Dead in civilization

Knock-knock-knock

"Mmmmmmhhhhh!" Dead pulled herself off Ditzy. "Should we get that?" Dead asked as a slightly disappointed looking Ditzy sighed. The knocking came back twice has hard with a sense of urgency.

"Yeah..." Ditzy said slowly. "We can finish this later..." Ditzy pulled away from Dead and walked over to the door and slowly opened it. A rather sweaty Rainbow Dash was in the doorway. "Hiya Rainbow!" Ditzy said cheerfully. "What can I do for you?" Rainbow, remembering that this wasn't one of her close friend's houses opted against storming in and demand an explanation, instead she stood still for a few brief moments before stuttering and flying off at breakneck speeds. A confused Ditzy turned back around and gave Dead an evil smile.

"So where we were?"

Rainbow frantically flew through Ponyville, looking for any of her friends that might be out. Much to her dismay she saw Pinkie hopping back into sugar cube corner and decided it would be to try and talk to her. Rainbow flew through the door and tackled Pinkie. Throwing the pair into the back room.

"Rainbow, I'm all for tackle the unsuspecting pony. But can we not do it inside the shop?" Pinkie asked as she got up, just as she got back on all four hooves Dash quickly slammed the door shut.

"Pinkie I need to talk about something! Its really important!" Rainbow shouted at Pinkie, who the promptly sat down and waited for Rainbow to go on. "Its Dead! I saw her a Derpy kissing! Like really kissing! Like full on kissing!"

"Uh-huh!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So what are you going to do about it?" Pinkie asked.

"I dunno, I just needed somepony to talk to. Say Pinkie do you know what has been going on? I tried talking to Rarity about Dead earlier but she just stonewalled me." Rainbow sighed. "I get the feeling that something big happened last night... And nopony is telling me about it!"

"Oh something did happen! But I Pinkie promised not to tell!" Pinkie happily exclaimed. "But you might wanna go see Twilight about it. I'm sure she will tell you!"

"Urgh, Twilight will just go on about what me and Rarity did last night... Its not our fault the plan didn't work how we intended it!" Rainbow huffed. "Maybe if Dead wasn't so attractive... What am I saying?"

"I dunno!" Pinkie shouted as she jumped up. "But still go see Twilight! I still need to figure out who shaves the Barbra!" And with that Pinkie vanished in a pink blur that sped through the closed door.

"Uh... Okay... Bye Pinkie..." Dash muttered as she slowly left the shop. Dash made her way over to Twilight's house, she didn't fly like she normally did. Instead she slowly walked, taking the the surroundings and trying to think about what was happening. After what seemed like forever Rainbow  ended up outside Twilight's house. She considered just leaving and forgetting the whole thing. However she decided that doing that would solve nothing. Dash walked up to the door and slowly knocked it.

"Just a minute!" A sing song voice called out, a voice that was not Twilight's.

"Rarity?" Dash said sounding rather puzzled. "What are you doing here?"

Rarity opened the door and greeted Dash with a happy smile. "Oh I have just been talking to Twilight about some things. Cadance sent over some books on necromancy from the crystal library."

"Didn't Dead steal them all though?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, but when she stole them the crystal empire was... Missing!" Rarity cheered. "You have to read some of this. Most of it is about Dead! Or so Twilight says..." Rarity noticed Rainbow's lack of energy. "Don't worry about Dead, Rainbow."

"I just, wonder. What would have happened if it had gone our way..." Rainbow sighed. "I'm happy for her and all. Maybe a tad jealous of Ditzy..." Rainbow laughed. "I saw them really going for it!"

"That's the spirit Rainbow! What makes you such a good friend is that you aren't bitter about it! You are happy for Dead. And that makes you a great friend." Rarity said happily. Rainbow perked up at this. "Come in! Twilight is certain she will find out why Dead is so long lived and/or immortal!" Rarity happily ushered Rainbow in and sat her in front of a book titled 'The Formation of the Crystal Empire' Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"And you expect me to read this?" She asked. The book was then picked up in a purple aura and drifted over to Twilight who was in a skyscraper of books. "Woah!" Rainbow exclaimed. "When Rarity said Cadance sen over some books..."

