Quick heads up, there's some stronger profanity at the end of the chapter than what this story normally has.

Lucien

When they emerged from the Labyrinth, the sun hung high in the sky. The significant change in time was alarming, to say the least. Lucien had no idea how the time on Earth synced up with Equestria's, or if it did at all. For all he knew, one minute on Earth could be a year in Equestria.

He looked over at Twilight. Her head was held high, ears perked up. A small smile brightened up her face, no doubt from the pride she must have been feeling in herself for not having another problem while underground. Lucien was sure that she understood that they were on a clock of sorts, but he wasn't sure how aware she was of the way time distorts across worlds. Or was it realities? Planes? He still wasn't sure exactly where Equis was in relation to Earth and Earth's dimension. He would have to analyze his spellcircle when they got back to his house.

His house in New York. Across the country.

Damn it all, it'll take forever to get back. There's not even a guarantee that Equestria would be there when they went back.

His dark train of thought must have shown on his face, because Twilight suddenly stopped walking. After a few more steps taken in silence, Lucien turned around to look at her.

Her eyes were locked on something ahead of them, now behind his back. "What is it?" he asked her, after waiting another moment for her to speak.

Shaking her head, she broke from her stupor. She trotted forward a few steps, then fell back to a steady walk. Lucien turned as she passed her, resuming their walk towards the near city. "I just realized that you're still the only human I've ever seen."

Lucien chuckled. "What a coincidence." It seems she forgot what he had said earlier about cities in New Mexico.

She tilted her head and looked at him, confused. "Why?"

"Because that's gonna change in a few minutes." He laughed at her surprised expression. "I wonder how they're gonna react to you," he said, placing a hand on her head and mussing up her mane a bit.

"Hey, stop that!" She sat down and used her forelegs to smooth down any misplaced hairs. "And what do you mean 'how they're gonna react' to me? Will there be a problem?" she asked, concerned.

"Well, no. Unless you attack someone. Probably. I'm betting that most of the people there have seen weirder things, to be honest. There's a lot of summoners out there that have no qualms with bringing a golem into a town while grocery shopping."

"So we won't stick out?" she asked, concern still in her eyes.

Lucien paused for a moment, thinking. "Maybe try to keep your magic use on the down-low." He held up a hand and watched as it burst into his customary magical green flames. "People are probably used to seeing this a lot, but I don't know how they'd react if they saw a unicorn's horn do the same thing. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if most of 'em just thought that you're my summon, to be honest."

"Okay." She shot him a cockeyed glance and a smirk. "Don't let that go to your head, alright?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Lucien

Twilight and Lucien sat at a dainty table in front of a busy café. Sunlight beat down on the city streets around them, bringing into sharp relief the myriad of wondrous creatures and people that were roaming around the nearby marketplace. The two looked on as a hulking, seemingly-steam-powered golem lumbered by their table, a little girl riding on its shoulder and giggling at what must've been her brother as he goofily walked ahead of them.

Twilight didn't pay their waitress much mind as she set the table, placing two glasses of water between them. She hesitated for a moment when setting down Twilight's, but finished through with the motion when she saw the intelligence and curiosity shining in Twilight's large eyes. After giving them menus, she walked back off into the café.

"Are you having fun?" Lucien asked as they began looking over their options for food.

"This is so amazing!" Twilight exclaimed, giggling. "You told me that there was a lot to see on Earth, but I didn't expect all this! I can't believe how incredible some of these people are!" she gestured wildly with her hooves, pointing at a group of wildly-dressed teenagers that looked more suited to be going to Comic-Con than into battle.

"Yeah, uh, don't read too much into those kinds of kids. The ones over there," Lucien said, pointing to the same group she did.

"Why? They look so... so cool!" She practically had stars in her eyes.

Lucien just sighed and rested his chin on his hand. His eyes drifted lazily back to his menu and scanned it. "Cool doesn't win fights," he said finally.

"I know that by now," laughed Twilight. "I've been around with you long enough to know the importance of function over form, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a well-crafted costume!"

Lucien snorted, never taking his eyes off the menu. "Glad to hear it. Speaking of 'function over form', I was thinking we should probably get you a Hammerspace™ Bag."

"A what? TM?" Twilight asked, her brow rising.

"Like my backpack. Extra-dimensional pocket. They're pretty common to come by here, and I figured you could use it to store any souvenirs while we're busy running for our lives on Earth," Lucien explained, finally closing his menu and setting it down on the table.

"If we could get some saddlebags like that, it would be great," Twilight agreed. "And at least we're having a good time running for our lives on Earth!" Twilight chuckled as she saw Lucien crack a smile.

