Title:           Lichanon & Twi-Twi 01 - Anon'ymous
Author:          caraml
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/ZLsVryLb
First Edit:      Friday 7th of August 2015 10:29:05 AM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Monday 10th of August 2015 12:40:41 PM CDT

>You are Anonymous.
>You are dead.
>Well, not technically.
>You are a lich.
>You were a lich.
>Since that time when you were defeated by the clergy, your powers were separated from you and sealed in a different location as your body and conscience.
>Slimy bastards fucking hired the shamans. The nerve.
>For years, you've waited, waited for someone or something to release you from your dark prison under the ruins of the cathedral, in the hopes of once again being able to freely roam the surface, pillaging and plundering towns and turning civilians into mindless skele-slaves to add to your wonderful collection.
>Oh, your collection.
>It was a sight to behold. From nobles, to heroes, to kings, even demi-gods and monsters, you've had a decent collection of skeletons. They were your pride, and unfortunately, your weakness, too.
>You left your guard down when you headed out to buy some milk from the market, an opporunity the priests took to have a handful of their agents take your bones and use them against you.
>When you returned, nothing was left of your lair other than a note telling you of their work and where you'd have to go to reclaim your precious skellies.
>And of course, you took the bait and fell to their ambush. You thought you could have handled them yourself, but apparently the priests were not alone and had shamans and knights along with them.
>You also thought you can still defeat them even with the reinfocements, but then you noticed they put a ward around the entire cemetery, preventing you from using your necro-powers to summon the dead or even reanimate your enemies' corpses.
>Only then and there did you realize that you made the mistake of leaving a spare key under the rug in case you lose yours during one of your trips.
>And alas, you fell to their trap.
>And here you are. Lying pretty and bony in a coffin strewn in chains and covered in seals.
>Not the noisy ones you see at the circus, no.
>These seals prevent you from opening the lid. And since you also lost your powers, you're but a glorified skele-savage.
>Now your only hope of escape is from an external force, someone stupid enough to not know what this coffin conta--
>*BLAM* *RATTLE* *RATTLE* *RIIIIIP* *CRACK* *CREEEEAAAAAK*
"HOLY SHIT FUCKING FINALLY--"
>"WOAAAAAAH!"
 
>Be Twilight
>During your travel to Equal Town with the girls, you spotted a decrepit tower that stood in the middle of a sandy wasteland.
>As you never knew of any towers that towered above these grounds, you let out a tiny giggle, nor is it found in any of the maps in the palace library, you decided you would investigate it once you're done with this friendship quest.
>Soon after reporting to the Princess about your findings and having a word with the scribes, inquiring about the tower, you gear up and head to its location in the hopes of discovering an old civilization forgotten by the rest of Equestria.
>And discover you did.
>As you entered the tower from a broken window, you were met with a huge bell that hung from the ceiling. You figured this was a church belfry and proceeded to jump down from ledge to ledge, rafter to rafter, careful not to fall straight down to the bottom.
>Only did you remember you had wings when you reached the bottom level. Shit.
>And you were magic, too. Idiot.
>After a minute of repeatedly hitting your head against a pillar, you decided to put it to a rest and continue exploring the ruins.
>Casting a magelight, you were met with a surprisingly well-kept hall. No dust, no cobwebs, no nothing. The place was entirely devoid of any signs of degradation, and apparently the belfry was the only part that's been beat-up so far.
>No wonder you were so interested in this place when you found it. It's coated with magic. And obviously high-level spells were used as the building is stil kept intact for such a long time.
>As you were walking amazed by both the elegance of the architecture and complexity of the arrangement of the runes, you were met by a far more astonishing sight as you walk through a humongous doorway to an even bigger hall, probably five to six stories high, with the ceiling completely painted with images of winged beasts and heavenly creatures, with chandeliers hanging high above, pews carefully arranged and a big podium behind an altar at the center of an elevated stage up front.
>You walk toward the altar, but halfway through, you find an oddly placed staircase, which you found by falling into it.
>And now, you're falling down a staircase.
>After a series of tumbling down and discovering ways you could make several odd sounds when hit at certain places, you finally managed to cast a spell and regain your footing, and as you recovered, you find yourself in a dank--dark, hall that leads to a heavy-looking door.
>Approaching the door, you notice a note hanging above the handle. Unfortunately, you can't decipher what it says, as it's all smudged and a little burnt. Odd.
>You hesitate for a moment, but as you are an inquisitive mind who yearns and lives for knowledge, you decided you can't just leave now and proceeded to open the door with your magic.
>In front of you lies a black coffin, sealed seemingly tight with chains and covered all over with seals that have unfamiliar runes written on them, and behind it stands two armored stone statues that seem to be of an unknown species of bipedal creatures, one holding a sword far bigger than the ones you see the guards back at the castle carry, and the other a two-sided axe.
>As you were walking towards it, you notice small stains on the floor near the coffin, presumably dried blood. You come close to it, when you suddenly get hit by a wave of energy, heavy, but not strong enough to completely repel you from the coffin.
>With a little grunt, you tread closer and inspect the coffin. The seals seem to be slightly burnt, which is probably why its effects on you is weakened. The chains, although tight, you find easy to remove, since the locks were already picked and unlocked. Strange, you think, but you proceed to undo them anyways.