"Yeah, I've been reading nonstop since they got here. Some of these are real page turns. They document ancient rituals and such. Its amazing how much was known about a forbidden magic." Twilight said as she emerged from the towering pile of books. "However some of them seem to over exaggerate their abilities. Giant skeletons have not been seen or heard of, ever." Twilight sighed as she took a book out the pile and tossed it aside. "I think this book here... It explains why Dead is still alive." Twilight held up the book she took from Rainbow. Twilight quickly flipped trough some pages and started reading an extract aloud.

The area on which the Crystal empire sits is a focal point for magic. Hence why it is made of crystals, they conduct magic effectively and are sturdier then other magical building materials. However somewhere beneath the Empire something is emitting high levels of magic, hence why if darkness resides in the Empire it corrupts the rest of Equestria.

Long before the Empire was founded a variety of magic eating and seeking creatures braved the snowy wastes in order to set up camp around the focal point. When construction teams originally began setting up the Empire they encountered numerous imps and a few power hungry magi. However they lived on the outskirts, the midsection was devoid of any lifeforms and in the center of it a large jar rested. The passage that follow are accounts from the the diary's of construction workers names have been removed and some areas re-written.

The first mistake that the construction crew did was attempt to move the jar. Survivor recounts tell of a large strange skeletal creature emerging from the ground and killing several crew members by impaling them with large ice lances.

"Woah, Twilight. That's..." Rainbow started.

"Yeah I know. But I have a feeling it gets better... That, and I have read it. I will skip to the good bits for you, save you hearing about the massacre that followed it."

Three days pasted with no work and nearly fifty deaths. However it would seem relief would come in the strangest of ways. A unicorn mare, clad in strange purple robes showed up on the third day. While her personality was abrasive she wanted access to the focal point, in order to enhance her magical abilities, however she changed when we told her about the creature.

The mare refereed to the creature as a 'lich' and after a slight bit of explaining she offered to remove it for us. Free of charge. However she requested that we did not tell any of the Princesses, until a thousand years has passed.

"So what? It just says that a unicorn showed up." Rainbow huffed.

"Yes, a unicorn that was wearing the exact same kind of robes that Dead was wearing when we faced her in her dream. Look at the picture." Twilight levitated the book over to Rainbow and displayed a picture from the following page. The robes matched the ones the other Dead wore in the dream perfectly.

"Oh!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I take it the book gets better?" She asked. Twilight nodded ad took the book back and kept reading.

The mare, who only refereed to herself as DQ requested that an observer watch the encounter take place, so that events could be logged.

The fight started around midday, a strange white mist filled the immediate area. The mare walked up to the jar and shook it violently, causing a large crack to appear in the base of it. The skeleton emerged just as expected and hurled a large ice lance at the mare. A skeletal griffon jumped in the way and took the hit. It also became apparent why the mare didn't want the princesses knowing. The 'Lich' spoke in some sort tongue to which the mare replied in turn. The mare then raise a few of the works and began using them to blockade the Lich, stopping it from attacking. The mare then fired a large volley of white bolts that homed in on the Lich's body. While this seemed to stun it, it seemed to fight back and grow in power.

After what seemed like an hour of dodging and occasionally attacking the mare  paused and fired a large grey bolt with a white skull in it at the lich.

Twilight stopped. "Alright then what?" Rainbow asked.

"That's it. It ends there. However we can come to the conclusion that Dead won... Seeing as she is still here." Twilight said as she put down the book. "Maybe she will tell us someday... Anyway Rainbow, what brings you over here?" Twilight asked, unaware of why Rainbow had shown up.

"Oh just Dead. I saw her and Ditzy really going for it."

"Oh..."