"Cheers to that." Lucien held up his glass, Twilight meeting it with hers a moment later.

The waitress returned not long after, taking their orders and getting back to work. The two sat in silence, appreciating the bustling community that passed by the café. Twilight could hardly keep her eyes off the passerby, until she grew pensive, and turned back to Lucien.

"You know, I'm beginning to see why you enjoy living like this so much," she said, finally.

Lucien looked back at her, an inquisitive eyebrow raised. "Really? I figured sedentary book life was more your speed."

Twilight gave a genuine smile. "It is, but you can't discount all the adventures the girls and I went on. Some of those times really got my heart beating like nothing else can. I'm not sure if I could live like that daily, like you say you used to, but a little adventure is needed, every once in a while."

Lucien nodded. "Well said, Twilight. And it's not like I go on life-or-death adventures every day here. It's just more than the average person. And yeah, I like it a lot. It's not what I'd call a 'healthy' lifestyle, but it's what I enjoy. Having a good time myself and protecting all of this," he said, gesturing to the bustling market before them. Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but closed it as she noticed that he wasn't done speaking.

"Originally, everything I did was to keep humanity from falling apart, since there was a real shortage of capable fighters among us. But it didn't take long at all for things to get so out of hand, and look at the world now." He gestured to a group of teenaged mages comparing summoning notes and attempting conjurations. "When I finished my education in magic, none of this was even conceivable. The idea that magicians could live out in the open like this was laughable. But this... it's beautiful. Even if the circumstance that caused all this is so terrible, I can't help but be grateful because of the community it's created."

"So is that what really drives you, Lucien?" Twilight asked, breaking her silence.

"Yeah," Lucien replied, stars in his eyes. "Magic for magic's sake is pretty great, but it wouldn't mean much if humanity wasn't around to share it. It's been a long fight against all the monsters and nightmares, but I really would've loved to see what's on the other side of it all."

A strange twinge of regret tweaked Lucien's final words, leaving Twilight unsure of how to proceed. It was almost as if he didn't believe humanity would get past their dark age, or that he would somehow not be around afterward. And that switch to past tense...

She didn't have enough time to brood on it though, as the waitress returned shortly with their food in hand. As she set down the plates, Twilight looked hard at Lucien's vacant stare into the crowds, trying to discern his meaning. She couldn't quite drown out the voice in her head telling her that he was hiding something, but it could stay quiet at least until they reached their destination.

Filing away her thoughts for later, she settled to enjoy her meal with her companion.

Lucien

After a satisfying brunch and a quick stop to get Twilight some Hammerspace™ saddlebags in the market, the two made their way to the outskirts of the little city. The walk was made mostly in silence, Lucien figuring Twilight could use some time to sort through the giant helping of humanity she just received. After all, that was her first time seeing human society. All that they spoke about on the way over was their destination, a small, disused cemetery built centuries ago. The plan was to head to the back and locate the next Labyrinth entrance. Of course, though, things rarely go to plan.

As they entered the cemetery, Lucien noticed the sudden chill in the air, and the very glaring and obvious appearance of "spooky" fog. He looked down to Twilight and noticed she was walking with her ears back, a nervous but calm expression on her face. If only she knew what was about to happen.

Not moments later, the two noticed a black-robed figure in the distance, its body mostly obscured by the fog. Lucien sighed dramatically.

"Tch. Oh my god, man, can you just let it go?" Lucien called out to the shaded figure.

"Wait, Lucien, what's going on?" Twilight asked, tugging fearfully at his side.

"Death... approaches..." a disembodied voice whispered in Lucien's ear. And Twilight's, if the way she flicked her's was any indication.

"Would you just cut the fucking theatrics you edgy memelord and get a move on already? Christ's sake, we go through this every damn time!" Lucien drew his sword and started walking forward at a steady pace, Twilight following furtively.

"Slow... down... jerk..." the disembodied voice hissed, though this time it sounded a bit more urgent.

"I'm not gonna 'slow down' you idiot; I've got things to do. Now get out of my way or I'll kill you! Again!" They were getting close to the figure.

"Lucien! Who is that?" Twilight tugged at Lucien's arm and her horn sparked to life in a flash of lavender fire.

"Easy, Twilight, easy. Nobody dangerous." He threw that last word out like an insult.

"Take... that... back..." the disembodied voice whimpered more than hissed.

"Shut up! And get lost!" Lucien yelled while simultaneously slashing his sword. Mid-swipe, he flash-teleported the rest of the distance to the figure, and landed a direct hit. Only, he would have, had his sword not sailed straight through the shadows. "Bro! Just let me kill you already so we can all move on with our lives! Oh, wait, sorry, you don't even have one!" He spun around to face Twilight, looking for his adversary.