>You feel an ominous presence as you come closer to remove the seals, and it gets stronger the moment you touch the coffin. You rip the seals off and slowly open the lid as it makes a loud creaking sound, and as you do, a thick green fog erupts from the coffin and engulfs the room as you hear a deep voice ring so loud, it's as if you were hearing it from inside your head.
>"HOLY SHIT FUCKING FINALLY--"
"WOAAAAAAH!"
>A skeletal figure appears before you, causing you to stumble down and fall onto your rump.
"Oh my stars, it's an undead! An undead... uh... undead..."
>You've never seen anything with this skeletal structure before in your life, so you figure it's definitely an ancient race.
>You sit there, watching the weird cluster of bone stand and assume a seemingly odd postition, spreading its two legs apart and raising its arms.
>It's assuming an aggressive position!
>You start to panic as the skeleton puts its arms together and... bends... sideways?
>*CRRRRACK* *CRRAAAACK*
>"Ahhhh, that feels infinitely better," the skeleton says, as it pushes its jaw to the side, making another cracking sound, then jumps up and down whil flailing its limbs.
>You're dumbfounded and cannot speak.
>Now it's looking at you. Or you think it is. Can't really tell.
 
>Be Anon
>You've never felt this good for centuries.
>You know. You've counted. One thousand, four hundred and sixty-nine years of nothing but boredom and hardening cartilage.
>You stretch your bones and crack your neck a little bit and do some jumping jacks with a little rattle-rattle-rattle.
>You stop your yourself from the urge of bursting into song, and focus your attention to your liberator.
>What you see instead is a tiny, pastel-colored horse with a horn on its forehead and wings on its side.
>You know what this creature is. You've read it in the books in one of your orc friends' libraries.
>Now to thank the creature.
"To whom do I owe the pleasure of being freed from my shackles and allowed to roam this beautiful world once again?" you say, bowing slightly to it.
>"You're... un... undead."
>Oh, it knows how to speak. That makes it easier.
"Yes, that indeed I am."
>"What... what are you?" the pony asks.
"I am a lich. Well, I was, until my powers were stripped of me. What about the young lady?"
>"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship, that is."
>Princess of... "Freindship"? Have you really stayed that long, or are you in a different world now?
>You wonder what else has changed since you were captured.
"Nice to be of acquaintance to you, dear princess. I am Anon'ymous, former lich and ruler of Hugefaggetston. I thank you once again for releasing me from my bonds and giving me the priviledge of beholding such a beautiful icon of power and grace."
>You bow once again, this time deeper, and look to see the horse princess's cheeks fluster.
>"O-Oh, don't... mention it."
"Pardon me, but might I ask, where are we exactly, what do you call your nation, and who is your ruler?"
>The pony lights up at your question and proceeds to recite a speech.
>"We're in the ruins of an ancient cathedral buried deep in the middle of a wasteland North of the Crystal Mountains, just past Manehattan."
>"Our ruler is Princess Celestia of the Sun, together with Princess Luna of the Moon."
>"And I, Princess Twilight, as princess of friendship, welcome you to Equestria, a kingdom of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns all united as one."
>The Princess bows as she finishes her speech, and you return the gesture.
>"Oh, and just call me Twilight."
"Okay, then, Twilight." You just nod this time, deciding that you've bowed enough times for today.
>"Now that the formalities are done and over with, what are you? I mean, you're a lich, but what were you before you were one?"
"Oh, I was a human once. This takes me ba--"
>"What's a human?"
"What?"
>"O-Oh, didn't mean to interrupt. Please."
>Apparently this pony doesn't know what humans are. Since she's a pony, and a princess at that, who's supposed to know these kinds of things, it's become evident that your race was not able to last the great war of the Scruffening. Too bad you weren't there when it came to its climax.
"It's alright. Since you don't know what humans are, let me humor you. Humans are a race of mammalian creatures that are descendant of prehistoric apes, which explains why we look similar to monkeys."
>The purple horse nods, probably having realized something the moment you mentioned the word "ape".
"We've had cities and kingdoms, disputes and wars. I take it your kingdom has these things, too?"
>"Oh yes. This one time, I and my friends were involved in a war between a town called Appleloosa and a tribe of buffaloes."
"I assume you've had casualties, then."
>"Oh, no. No one died there. The townsponies threw pies at the buffaloes while they rampaged across town."
>Maybe you heard her wrong.
"Pies?"
>"Yeah. Apple Pies."
>What in the world? War with pies?
"Are you mocking me?"
>"No, why would I do that?"
>Now you're visibly enraged, even though you're just bones and don't have facial muscles.
"Wars should be fought with spears and arrows, warriors flinging their sharpened axes and wizards casting their deadly spells. In a war, thousands are supposed to die in battle. And you're telling me of a war that happened with pies, a war with no casualties whatsoever? This is outrageous! War isn't like that. War... War should never change."
>Arms shaking and rattling in anger, you prompt to continue your rant, but you notice the purple princess cowering with tears in her eyes, sobbing.
