------------------------------------

Akuji heard the hooves land behind him, and turned to face the young alicorn. He opened his mouth to ask, and was met with a blast of lunar magic. Quicksilver chains whipped up from the Nether, wrapping around his neck and choking him. Reality started to swirl, but Luna uttered a Phrase of Binding, and the transportation ceased. Akuji fell to his knees, his vision tunneling.

“FOOL!” His voice tore through her mind, shattering the barrier Zecora’s potion had made. The quicksilver chains slumped to the floor, and Akuji rose to his hooves.

“Did you believe for even one moment you’d be strong enough to defeat me?” Luna had curled into a ball, hooves uselessly clamped over her ears. “A thousand years and more I spent honing my art and growing stronger! While you sat twiddling your hooves on the moon! Did you think I'd fall for the same trick twice?” Icy wind whipped through the Nether, and Luna cried out in pain.

“Imagine the power at my command when I take you, dreamwalker. Imagine what will happen when I can slip through the veils as easily as you!” His hoof stomped on her ribs, she couldn’t even make herself move her legs to cover them, and he ground the hoof in, making her cry out again.

The black hoof retracted, and green and black fire swirled around it.

“Bid your world…” The words died on his lips. Luna lay before him, shivering in fear and pain, eyes wet with shame, shut tight, awaiting her demise. The flickering fires faded from his hoof.

“You gave me my sister back…” the voice in his head said. Something stirred within him, as he watched the others, after all that he’d done, turn their backs and leave. His hoof lowered to the floor, and the psychic assault ceased. Luna groaned in relief, muscles relaxing at last.

The silence stretched on, until Luna finally raised her head to stare at the creature. His orange eyes stared off into the Nether, the black and white stripes of his heritage marking his face.

They will hunt me. To the edges of the Abyss, if I take her. All that I've done, all the power I've gathered... it wasn't enough. What am I missing? His eyes turned to Luna.

Finally, Akuji broke the silence.

“Let it go.” Luna’s eyes widened, and she watched him turn to walk away.

“Let it go.”