"Boo," whispered the voice, directly into his ear.

He spun around again, and caught a bony hand to the face with a resounding slap!

Lucien's head fell to the side with the momentum, and held the position for a moment, letting the feeling of death on his face sink in. Had he really had sunk so low that his best attack was a literal slap to the face?

"Oh, you motherfucker!" Lucien jerked his head upright again and drove his sword through the figure's chest, his other hand keeping a firm grip on his bony shoulder. He could hear bones crack and break as the blade pierced through his skeletal body. A few feet away, Twilight gasped.

"Hey man, fuck you," the figure gasped in a nasally voice.

"Fuck you too," Lucien offered back, a smile now on his face.

"Bring it in, bro! Haha!" His skeletal arms reached around Lucien's back and hugged him close.

"C'mere!" Lucien shoved his sword the rest of the way through his body, the figure gasping as a few more ribs broke, and grabbed the blade with his other hand, holding it to the side as he hugged the skeleton with his free arm. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Around," he said evasively, "mostly just fuckin' with the locals here and there, scoring huge on Halloween, you know how it is." He pulled back so Lucien could see a little bit of his endlessly-grinning skinless face.

"And did you save any candy for me, you creepy bastard?" Lucien's smile matched his own, though maybe not so macabre.

"You know it, dude!" He laughed again once, really hard, then coughed a few times. "So, introduce me to your friend here, would ya?" He pulled away, gesturing to Twilight, who was sitting where Lucien had left her, though now she was slack-jawed and she had forgotten to turn her horn off.

"Yeah, this is Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn Princess of Friendship in Equestria. Come say hi."

The two walked over and stood around her, Lucien's friend giving her some space. Noticing the flames spewing constantly out of Twilight's horn, Lucien reached his hand inside his friend's coat, then withdrew it, the appendage now covered in ice. With a bit of a smug smile, he grabbed Twilight's horn to put it out. Worth it, he decided, even if he had to stifle his laughter as Twilight squeaked, her face turning the approximate shade of a tomato.

His friend raised an eyebrow at her reaction. Figuratively, that is.

"Twilight, this is Ty. Ty, Twilight."

"Heya," he said cheerfully, waving a single bony hand. His little moment of good-will was, of course, ruined as he doubled over in a coughing fit. Lucien hit him on the back a few times, trying to loosen the load.

"Come on, come on, you're alright, spit it up." After a few more hits, he coughed once more, a live mouse flying out of his jaws.

Twilight reared back as the creature landed on the ground before her hooves and skittered away. After she had settled down again, she gave the two a stern glare. "Why didn't you warn me about any of this?" she demanded, gesturing emphatically with her front hooves.

"It never came up," Lucien shrugged, grinning at Ty.

"And is Ty really his name? Because I'm pretty sure most Liches don't have normal names like that." She harrumphed and sat back, crossing her front legs and pouting.

"Well, my real name is Rty'ugo, the Warden of Winter, but Ty just rolls off the tongue so much better, don't you think?" Ty asked, fluttering his eyelashes at her. Figuratively.

"I... guess so?" Twilight ask-answered. Apparently she didn't get the meaning behind Ty's eyelash-flutter. "Care to explain how you two met?" she asked, looking at Lucien now.

"When was it, Spring Break, '23?" Lucien asked Ty, grinning impishly at his skeletal chum.

"Cabo San Lucas," he sighed in remembrance, putting one bony arm over Lucien's shoulder and looking off into the distance with his empty eye sockets. "A full week of nothing but babes, beer, and ancient evil curses. Those were the days, eh? Now it's just all 'go blow up a monster nest over here', 'go raise an undead army over there'. I tell ya, the world isn't nearly as forgiving as it used to be."

Lucien laughed and shook his head, putting his arm over Ty's shoulder. "Those really were the days..." He sighed once and looked back at Twilight. She was glaring even harder now. Yikes. "Anyway, we met before I had started really getting concerned about the lives of everyone on the planet. I was on vacation from my studies under my mentor, and I decided 'how better to spend a vacation in Cabo than by practicing Necromancy?' It seemed like a benign enough hobby, anyway."

"Raising the dead. A hobby. Benign." Twilight was deadpanning to an almost painful degree. Lucien made sure to watch his next words.

"Well, as close to a hobby as it gets before you grab the attention to an up-and-coming lich right around the corner." Lucien went from nervously watching Twilight's expression to giving Ty a noogie as he spoke.