>"I-I'm sorry for offending you. *sob* It's just that I didn't know your race would have so many..."
>You've said too much and have scared Twilight something fierce.
"No. It is I who needs to be sorry, sorry for not understanding the changes that would have happened during my slumber. Terribly sorry."
>"Oh, *sniff*, I'm fine now," the princess says, followed by a repetition of inhaling and exhaling. You bet she does that every time to calm herself down.
>Now that you think about it, since you got up from the coffin, you've been feeling a slight shifting of mana around the room, as if...
"Enough of what's past or what's now. I think we should get out of here as soon a--"
>*GRRUUUUUMBLLEEE*
>You turn around to see where the sound came from and come face-to-face with a stone knight, eyes glowing red and black fog coming out of the gaps in the armor.
>So close you could almost... kiss...
>"Anon'ymous!"
>You are awoken from a daze by a tug from Twilight's magic as the giant swung its axe.
>If you were pulled away a second later, you would have been turned into bone meal. Yikes.
>Now you've returned to yourself, you recognize what almost destroyed your well-maintained, almost-perfect condition, calcium-filled bones.
>It's one of those stone knights you encountered during the ambush. You thought you destroyed them all back at the--
>*CLASH*
"Huh?"
>Somehow, the room started to tilt sideways. Is this another trap?
>"Anon!" Twilight shouts.
>You turn your head to her, but instead see another stone knight to your left, and he just sliced through you.
>As you fall to the floor, you see Twilight's horn glow and hear her chanting a spell, something that sounds really familiar.
>You reckon it's magic missile, judging by the speed of the projectile. It hits the sword knight, blasting its head clean off. It's still moving though, and as it swings its sword around trying to hit Twilight, you notice the axe guy creeping up behind her.
"Twilight, behind you!" you shout, catching the purple horse's attention, letting her cast a fire bolt through the axe-wielding knight's chest which stops him mid-swing as the bolt pulverizes him from the inside out.
>She casts two more missiles against the sword knight and destroys both its arms, forcing it to its knees and crumbling to dust.
>Coughing while picking herself up, the princess assumes an unusual position and begins to shake herself from head to hind leg, just like... like a dog, then unruffles her wing feathers with a couple of flaps before hurrying towards you as you lay on the floor.
>"Anon! Anon! Oh no..."
>Tears start welling in her eyes.
>"No, no, no, nononono, this can't be! This shouldn't have happened! Anon! Ano--"
"Twilight!"
>"Aaah!"
"Undead."
>"H-huh-- oh. OHHH. Sorry. Can you put yourself back together?"
"Yes, I can do that. Just let me..."
>You magick your bones back to your torso, only you don't have any fucking magick.
>You lost your powers, remember?
"Oh fuck you, ethereal brain."
>"What was that?"
"Nothing, just give me a moment here."
>You shoo Twilight away to wait at the other side of the room as you try to gather yourself.
>You resort to moving your arms and try to prop yourself up, and fail miserably.
>Fuck.
>...
>"Anytime now."
"Yeah, uh, about that... Twilight?"
>"Yeah?"
>You'd hate yourself for this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
"Could you magic me together?"
>Having to rely on another magic-user to maintain the most basic spell any lich would know.
>So humiliating.
>"Oh, sure. I know a spell for that."
>You make a mental note to get your powers back as soon as possible after this.
>Twilight's horn glows as she chants the spell's verse, and you're suddenly wrapped in a warm, flowing blanket of mana.
>You've never felt mana this pure since that time when you were wounded as a young boy and had to get healing from a church maiden.
>Oh~~ Her.
>She was the most beautiful person you've seen in all of your youth. The moment you laid your eyes on her, you knew, that she was the one.
>Which is why you made it so that she was the first skeleton in your collection.
>She really was beautiful inside and out.
>While you were indulging yourself in nostalgia, Twilgiht has already finished the spell, and you're already standing there, doing nothing., looking like the fucking retard you are.
>"...mous? Anooooon?"
>You were broken from your trance by a talking horse waving her hooves at you.
"Yes Twilight?"
>A sigh of relief.
>"You've been standing still for a whole five minutes now. I was getting worried I did the spell wrong."
>You make another mental note to stop zoning out so much, especially in important plot sequences.
"Oh, thank you. Very much. Where were we? Ah, I was supposed to suggest leaving since I felt a disturbance in the force after you've undone the seal to my coffin, yes."
>"Which were the statues."
"Yes. But since we're already past that, let's just go."
>The horse agrees, and the two of you proceed to head out of the cathedral.
>Midway through the empty halls of the cathedral, Twilight starts speaking, and now you’re getting a little annoyed by it.
>"Ooooh, I'm so excited to show to the Princess! She'll be ecstatic! And the scribes! This place will be the talk of the century! An ancient civilization! A forgotten race! I'm getting giddy just imagining what we'd learn!"
"U-huh."
>You try to filter out the horses words, thinking of what to do now that it seems that there's no war happening. Will you yourself start a war? Or will you just wander around, looking for skeletons to collect? Or do y--
>"Oh, by the way,"
"Yeah?"
>"Remember the spell I cast on you a few minutes ago?"
"U-huh."
