Daughter of Death

She was dead…

She was now a walking corpse…

Twilight was familiar with death. It was just last year that she had to say goodbye to her Grandpa Blue Star, her dad’s dad, to some sickness. It wasn’t long after that she learned that her mom lost her parents to an accident when Twilight had been just one year old. Now, all that remained was Grandma Sunlight.

After Grandpa Blue Star’s death, Twilight learned everything she could about death. She really found it fascinating. Well, the mystery behind death, not… what happened to a body after death. What was the afterlife? Ponies called it the Great Golden Plain, but there was no proof that it was really what they described, it was just belief. Did souls reincarnate as some ponies said? Would she have found Grandpa Blue Star and her mom’s parents after dying? Were they watching her?

Those were all questions she had wished to find the answer to.

Ponies knew that the soul existed, and so, that there was an afterlife. Necromancy proved it. But necromancers never managed to find out what was the Great Beyond.

She had wanted to help find out, but necromancy had been far from her mind. Ponies didn’t like necromancy. It is yucky. You play with the dead. She really didn’t want that. And that caused her to be quite torn on the subject. She wanted to find out more about the afterlife, but the only means to know was necromancy.

And now, here she was, an undead, with a Cutie Mark that said that she was apparently a very good necromancer.

Worse: she was a lich.

One known as the Lich Emperor of Eterna was a popular villain in a series of books known as Light’s Quest that Twilight followed. He was extremely powerful, to the point that he commanded dozens of others, less powerful liches, and he ruled over the undead that he used to conquer the world and try to stop the hero, Little Light, and his friends. He always had his scepter, the Soul Devourer, a powerful artefact in which he bound his soul. Little Light fought him once and the Lich Emperor almost killed him before he managed to escape with the sacrifice of one of his friends (a popular character at that).

Needless to say, Twilight didn’t want to be a lich.

She didn’t want to be an undead.

She didn’t want to be dead.

Being a necromancer… would suck, but she could accept that. But dead…

She was a monster…

She was feeling so cold… It was the same cold she felt when she touched her dead grandpa.

What will her family think? They will probably scream at her and bring her to Princess Celestia.

She was alone.

“Ah! There she is!!” she suddenly heard.

What? A colt? What was a colt doing here? So late? She didn’t even hear the door of the closet opening. She thought that nopony had seen her enter this house.

“...Uh? Why doesn’t she move? Is she sleeping?..... Uh. She isn’t even breathing. Is she dead? Mmh… What do I do now?”

Twilight tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. Her eye muscles were as stiff as the rest of her body. She couldn’t talk. She couldn’t even move her ears to show that she heard the colt. Her whole body was as stiff as a board.

No, wait, she could still move her tail a bit. But did she even dare to try? The colt saw that she was dead. If she suddenly moved, the colt would run away screaming about zombies and alert the whole neighborhood. And she couldn’t move to escape.

“Why do I feel drawn to her?”

What? Why would a colt be drawn to her? Was it her magic, somehow? Why?

She moved her tail.

She could almost hear the colt stiffening.

“Did she move? No way, she is dead, right?”

Twilight hesitated, then moved her tail again.

“Yep, she moved. Wait… Can you hear me?”

Hearing that the colt wasn’t running away screaming, Twilight got more confident and moved her tail up and down.

“Uh… Is that a yes?”

Tail up and down.

“Uh… You can just move your tail? You can’t even talk?”

Up and down.

“Weird. Why can’t you move and talk? Oh, you can’t answer that. Well, uh… You are dead, yet you move, so… are you a zombie?”

Close enough. Up and down.

Her tail was getting a bit harder to move. She could tell that it was a matter of minutes before she couldn’t move anymore at all.

“Woah. I didn’t expect to see a zombie filly in Canterlot one day. At least, you seem to be a nice one, not like the brain-eating zombies we see in stories. Well, nice to meet you! My name is Golden Crown. But I don’t like this name, so call me Goldie.”

Uh? With a name like that, was he the colt of a noble? What was he doing here away from the castle and the big manors where the nobles lived?