"And there I was, Twilight, wondering what foolish mortal had decided to start attempting to summon the eldritch gods when I got caught up in his summoning circle! I mean, can you believe it?"

Twilight's narrowed eyes seemed to be the only answer he would get.

Ty pulled nervously at the collar of his black, deathly robes. "Luc, I don't think she likes me," he whispered.

"Nonsense!" Lucien suddenly bellowed, causing Twilight to jolt in surprise. "She's probably just nervous because you're a deadly spirit of ice and death! But we both know that underneath that cold, bony exterior," he jabbed him in the broken, now-mending, ribs a few times with playful punches, "you really have a heart of gold, am I right?"

"Ah, Luc, you flatter me." He turned to Twilight. "In truth, he had to kill me a few times because I couldn't see past my own anger from being captured to see what a super chill guy he was. It only took a day or two for us to mellow out a bit and become best buds! High five!" He held up a bony claw and Lucien slammed it with his own hand, causing Ty's to fly off into the distance.

It only took a second of the two watching it sail off into the fog to burst out into laughter. Ty actually doubled over into another coughing fit in the middle of it, but there was no stopping Lucien. Or so he figured, until--

"Ah-hmm." Twilight didn't seem to find it as amusing as they did.

It took a second for Lucien to compose himself, but he eventually got his laughter reigned in. "Oh man, I'm sorry Twi, but this guy just kills me whenever he shows up. Eh? Kills me?" Lucien held his arms out, waiting for the gracious round of hoof-stomping, but it never came.

Ty was still in the middle of a coughing fit, but he managed to flash Lucien a thumbs-up in the middle of it. "Good one!" he squeezed out between coughs.

"Anyway, Ty, I'm glad you're here. We're on our way back to my place in New York, care to come with?" Lucien asked, patting his back a few times to help clear up the fit.

Lucien caught Twilight shaking her head NO and frowning out the corner of his eye, but it morphed into an extremely-fake smile as soon as Ty recovered.

"Look man, I'm glad you urp that you eugh found a girl after all that biz with Charlotte, but it's not my place to go globetrotting anymore. Heh, trotting." Twilight's smile morphed into a glare that shut him up. "Anyway, you know what the Labyrinth does to my bones, man. Can't go down there anymore."

"Alright, you rascal, I get it. Can you at least point us toward the nearest entrance? I know there's one close by." Lucien asked, moving to stand beside Twilight.

"Yeah, it's in that crypt over there, the one with all the cobwebs and junk," Ty offered, pointing his remaining hand into the foggy distance.

"Alright, alright. Thanks, bro. I'll see you later." Lucien gave Ty another quick one-armed hug and a fist-bump, then started to turn to walk over to the entrance.

"Oh, hold up one sec, Luc," Ty called out, a strange nervous quiver now present in his voice.

Lucien turned around to see that he was fiddling with the edges of his robe, something he only did when he had bad news. "Oh shit man, what is it?" Lucien asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer. Ty was a pretty powerful lich under all that sweet bro-ness, and with that power came some slight prophetic ability and skill with divination. What he was doing was trademark Ty for "Shit's about to go down for you."

"When you come out of the Labyrinth, you're not gonna like what'll greet you. Who, I should say actually." He paused and scratched the back of his skull. "When you came back to Earth, it wasn't exactly... quiet. A lot of people know you're here now. A lot of people that would really like to see you riddled with holes and other things that make you not-alive, y'know?"

Lucien knew, and he knew well. After that first encounter with the Hunter in Calico, he knew that his arrival with Twilight made a bit louder of a splash than he had wanted. Why else would a Hunter, a person capable of deadly combat force, be stationed so close to No Man's Land, where hardly anybody lived anymore? Additionally, he was sure the only reason they hadn't been ambushed in the city was because of his choice of eatery, right next to the crowded magic market, and the two running into Ty directly outside of the city. For all the messing around the pair engaged in, Ty was still a lich, and a powerful one at that. It wouldn't surprise him if a team of mages saw them all meet and chose to retreat, or watch instead of attack.

"I'll be safe. I promise." Lucien couldn't help but shiver as a chill ran down his spine. "And, in case I don't get another chance to say it, see you later."

Ty smiled. Figuratively. "I'll see you later too, dude. I'll call you up in Equestria sometime. Just because I can't go down to the underground anymore doesn't mean extraplanar travel is beyond me."

"Now c'mon, let's get the two of you underground. The faster you're back to Luc's place the better." And with that, they were ushered into the dark, dank crypt Ty had mentioned earlier. The stone lid ground shut over their head, ensuring there would be no turning back beyond that point.

Author's Notes:

5