>"It's not really polished well enough to perfection,"
"M'kay."
>"And it kind of requires you to stick with me until we get you back your powers."
"U-huh-- SAY WHAT."
>"I, uh, it's just for a while though, just until we find where your magick is sealed. It was sealed, right?"
>Fuck.
>Now you're stuck with a pastel-colored princess pony until you get your powers back. Great.
>At least you got out of that prison, so you have that going for you. It's going to be just fine.
>As you climbed up to the top of the belfry, you started feeling heavy, as if you've been tied to a boulder.
>You reckon it's a ward. The priests must have been so prepared to be able to think this far, trying to tie you to this place in case you break free from the coffin and defeat the guardians.
>But they didn't know an alicorn would come to your rescue, so you win.
>Except this ward is starting to weigh down on your gorgeous spine.
>Twilight notices the strain you're feeling and offers to carry you and just fly up, but you decline, wary of dragging her straight to the ground and killing you both.
>You finally reach the broken window.
>As you get closer, you immediately sense the afternoon sunlight beaming through and giving you a feeling of familiar warmth.
>If you had tear ducts, they would have exploded right about now.
>Twilight jumps off first and hovers with her wings for a few seconds before landing, and you follow suit.
>As you motion yourself to gain momentum to jump, you feel the weight suddenly break with an audible--
>*SNAP*
>You feel the ground beneath you crumble as the whole cathedral caves in, forming a humongous sinkhole above it.
>And you're in the middle of it.
>Normally, you would just hover and watch the thing collapse, but you don't have that power yet, so instead, you grab the nearest pillar and cry like the little helpless bitch you are.
>"Anon!" Twilight, seeing the ground collapse and finding you still inside the tower, runs to a gallop and flies to your direction, hoping to reach you in time.
>The sinkhole was faster though, and in just moments, the entire tower was engulfed along with the rest of the cathedral.
>You got out safe, though, since twi just needed to get in range to cast a teleportation spell on you, and you're now lying on the sand, beat-up and worn down to death.
>Except you already are.
>You look to your right and see a tired purple horse, panting hard and sweating buckets from the sudden adrenaline rush.
>"Anon, *heave*, you o... *heave*, okay? *cough*"
"Yeah... I guess."
>"I'm, *heave*, I'm beat."
>Twilight lies down beside you, panting a little bit slower now, with her back facing you.
>Oh my bones, her back.
>It's so... bulbuous. And firm.
>You slowly move to reach her rump when suddenly, you feel yourself lose control.
>Literally.
>Your limbs start falling off and separate from your torso, and you can't move.
>Your hand landed straight onto Twilight's backside, right on the tattoo-like markings on her rump.
>She lets out a gasp, and you prepare youself for the worst, but...
"Twilight?"
>"..."
"Twi?"
>You start panicking.
"TWILIGHT."
>No response.
"TWILIGHT!"
>"..."
>She's not moving.
"DON'T YOU FUCK WITH ME."
>"*gasp*"
"Fuckin' 'ell."
>Twilight lets out another gasp and returns to breathing normally.
>At least you know she's still alive.
>And was that a... snore?
"..."
>Yep. She's snoring.
>Welp, it’s already sundown anyways. Better let her get some rest before we head out to wherever she'd take you.
>As if you can go anywhere without her.
>You just hope they don't have coyotes here in the wilderness.
>Your hand is still on her butt though.
>...
>...
>...
"Twilight."
>It's been almost four hours since Twilight fell asleep, and it's gotten pretty dark
"Twi~~~~~light."
>And by pretty dark, you mean FUCKING SPOOKY DARK.
"Twili~~~ght.... Sparkle~~<3"
>You've been having this creeping feeling that someone or something is watching you.
"Princess!"
>You can’t know for sure though, since it’s freaking dark.
"Arise."
>It kept bugging you, so you tried waking Twilight up by calling her name again, and again, and again…
"Princess, arise."
>At the two thousand, four hundred fourty-third time, she finally wakes up.
"Twi."
>"Huh, wha...? What's goi-- Aaah! What the hay was that?!" That got her to stand up.
>Fuck, you forgot you had your hand on her butt this whole time.
>"And why is it dark?"
"It's a couple of hours past dinnertime. You lost consciousness."
>"You didn't do anything to me while I was asleep, did you?" she asks, casting magelight to illuminate a small area around you.
"No. In fact, since you lost consciousness, I've been like this for the whole duration of your beauty nap. You know, you fall asleep, your spell goes poof."
>"Oh, right." Twilight casts another spell, this time for you to get your act together.
>FInally you can stand AND see around you.
>Speaking of which...
"Something's been watching us for a while now."
>"Yeah. I can feel it too."
>The two of you move to stand behind each other, feeling the surroundings.
"You rested well enough?"
>"I can last us three more missiles and one last bolt. How about you?"
"I think I can flail my arms well enough."
>You hear steps goind around you. Each of them feel light, but there's many of them.
>"I'm going to cast a flare in three. Spot as many as you can and help me aim when that happens, okay?"
"I got you."
>You get yourself ready, raising your arms in a fighting position and hoping it's not skeletons.
>"One."