Still, it was nice that there was a colt that wasn’t screaming when discovering that she was an undead. Maybe he loved zombies.

How could she tell him that she will not be able to move soon?

Maybe by moving her tail and making it slow down little by little until stopping?

She did so.

“Uh… What are you trying to tell me? Your tail slows down… Are you saying that you won’t be able to move your tail?”

Up and down.

“Oh. So you won’t be able to move anymore. That’s… sad… Will you be able to move again eventually?”

Up and down.

“But until then, you are stuck here, like this?”

Up and down.

“Darn, that sucks. I can’t imagine what it would be like to not be able to move for hours, or even days, or who knows how long you will remain like that. Well, lucky for you that I am here! I will keep you company!”

Twilight was thankful, but didn’t this colt have a family? It was already suspicious that he was here so late. She so wanted to ask about that.

“So, I know Canterlot like the back of my hoof. I have explored every little corners of this city, and even a bit beyond the wall. I also have that habit of entering houses. I entered at least half the houses of Canterlot.”

What?

“Like, this house, for example. I entered it when somepony lived here. A couple of unicorns. The stallion had a room full of dolls that he was collecting, it was hilarious! I thought at first that it was the mare, but no! It was the stallion! I saw him hugging the dolls and brushing them and giving them clothes and all! He was more dedicated than a filly!”

Twilight had to admit, imagining a full grown stallion taking care of dolls was funny.

“Then there is the house just beside it. An old mare lives there, and she loves telling stories to her grandchildren when they visit. I listened to a couple of them. Then there is that house where…”

Goldie spent the next… She-had-no-idea-how-long recounting every anecdote about the houses he visited and the ponies living inside them. When he was done, he revealed that he was a prankster, and his favorite victims were the nobles.

“They are so snuck up that they just ask to be messed with. Except that Fancy Pants guy and his wife Fleur de Lys. They are very nice, so I leave them alone. And of course, I don’t touch Princess Celestia and her niece Princess Cadance. Prince Blueblood however… Ah! He is just a colt, but I already love playing with him! He screams like a girl!”

Goldie then proceeded to tell some information about himself. He liked blue but didn’t like pink. His Cutie Mark was a sword, meaning that his special talent was being a Royal Guard.

“Also, you can’t see me with your eyes closed, so let me tell you that I’m a unicorn, I have a golden-colored coat with a purple mane and tail, and I have brown eyes.”

Nice to finally have a picture of the colt in her mind.

But really. Shouldn’t Goldie have returned to his family by now? How late was it? Or was it morning by now? She really couldn’t tell.

“As you can guess from my Cutie Mark, I loved to play with a sword. A wooden sword, of course. I dreamed of becoming a Royal Guard and serving Princess Celestia, even if my parents didn’t want that… Uh… Sorry, I don’t like talking about my parents. Especially my father. Now there’s one guy that deserved to be sent to Tartarus.”

That bad?

“Anyway. I really wish that you could talk. I really want to know more about you. And I’m curious to know how you became a zombie. Hopefully, you will be able to talk again soon.”

She doubted. Rigor mortis will start disappearing in the lower body, so starting with the tail, and ending with the head. So she will not be able to talk or open her eyes for a while.

“I wish that I could help. You really look like a corpse with you not moving at all. Can you still move your tail?”

Twilight didn’t think so, but she still tried. As expected, her tail didn’t move.

After a few seconds, Goldie said, “Guess not. Well, uh… Wait, I haven’t seen your Cutie Mark yet, I haven’t paid attention, sorry. So… Uh? A skull? Waaait… Are you a necromancer?”

He didn’t mind the undead part, so hopefully…

“That’s cool. I don’t know much about necromancy, but I guess that explains you being a zombie, and why I’m drawn to you.”

What?

“Now I REALLY want to know more about you. But… you can’t move and talk, and still no idea how long it will last. Mmh… How to pass time? Oh! I can try to tell you a story! This should help to pass a lot of time, and I know lots of stories that I heard from ponies or read in books above somepony’s back. So, first, once upon a time…”

And so, Goldie began to tell stories. Sometimes, they were children stories, the kind you read to foals to put them to sleep. Sometimes, they were more mature stories, like Light’s Quest. He rarely remembered the whole story word for word, so he often made up by simply telling what happened next.

