"Please, make yourselves at home." The figure stood up from his throne. Twilight had no idea what this creature was. It stood on two legs like a minotaur, but it was nowhere near as muscular. In fact, she doubted that it even had muscles. It's face was completely flat, and it had no horns, unless that thing on its head was it's horns. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Marloc Fyreshard."

"Well, It's very nice to meet you, Mister Mar-" Twilight was cut off by a loud crunching sound underneath her feet. She looked down and what she saw made her go pale. She had just crushed somepony's skull.

"Please excuse the mess, it's been ages since I last tidied up around here." He howled with laughter, which turned into a wheeze, which turned into a hacking cough. "Here, let me help." He picked up his staff and raised it into the air as it began to glow green. The bones covering the floor began to glow green aswell as they shot up into the air and flew into the sides of the room into neat piles. Well, as neat as a pile of bones can get. Instead of bones covering the floor, the floor was littered with ancient weapons and armor which made Twilight feel uneasy. The equipment on the floor began to glow green aswell as they shot into the air and floated into neat piles next to the neat piles of bones.

Marloc slammed his staff onto the floor and sat back down.

"Is this where you live?" Asked Rarity, slight fear in her voice as she examined the huge cobwebs, the dirt covering the floor, and the dust. Oh how she hated the dust. "My goodness, this place is.." She tried to find a word that wouldn't offend the host. "..Uh.. messy." She said with a bad pokerface.

"Like I said, it's been centuries since I last cleaned this place." Said Marloc.

"Centuries? How old are you?" Asked Twilight, absolutely intrigued by this strange person.

"I have been on this world for over a thousand years." He said.

"A thousand years?" The six ponies said in unison.

"But, that would mean-" Twilight was cut off.

"That I'm very old." He laughed at his own joke. The mares laughed nervously with him.

"Anyway, now to why we're here-" Twilight was cut off once again by Rainbow Dash flying past her.

"Where's that Minotaur's son!?" She put her face up to Marloc's. Only then did she realize his actual appearence. He had no face. It was a skull identical to the one on the door and the one on the flags. Where he would normally have eyes, had had small green flames which acted as pupils. He had the same upside-down pentagram on his forehead, as did he have the runes. But these were covering his whole body. Rainbow Dash began babbling as she slowly floated back to the other girls, shivering as though she had just gotten out of a freezer.

"The boy? I put him to good use." As if on cue, Copper Tail walked out of one of the rooms, wearing an apron and holding a broom.

"All done, your magesty!" The young minotaur said, crossing his arms over his chest in a salute.

"Good boy. Here." He snapped his boney fingers and a cookie appeared in Copper Tail's hands.

"He's very loyal." Marloc said, chuckling. "But I highly doubt that him alone will be able to clean this place up."

"We could help ya." Applejack volunteered. The others hesitated, but then nodded in agreement.

"Oh, you don't have to."

"We insist." Said Rarity, flipping her hair back.

"Well, if you insist." He snapped his fingers and the six mares were suddenly wearing aprons and holding brooms in their teeth. "In the meantime, I need to catch up on my reading." He snapped his fingers again and a pair of spectacles appeared on his eyes. He picked up the thick book next to him and opened it up.

Twilight floated the broom out of her mouth with her horn. "How did you do that anyway? You just snap your fingers and things appear."

"Magic." Marloc snorted twice after he said that.

"No, I know that, but I had no idea someone could be that advanced in magic."

"When you're this good at magic you can practically do whatever the hell you please." He adjusted his glasses with his finger and continued reading.

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"Very nice work raising the moon, Lulu." Celestia complimented her sister.

"Thanks, Tia." Luna loved spending time with her sister. She was always busy having meetings with nation leaders or doing paperwork. She rarely got to have moments like this where they would just hang out. "Hey Tia.."

"Yes?"

"Have you been feeling well this week? You've been acting strange." She asked worryingly.

"I'm fine, sister. It's just that I've been having nightmares for the past few days."

"Nightmares? What were they about?"

"Nothing." Celestia lied

"Tia."

The white alicorn sighed. "I'm having visions of some ancient evil. One I haven't seen in over a thousand years."

"You don't think it's anything bad, do you?" Asked Luna

"N-no. Of course not." But Celestia knew something was amiss. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a very faint green light coming from the Everfree Forest. It's nothing..

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Marloc had fallen asleep during his reading. He was awoken by Twilight sparkle.

"We're done!" She smiled widely.

Marloc looked around his throne room. Not a single cobweb or pile of dirt was to be found. "Wow. You girls sure went to work."

"We kept the vines and moss, if that's okay with you." The purple unicorn said.

"That's fine. I think they spiff the place up." He got up from his throne, stretching, as he folded his glasses and placed them on the arm of his chair. He picked up his staff and used it as a walking stick. "You even dusted off the standards." He said, baffled, as he looked at the green flags hanging from the walls as he walked towards the group. "I hope my appearence doesn't frighten you."

"It's okay. I wasn't really scared." Boasted Rainbow Dash, who was nudged by Applejack. "Heh. Okay, maybe a little"

"It's a common reaction. Most ponies aren't used to seeing a lich." Said Marloc. Fear pierced through Twilight as the very mention of the word. Princess Celestia had always told her that Liches are evil, vile creatures that want nothing but death and blood. But this one was much different.

"You're a Lich?" Asked Twilight.

"Yes. Is there something wrong?"

"Well, no. It's just that my teacher always told me that liches were evil. But you're far from evil."

"And who is your teacher?" Marloc asked, interested.

"My teacher is Princess Celestia. Have you heard of her?"

"What? Princess Celestia?" The flames in Marloc's eyes grew larger.

"Yeah! The Princess Celestia! Her and Princess Luna are the most powerful beings in all of equestria" Pinkie Pie said, giddily.

Green fire flowed from Marloc's back, the flames in his eyes even larger than before. He grunted at the very mention of the word as he curled his hand into a fist and looked in the other direction, breathing heavily and angrily.

"Have you heard of her?" The pink pony asked.

The flames dimmed. "Yes. I have heard of her." The many voices that he had were much more noticeable. "I used to be her student."

The six ponies gasped in unison. "What?"

"Yes." Marloc confirmed. "Has she told you about me? I doubt it. I was the first Human to set foot on this world."

"Human? So that's what you are." Twilight was intrigued, and completely oblivious to his anger.

"Yes." Marloc walked back over to his throne, and sat down. "Girls, I think it would be best if you left."

"What? Why?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"NOW." Hundreds of voices shouted at them furiously in unison. "AND TAKE YOUR MINOTAUR WITH YOU." They all scurried out the door, Copper Tail included.

AWW, I LIKED THOSE GIRLS.

Next Chapter: Chapter IV Estimated time remaining: 11 Minutes