>Yes, even though you are one yourself, you're still afraid of skeletons. But just the bad ones, at least.
>"Two."
>Twilight's horn glows as she murmurs a low verse in preparation for the spell.
>You grab a sizeable rock near you and prepare to throw at the first thing you see.
>"Three!"
>Twilight releases the spell, flinging it up above the two of you and bursting into a ball of pure energy, illuminating the whole area, revealing what you think are...
"Fire lizards! Three to the left! Four to the right!"
>Almost instantaneously, she casts the three missiles all at once to the ones at the right, blasting off three of the lizards.
>You throw the rock you had in your hand and miraculously hit another one to the left in the head as twilight finishes it off with a fire bolt.
>"I'm all out!" she shouts.
>There's still three of them left.
>And one of them is charging straight at you.
>Due to your fast reflexes and thin, slender bones, to manage to dodge the lizard's tackle as its head drives straight to a big rock.
>Two more.
>You see Twilight bucking one on the head, but where's the other on--
>*BLAM*
>Oh there it is.
>*THUD*
>You're now on the ground, wrestling with a fire lizard that's confused you with his toothpick.
>As it towers over you, you notice its nostrils diffusing smoke.
>As the lizard starts to flick its tongue to make a spark, you manage to punch it in the jaw, causing it to miss and instead spit its fire bullets to the ground.
>The sand just a few feet beside your head turned into fucking DIAMONDS.
>You would have turned to ashes if that were to hit you in the face.
>You're still under the thing though, and it won't be long before it's your turn to get burned.
>As it attempts to light its throat again, you hear Twilight shout, charging in your direction.
>"RRAAAHH!"
>The lizard that was on top of you for a moment jerks to the side like a ragdoll as Twilight skewers its side with her horn, and casts a spell, making the lizard explode.
>Suddenly, blood and gore. All over both of you.
>Silence.
>Then Twilight realizes what she's done.
>"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
>Lizard innards hang on your rib cage, an eyeball sticks inside one of your eye sockets, and a tail finds its way into your pelvis and just hangs there like a limp dick.
"EW DEAD BODY EW EW EWWWWWWWW"
>You flail your arms around, rolling on the ground and screaming like a pterodactyl in the middle of orgasming.
>"--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
>This is why you hate living animals. They explode all over you when you kill them.
>The two of you remain screaming for a good five minutes and come to a stop, but not before sitting in a fetal position and crying for a couple of minutes.
>...
>After a while, you gather yourself and have Twilight clean up the both of you.
"Let's forget that ever happened."
>"Lets."
>And then the two of you wait for dawn, sitting against each other's back, exhausted.
>...
>...
>...
>"...--on, don't d... --s!"
>"... --s... --t you!"
>"Plea... --op..."
>"A... --ve y..."
>*CRACKLE*
>"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
>*BOOM*
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
>Woah, fuck!
>Was that a... vision, of some sort?
>You think i--
>Where are you?
>You find yourself on a bed in a corner of a room-- more like a shed, really. It's worn down and seems to be abandoned.
>You sit yourself up, but then you feel something stringy and sticky cover your skull.
"Fucking cobwebs." You let out a grunt, trying to remove the sticky strands that seem to persist as a spider lands on your forehead and crawls into your eye socket.
>You try to take it out, but can't reach that far into your head, so you throw your arms in frustration and just give up.
>"--on'ymous! What happened?" You hear a familiar voice ring from just outside as a sudden burst of light temporarily blinds you.
>When you remove your bony hands from your bony face, you see Twilight with a bandaged forelimb.
>"Is everything alright?"
>Where did she get that? You don't think you remember seeing her get injured from the lizards.
>You check her a little more to see if she has any other injuries.
>Other forelimb, clear. Neck, clear. Head, clear. Mane, clear. Back, clear.
>You lean a little bit sideways to check her side.
>Thighs, tasty. Rump, tasty.
>"Anon?"
>Oh, right. Zoning out.
"Yes, yes, I'm alright. I just had a bad dream or something. I don't remember."
>"Bad dream, huh. That's new. What was it about?"
>Huh. What WAS it about?
"Well... there was talking, then some screaming, then I heard a loud noise and then I woke up. It's all kind of foggy."
>"Uh-huh."
"Where are we anyways?"
>"Oh, I found this shed when I tried to look for the road I came from when I was heading to the tower. I kind of forgot where it was, so I figured we should rest here rather than outdoors."
"Huh."
>You stand up, looking around the shed and find a hand mirror on a desk not too far from you, and you take it.
>"Also, you were unconscious the whole time, an-- WHAT IS THAT."
>You forgot that there was a spider taking residence in your skull.
>Now that its limbs are poking out of your eye sockets, you can't not remember it.
>Instinctively, you stick a finger in your eye to try and get the spider out but it was too fast to get caught, and now it's come back inside your skull. You look at it through the mirror and find it sitting there all smug and cozy.
>You find it rather cute.
"Seems it's come to like me."
>The only response you get from the horse is a slight cringe, followed by a shiver and a groan.
>"Yeugh... J-Just... don't let it come near me. Ugh."
"Back to topic. How long was I out, and where are we headed?"
>"Oh," Twilight rights herself and sits on her rump, then does a little *ahem*.