If only Twilight could sleep…

Still, it was effective, she could feel the hours pass. Goldie eventually went away and came back, confirming that it was morning. Then he continued with his stories. Eventually, however, he ran out of stories, so he made up new ones with him as the hero, and Twilight as the princess he had to save. He didn’t know her name, so he called her “Princess Purple”. It made Twilight want to giggle.

He made sure that the stories were long ones, with lots of adventures and obstacles and terrible villains. And of course, lots of exaggerations. In his stories, Goldie could pretty much do anything, and the villains were so stupid and evil and stupidly evil. Again, Twilight wanted to laugh. Very often. Was he doing this on purpose?

Time passed, Goldie never stopping with his stories. Didn’t he need to pee by now? Wasn’t he hungry? Or tired?

Regularly, she tried to move her tail to see if the rigor mortis was disappearing.

Eventually, after many long hours, she felt her tail moving, barely.

Goldie didn’t see that, as he was busy being a dork, judging by what he was saying.

“I do SWOOSH and SWOOSH and SWOOSH, and I pierce the goblin chief in the heart, killing him! His minions immediately scatter in panic! MWAHAHA!”

The first thing she would tell him once she could talk again was that heroes didn’t laugh like that.

Later, she moved her tail again. Better. She could also move her back legs a bit.

She moved her tail until she gained Goldie’s attention.

“Uh? Woah! Your tail is moving! Yes! You can move again! Is it just your tail?”

She moved her back legs a bit.

“Cool! So you can move the rest of your body again little by little. Almost there! I can’t wait for you to be able to talk again! But until then, I guess that I will continue my stories.”

Sadly, the colt was clearly running out of inspiration, because his stories were starting to repeat themselves. Still better than the absolute silence she had expected when she entered this closet.

Hours passed, and Twilight could move her body more and more. As soon as she could move her front legs again, she used them to slowly sit up. Then, a few hours later, she felt that she could move her mouth again, but it was still too stiff to speak correctly. Not long after, she opened her eyes, only to see darkness.

She expected to see the closet’s door open, with Goldie standing there. Had he closed the door to remain with her in the darkness?

But then, how could he see her in this darkness? His horn wasn’t even lit with a light spell.

His voice was coming from her left, so she looked in his direction, obviously seeing nothing.

He was so happy.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Come on! You still can’t talk?”

Twilight moved her jaw, showing her difficulty in doing so.

“Oh. Well, only a few more hours, right?”

Twilight nodded slowly.

She will probably still feel stiff for a while, but her ability to talk should return quickly, even if not perfectly at first.

It was not long after that she tried.

“You… laugh… like… a… vil… lain… Not… a… he… ro.”

Silence followed.

Then Goldie burst into laughter.

“Oh… Oh my Celestia! You can talk again, and the first thing you say is that I laugh badly! Oh my gosh! I can’t…!”

As he continued laughing, Twilight couldn’t stop herself from joining.

“But… I’m… right.”

Goldie calmed down. “Y-yeah. That’s true. I really sounded like a villain. The irony! A hero with a villain laugh!”

He resumed laughing.

After a while, they both calmed down.

“I… am… Twi… light… Spar… kle.”

“Now that’s a better first thing to say. And also “Nice to meet you.””

Twilight giggled.

“So, why couldn’t you move?”

“Ri… gor… mor… tis… Corpse… can’t… move… af… ter… dy… ing.”

“Really? Why?”

Twilight then slowly began an explanation about adenosine triphosphate and how the body after death stops producing it which causes the muscles to become stiff. And that was the summary.

Clearly, most of the explanation passed above Goldie’s head.

“W-well. Okay. So, to summarize it, you are an egghead.”

“Hey!”

“Relax, I find it adorable. Or, I guess that I would say, adorkable.”

Twilight pouted. “You… are… the… dork!”

“Dork!”

“Dork!”

…

“Pfft!”

