The Unwilling Dracolich
The Summer Sun festival had been great fun, with ponies from all walks of life having celebrated Celestia’s sun on a national Equestrian holiday. At this time, the day had long since passed, and Luna’s night was out, and something stirred. Clack. Creak. Clack. Bones moved without muscle, wings without leather, and body without furs. The trees of the Everfree were no obstacle for this menance, as it towered over even the oldest trees that had grown over a millennium from Discord’s haphazardly thrown seeds. It trekked, without tire, without breath, a gem rattling around its ribcage, suspended by unnatural magics that allowed it to move. The towering beast was a skeleton, but no ordinary skeleton.
It was the skeleton of a dragon of the size of the previous Dragon Lord, Torch. An undead elder.
A dracolich.
Eight ponies and a tinier dragon met the beast in a field on the Alicorn Sister plains, North of Canterlot. A yellow pegasus shuddered upon the dracolich’s approach, hiding behind a tall White alicorn. Another blue pegasus with a rainbow mane flew up, her expression doubtful and brash despite her diminutive size to the beast, ready to strike with her orange earth pony friend, lasso at the ready. A pink earth pony looked upon the beast, her eyes somehow unfazed, her face plastered with an eternal smile, as if greeting a friend. A white unicorn to her side looked aghast, though not cowering like the yellow pegasus. A purple alicorn instead, moved to the front to greet the beast, not with a fireball or a spell, but with words.
“Aevriath, I’m…” She held her breath, then gulped. “Twilight Sparkle. I’ve read what you’ve sent about your condition, but I ultimately have no idea how the elements will react to you.”
The dracolich nodded, whilst the warm summer night began to cool with a chill as he opened his skeletal maw, teeth chipped and missing. “I am but an abomination, I wish for nought but my own end.” He rattled; his voice ghastly without the deep booming lungs of a dragon. “The Dread League have slain me, then forced me into a form that is but a pale imitation of what I once was.” The barren remains of his wings flared, as he continued to mourn his fate. “My soul is held within the gem that rattles and floats in my… ‘chest’, if I can even call it that. My mind is my own once, but I fear that my will was stripped once, and could be again.”
Luna and Celestia looked at each other, then to Aevriath with looks of pity and sadness. “For as long as I have reigned, I have never dealt with a dracolich, let alone know how to destroy its phylactery.” Celestia cooed with a motherly voice, attempting to reassure the Dragon despite her own lack of knowledge to counter such foul magics. Luna stepped forth, and Celestia stood by silently to let her sister take the lead. “We, however, will attempt to destroy it tonight by however means we can.”
The two Alicorns’ horns glowed, followed by Twilight’s as they each individually charged up a beam, whilst the dracolich exposed his soul-gem as best he could. The beams fired, but as great destructive forces poured into the gem, it refused to even crack or shatter. After a few more seconds, the ponies let up their attack, Twilight’s horn smoking. “That rules out brute force, at the very least. If we can’t destroy it with our own magics, then perhaps something else could.” Twilight put a hoof to the bottom of her head. “If it was forged, then there must be a way to destroy it, after all.”
“Well ah reckon we could try bucking it a few times, might do somethin” Applejack suggested.
“Yeah, smashing it might do it!” Rainbow Dash added.
Even through the eyeless skulls, an eyeroll could be felt emanating from the skeletal figure, although he obliged and lowered himself, allowing the gem to be bucked or tackled by the two ponies. Applejack’s buck hit the gem with a loud crack, which also knocked the dracolich back. The gem remained subtly shining, as if it was blowing a contemptuous raspberry at the apple farmer. Applejack snorted in return, with Rainbow Dash giving her a smug look before going with her attempt. She flew with her signature speed, smashing into the gem. It continued to taunt the ponies with its glowing light, with not even a crack from the physical stresses it had met.
The ponies gathered together, barring Fluttershy, who found a bush to cower in. Her fear of adult dragons and the unnatural figure of the dracolich overtook any other instinct, as the bush continued to shake. But they all emerged looking lost, the lone exception being Pinkie. She grinned and smiled as the sound of a birthday wrapper and confetti popped out of nowhere. “Maybe a party!” She suggested, the party pony suggesting her own specialty, if not as a real suggestion, then to lift the dour mood that had set.
“Pinkie, this is no time for a party!” Rarity chastised, Pinkie bouncing gleefully despite it.
“Well, we don’t have the MacGuffin or a grand quest of any sort to destroy the phylactery.” Pinkie replied nonchalantly.
“What’s a MacGuffin?” Twilight asked, her head quirking in confusion at the alien term.
“It’s a thing that we all get sent to chase after to solve a problem, duh!” Pinkie answered as if it was the most obvious thing to the group.
Assuming this was Pinkie being Pinkie, Twilight sighed in defeat. There was no destroying the phylactery by methods apparent to them. The Elements had long been put back with the tree, and not even the power of the Alicorns could smite the soul-containing gem into nonexistence. As Twilight wracked her brain for solutions, she had to admit that perhaps at least throwing a party would cheer spirits somewhat. She sighed, as she scried the gem and dracolich to no avail, the foul sorcery that left the dragon in his undead state indecipherable to the normally well-versed alicorn.
“Alright Pinkie, we’ll… Throw a party.” Twilight reluctantly agreed.
Pinkie perked up and seemed to appear in multiple places at once, setting up an impromptu venue with materials that seemingly appeared out of thin air. The dracolich looked in confusion at the pink pony’s plan, as did the two alicorn sisters.
“I have no sense of taste, nor can I smell or feel anything. What good would a party do but mock me for lacking my own physical senses?” Bemoaned the dracolich, whose reply was a loud tuba being played.
“Well, you can still listen to music, no?” Pinkie pointed out. “You can still listen to musiiiic”, she sang, with an accordion now manifesting and playing a few scattered notes as if to prove a point.
Aevriath hummed, and subtly nodded in agreement. “I suppose I could still entertain myself with some music and recordings. I still see you too, so not all my senses have been stripped of me.
“Well, there you go, silly! You’ve still got some bits of you that work, so why not listen and enjoy yourself?” Pinkie cheered, as she began playing a jovial song on the accordion. The dracolich’s skull seemed to somehow smile, as he realized that his existence was not total suffering. There were still small mercies and bits of life he could enjoy yet, even if he could not have it all.
“Equestria is… Not exactly a nation that is adept at necromancy.” Twilight explained. “I suppose the least we could do is offer you some comfort while we try to find some form of solution.”
“That much is acceptable. Palliative care, I suppose.” The dragon reminded the group of his ultimate intention. “But for today, at least I learn to exist not with suffering, but some joy that still remains with me.” He turned to the pink pony. “Thank you.”
A grumpy bunny dragged a cowering Fluttershy out, the music making her turn to see the dracolich somehow smiling at her. Her fear began melting away as she took cautious steps towards the towering skeleton. “H-h-hello. I’m Fluttershy. I’m sorry I can’t really help you.” She stammered, but steeled as the presence of her friends and the alicorn princesses assured her no harm was coming.
“Hello Fluttershy, I apologize if I scared you, but I am what I am, even if I do not want to be.” Aevriath said matter-of-factly. “Perhaps one day I can be laid to rest, but it seems today is not that day.”
Author's Note
I wanted to try some angst and exploration of the whole dracolich and the morality of it all.
But Pinkie showed up and ruined it by throwing a party! Oh well.