>"You were unconscious for at least six hours. It was around three hours ago when I found this shed and an hour after that since the Celestia rose the sun."
"What's a Cele-- oh, yeah. Sun horse."
>The purple pony looks at you weird for that last remark, but then continues to do her speech.
>"Right now, we're headed to Manehattan, a couple of days south of here. When we get there, we'll be boarding a train heading straight to the capital, Canterlot."
>"Once we're there, I'll have you introduced to the Princesses and have a meeting with the council of scribes and scholars about the discovery of an ancient civilization and make arrangements on having the cathedral dug up for information and hopefully some clue on whether there might be other areas of similar interest or not."
>"Oh, and don't worry about sitting through all that. You're free to roam around the city while I talk with the council."
>"When we're done with all that, we'll have to find a lead on where to look for your sealed powers. Which means, we'll be doing some... research!"
>She giddily claps her hooves at the last word, looking like a kid in front of a taffy store.
>"Though... we can't get anywhere unless I recover my sense of direction and find that road."
"Have you tried getting to higher ground?"
>"We--" *BONK*
>Twilight brings a hoof to her face.
>"Wings. Darn it. You idiot." You barely hear what she says, but you get the idea.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up for it. I forget a lot of things too."
>Twilight lets out a sigh. "It's just that I'm still not used to this alicorn princess thing that I sometimes forget I even have wings."
"Oh, that's absolutely normal. It was quite the same for me when I first got turned. One time I woke up, went to a tavern and ordered two full meals fro breakfast. The moment I remembered I was just skull and bones was when I'd already "ate" the food and it just fell to the floor. Perfectly normal."
>You hear Twilight giggle from your joke. Morale recovered. Good.
"Let's head on out and have you fly up to find the road so we can get going, shall we?"
>Twilight nods, opens the door and gets on the fl-- no, she just goes out the door and does a hop-skip-and-jump before taking flight, and you follow on outside.
>It's surprisingly green in here, lots of tress and shrubbery.
>How far did she carry you anyway?
>When you finally spot Twilight up in the sky, you cup your skelly hands and shout,
"Find anything?"
>She doesn't respond, just hovering up there with a hoof against her forehead as if looking for something. Well, technically, she is.
>Maybe she didn't hear you.
"Find anyth--"
>"There!" she points to a direction to your right, then slowly hovers back down to where you stand. "It's a little ways South-Southeast of where we are right now. If we reach the road within three hours, we might be able to come across a caravan heading to Manehattan."
>When she lands, her bandaged foreleg buckles and you see her wince as she almost falls to the ground, but you catch her in time.
"Are you alright, Twilight?"
>"Yes, I'm... I'm fine."
"Where did you get that wound, anyway?"
>"It's, it's nothing," she says as she covers it with her hoof.
"Huh."
>Seems she doesn't want to talk about it yet. You decide you'll let it be, for now.
>"We should get going if we want to catch up to the caravans. It'll be harder for us to get to Manehattan all in one piece if it's just the two of us, and lately there's been talk of caravans being attacked by packs of fire lizards that holed up near the Crystal Mountains, even in broad daylight. Probably far greater in size and numbers than what we've first encountered earlier."
"Better go for safety then."
>"Exactly," She nods. "Let's go."
>She leaves your grasp and stands herself up, flapping her wings before heading along the path back to the road, with you following close behind.
>You should really stop looking at her behind just because she can't tell where you're looking. It's ungentle-skeleton-ly.
"Nope. I have my needs."
>"What was that?" Twilight stops and looks at you weird for a moment.
"Nothing," you say, motioning her to carry on.
 
>...
>The trek was pretty much short and uneventful.
>You kind of hoped for something to happen, but the it seems that the fates have already decided you'd have no action for a while.
>And here you are, standing on what seems to be... a road.
>You turn to the purple pony next to you.
"Well here we are, an hour earlier than expected. What now?"
>"We wait," she replies. "...and hope I got the schedules right."
>Because otherwise, we're dead meat. Not you though. You don't have meat.
>You let out a tiny chuckle and rattle a little bit, then Twilight suddenly looks at you and gasps.
"Oh no, I'm not laughing at you or anything! I just thought of not having any mea--"
>"Look!"
>Twilight points behind you, and as you turn, you see a horse powered carriage, two, three... six of them, all loaded with barrels and crates except the one in front, which carries who presumably is the leader of the caravan, along with a couple of other ponies.
>Twilight waves to them, and the ponies wave back.
>They come to a stop right in fron of the two of you, then the ponies on the carriage all climb down to meet the two of--
>"Princess!" a gray-colored stallion wearing a blue coat comes to Twilight and does a deep bow.
>Well, to meet Twilight.
>"Hello, Arthur. And please, no need for formalities."
>Modest.
>"I take it your adventure was a success?" the stallion asks, all the while eyeing you from head to toe.
>"Oh, more than a success. I've discovered an ancient civilization! We'll talk about it on the way."
>"Ah, yes indeed. Yes, indeed. Oh, and pardon me, my good man," the stallion now turns to you. "I am Arthur Carrybell, owner of the Carrybell Caravan, provider of metals and produce for three major cities in Equestria. Just Arthur is fine. Oh, and do forgive me for the rudeness of me, not addressing you earlier, sir, ah..."