Suddenly, the two laughed.

“I guess we are both dorks.”

“Yeah.”

Silence followed. Then, Twilight decided that it was time to open the closet. She wanted to see Goldie.

She searched a bit in the dark for the knob, then found it and turned it, opening the door.

There wasn’t much light that entered. It was night again.

She exited the closet, then looked behind her to see if Goldie was following.

There he was.

Transparent.

…

Twilight moved her leg toward him, and it passed through his body.

Goldie smirked.

Twilight stared at her leg, then at his face in horror.

“Boo.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

With a scream, Twilight jumped backward, falling on her butt.

“Ghost! Y-you…!”

Goldie burst into laughter again. “Surprise! I thought that you would have caught on by now that something was wrong with me.”

“W-well… Uh…”

She never heard the closet’s door opening. The colt remained at her side a whole day without sleeping or eating or drinking or going to the restroom and without worrying about his parents grounding him if he didn’t return home. He could also see her in the dark.

Twilight had known that something was wrong, but… A GHOST?!

Goldie gave a mock bow. “I am Golden Crown. I died over 300 years ago.”

Twilight was left speechless.

Goldie snorted. “A necromancer scared of a ghost. I think that that’s a first.”

Twilight remained silent for a few more seconds. Then, she closed her eyes and shook her head. He may be a ghost, he was still the colt who spent a whole day at her side so she wouldn’t be alone.

She then glared at Goldie and hit him on the leg. “Jerk!”

“Wha-?! Ow! Hey! How did you hit me? You couldn’t touch me one minute ago!”

“I… don’t… know… I… real… ly… want… ed… to… punch… you.”

“Alright. Note to self: don’t anger the necromancer who can punch you. Wow. It feels weird to feel pain again.”

“Lich.”

“Uh?”

“I’m… a… lich.”

“Really? I didn’t think liches existed! I think this makes you even cooler!”

Twilight looked at him in disbelief. “Real… ly? But… I’m… a… mons… ter.”

“Maybe, but you don’t look like you want to conquer Equestria. If you are a monster, then you are the nicest monster ever.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she heard. For several seconds, she looked at Goldie as she processed how “nice” and “monster” could work in the same sentence. Then, she hugged him.

“Thank… you!”

Goldie was surprised by the hug. He… hadn’t been hugged in a while. It felt so nice…

Twilight released him. “So… Uh… How… did… you… find… me? You… said… you… were… drawn… to… me.”

Goldie shook his head as he recovered from the hug.

“I saw you leave the hospital. I was going there to talk to the ghosts there and see if I could convince some to pass on.”

“There… are… ghosts… in… the… hos… pit… tal?”

“Of course. Many ponies die in the hospital. Without surprise, a few of them remain behind for various reasons. There are also some ghosts in the cemetery, a few others in the castle, and more here and there in Canterlot, generally where accidents happened. I try to help them pass on.”

“Wow…”

“I know, right? Ghosts are actually everywhere. The living just can’t see us unless we want it, and it asks a lot of energy to manifest. I guess that now that you are dead, you can see us. Anyway, I was going to the hospital when I saw you and I immediately felt drawn to you, so I followed you. I saw you enter this house, but it was difficult to find you after that. You really found a good hiding place with that closet.”

“Thank… you. Why… are… you… drawn… to… me?”

“No idea. It must be a necromancer thing. Or a lich thing.”

Twilight became thoughtful after that, wondering about her new powers. Then, she thought about something, gasped, and pointed a hoof at Goldie.

“You… are… the… Laugh… ing… Colt!”

“What?”

“There… is… this… ur… ban… le… gend. Ma… ny… mys… te… ri… ous… things… hap… pen… in… Can… ter… lot, and… a… colt… is… of… ten… heard… laugh… ing.”

“Oh yeah, that’s me and my pranks I told you about,” Goldie said proudly. “I guess I’m quite the celebrity.”

Twilight looked at Goldie in awe.

Eventually, Goldie asked, “So, now that you can move more or less well, what will you do?”

Twilight looked sadly aside. “I’m… lea… ving… Can… ter… lot…”