 
"Anon'ymous. Anon will do." You extend your hand to him, and he shakes it with a firm grip.
>The stallion gestures to the two ponies standing behind him.
>"This is my wife, Sheryl, and our daughter Odete."
>"A pleasure to meet you, sir Anon," says the mare in an olive green dress, light brown fur, green eyes, and wavy chocolate mane.
>You'd say Arthur is a lucky stallion.
"Ma'am," you respond, tipping your nonexistent fedora.
>You look at  the filly and notice her left eye, colorless in contrast to her other eye that has a bright rose color.
>She's hiding behind her mother's dress, probably scared of your skeletal figure. You get that a lot.
"Hi," you say to the filly, resisting the urge to instead whisper a "boo".
>The filly nods and looks to the ground. That's good enough for you. At least she's not trembling in fear or screaming loudly. She's just genuinely shy.
"Hey, uh... Wha--"
>You prompt to ask about her eye, but Arthur cuts you off.
>"Don't worry, she just got it from me, see?" he says, pointing to his own left eye. "It's something genetic. We can see clearly with it, too. Just better than most other ponies, especially at night."
>Now that you look at it, his eyes are like hers, one is rose while the other is pale white. And better vision at night? That's something.
>"Anyway, we should get back to moving. The boys are getting a wee bit antsy and would really want to get home, what with all the rumors of fire-breathing lizards making a wreck of the smaller caravans that travel through the Crystal Mountains.
>They're right though. Those lizards mean business, and you'd rather have them away from you than sitting on top of you, tearing your limbs apart to use as backscratchers.
>Arthur then climbs up the carriage, along with Sheryl and Odete, and you and Twilight follow. Soon, the carriers start pulling and you're riding off to Manehattan.
 
>Now that you don't have to worry about walking, you decide it's time to ask something that's been bothering you for quite some time now, other than the spider that's still in your head.
"Twilight," you call, getting her attention.
>"Something you need?" she asks.
"Pray tell, what ARE those marks on your backside? And why does it seem that almost every single pony I have seen so far have their own unique marks?"
>She immediately brightens up and claps her hooves together, smiling like a child. Again.
>"Well, you see, these ar--"
>"Those are cutiemarks!" shouts the filly sitting beside Twilight, pointing to her rump. "I have one right here!" It appears to be something related to... cannons?
>"Yes," says Twilight. "These cutiemarks represent a pony's purpose in life. You're not born with it, though. You earn it when you discover a certain talent that was meant to be for you and you only. It's basically one's identity. And it's permanent. Well, most of the time."
>"Speaking of cutiemarks, just recently, I and some of my friends went on a quest to spread friendship thoughout the nation, and we came across this town they call Our Town, and the ponies there had their cutiemarks removed. Their leader, Starlight Glimmer, told us it was to make everyone equal and stuff, but she's a hypocrite..."
>Twilight continues on and on, and you listen to her stories.
>So far, you know she is an Element of Harmony, something that seems to be a title for the strongest warriors of the land, powerful enough to defeat dragons, wyrms, a swarm of "parasprites" (Beelzebub, they sound terrifying) and even able to tame a god of chaos.
>She is not alone though, as she fights alongside five others and has a baby dragon for an assistant.
>Also, she's one of the strongest, most skilled magic user known to Equestria, almost as powerful as this one unicorn they call "Starswirl the Bearded", and has invented a few spells of her own for the general use of unicorns all around.
>She's a little bit of a klutz, though, and panics a little bit, but can handle herself well enough to leave you impressed. You'd love to see her perform more complex spells sometime in the future.
>"And then she said, 'Oatmeal, are you cra--'"
*BOOM*
"WHOA WHAT."
>You stick your head out the carriage's window and see lizards running behind another carriage out back. There's at least nine of them, you think.
>You wonder where the explosion came from, since the carriages seems to be fin--
*BOOM*
"Oh, that's what it was."
>One of the carriages carry two large cannons manned by two stallions, who've been shooting at the lizards.
>"Don't worry, the boys'll take care of them," shouts Arthur, from the driver's seat out front.
"They sure can," you say, witnessing the bloody mess the cannoneers have been making of the lizards.
>One by one, fire lizards burst as they get hit with accurate precision, just at the moment they were preparing to spit flaming gas at the carriages.
>It looks so beautiful from afar, but at the back of your mind, you try to forget the experience of actually being there and being covered in lizard gizzards.
>As the last one has been dealt with, Arthur calls from the driver's seat.
>"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Crystal Mountains."
>You look to the front and see humongous, snow-tipped mountains towering above you, and you'll be travelling through these giants.
>As your carriage enters deeper into the valley, it starts getting dimmer as the sunlight gets blocked by the mountains, and the caravan slows its pace.
>"Feast your eyes on the magnificent beauty of nature in it earthen form."
>"Just don't make too much noise. Attracts the lizards. You don't want to be here when they attack."
>True. If you are to be attacked by fire lizards right now, it would prove to be a really bad situation, as there is little space for maneuver. You'll be toast before you even get to finish counting to milkshake.
>Hopefully it won't happen.
>A couple of hours pass, and thankfully, no lizards are to be seen.
>"We're almost halfway across," says Arthur. "Just a few more hours, and we're home free."
>As it should be, you think to yourself. You're already getting tired of having to deal with lizards and all that other shit.
>You just want to get to Canterlot and let Twilight finish her business so you could get on with getting your powers back.
>Speaking of which...
>You look at Twilight and see her leaning to the side of her seat, looking out the window. She looks a little pale.
>"Twilight, dear, are you alright?"
>It seems Sheryl noticed it too.
>Twilight turns to Sheryl with a weak smile.
>"I'm alright, I'm alright," she says, looking back through the window. "Just feeling a little bit woozy from the ride is all."
>"That's just not good," Arthur chimes in. "Let's have a break."
>"Oh, Arthur, please, not on my account," Twilight protests.
>"I insist, princess. The boys are getting tired anyway, and it's already getting dark."
>Twilight doesn't say another word in defeat.
>"Dear?" Arthur looks to his wife, and she nods back.
>"Odete, would you kindly be a dear and tell the boys behind us to stop?"
>"Yes, mother."
>The little filly jumps down from her seat and reaches under the seat, producing a bell, then climbs back up and pokes her head out the window, and rings the bell toward the carriages.
>One by one, the other carriages's drivers each ring a bell to the one behind it, and in a few moments, the caravan circles around and slows to a stop.
>As soon as your carriage stops, Twilight opens the door and plops down, then breathes heavily before walking to Arthur.
>"Thank you," she says.
>"My pleasure to serve," he replies, jumping down from his seat to the ground.
>You, along with Odete jump down with Sheryl following behind.
>The carriers, after setting down the wagons, come together at the center of the circle and make a fire spit surrounded by wooden seats.
>"Now, who's up for some grub?" Arthur says, instructing his boys to get the fire going.
>You look up to see the sky glowing orange as the sun sets from where you can't see. It's starting to get darker.
>Then you feel something tug on your arm.
>You look down to see Sheryl by your side.
>"Come here and sit down with us, Anon," she says.
>You look for Twilight and find her already sitting beside Odete on one of the benches.
>Sheryl walks toward the camping circle they've got going on, and you follow, taking a seat beside Arthur.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz7wtTO7roQ
 
>As you sit there and watch Sheryl putting in various ingredients into a pot they've put into the fire, Arthur nudges you.
>"My wife's a great cook. Got invited to serve for the Grand Galloping Gala once..."
>You vaguely remember Twilight telling you something related to that gala.
>"...You should try her cooki-- oh. Right. I forgot. No offense."
"None taken," you say.
>You vaguely remember Twilight telling you something related to that gala.
>"Would you rather have anything else, anything at all?" he asks.
"Just a bucket of milk, thank you."
>"Why a bucke--... *ahem*, alright then," he says, nodding at one of the stallions, who quickly stands up and goes to one of the wagons, later coming back with a bucket of milk and handing it to you.
>You take it and after giving thanks to Arthur and murmuring a short verse, pour the bucket's contents all over you, a few pints at a time.
>You immediately feel the milk's nutrients flow into you as it makes contact with your skelly body, making you feel stronger.
>As your body absorbs the milk, you see yourself emit a faint glow, telling you that you've completely healed and are back in optimal condition.
>You savor the moment, as you've never felt this alive and so full of energy.
>By the time you've finished with the bucket of milk, you see that they're also done with their meal.
>You hear Arthur whisper something to his wife who sat beside him.
>At the corner of your eye, you see him kiss her cheek, and she kisses him back. How sweet.
>Odete, sitting between you and Twilight, seems to think otherwise, as you see her cringe a little bit and let out a silent "yeugh."
>Twilight seems to be feeling a lot better. She appears to be back to normal now, and she's been talking a lot more with the young filly, telling her about stuff like how she knows of an alchemist zebra who lives in a dark forest near her town.
>You don't notice Sheryl switching seats with Arthur, and as she sits back down, she taps you on the shoulder.
>"You like her, don't you?"
>You're caught off guard by the sudden remark.
"Wha-- why do you say that?" you ask.
>"Oh, I just know. I see you always looking at her, checking on her. You obviously care a lot for her."
"How can you tell from this expressionless look of mine?"
>"Call it a woman's hunch. I know you like her."
>You look back to Twilight, thinking about what Sheryl says.
>Do you really like her?
>Well, you know you care for her, for the obvious reason that if she goes in harm's way, so do you and your chances at getting back to your original state.
>But do you genuinely feel an attraction towards her?
"... Tartarus, no." you curse under you breath.
>After eating supper, everyone, along with Twilight, went to sleep in the tents the workers have set up earlier.
>You, however, stayed outside to have some time alone to ruminate about what's happened up until now.
>You wondered to yourself how things would go on.
>Would you ever be able to recover your lost powers?
>Or would you have to rely on Twilight's magic far longer than you've anticipated?
>To your frustration, you really don't know, and you dismiss it for later and head back into one of the tents, telling yourself that that's enough heavy thinking for now.
>.........
>......
>...