Death Note: Equestria

by Nonagon

Opposition

If a pony uses the Death Note, a god of death usually appears in front of him/her within 39 days after the first name is written.

"Sister."

There was a grunt from somewhere beneath the royal sheets, but no other response. Princess Luna took another step into her sister’s bedchamber, turning on lights as she went. "Sister, I’m re-establishing the Night Court."

"Go ‘way, Luna," Princess Celestia grunted, turning away and pulling her sheets fully over her head. "It’s late."

"It is not late. I’ve only just raised the..." Luna trailed off as a sour smell washed over her. "Sister! Have you been drinking?"

"Um..." There was a long, uncomfortable pause while the solar princess considered her response. "...no?"

"Celestia," Luna sighed, approaching the bed, "We do not have time for this. Ponies are dying. The death toll is currently in the hundreds, and rising every day. Our subjects are scared. They need a strong ruler who can make things right. You can not do this to yourself when Equestria needs you."

"I'm not a queen."

"What?"

Celestia threw her covers off of her and turned to face her sister. Her normally flawless mane was disheveled and her eyes were red and puffy from tears and lack of sleep. "I'm not a queen," she said quietly. "I promised I wouldn't be. Q-queens rule over their subjects. Queens think they're b-better than everypony else. A princess can still be," she sniffed, "one of them."

"Tia..." Luna stepped forward and nuzzled her sister comfortingly. "You are the best princess."

Celestia looked down. "I'm not the best princess." Suddenly she wrapped her forelegs around her sister in a massive hug and started bawling. "I'm terrible!"

Luna struggled to stand, the much larger alicorn threatening to crush her. "Tia, you are drunk. Go back to sleep."

"I t-t-try so hard!" the solar princess wailed. "I try to set such a good example. I go to parties, and-and I call everypony by name, and I don't hurt them like the bad rulers do. But my little ponies keep k-killing each other!" She sobbed onto her sister's shoulder. "It's not f-f-fair!"

"It is all right, sister." Luna was finally able to roll Celestia off of her and tucked her back into bed. "I'm assembling the Night Court tonight. We'll root out the fiends responsible for this, you will see.” The older alicorn gave no response, only sinking morosely into her pillow. Luna tried another tact. “We were even able to contact L, after all these years. If anypony can aid our cause, he can."

Celestia's tears started to dry up. "That's nice," she murmured. "My little detective, just like old times..."

"Get some sleep. I'll talk to you in the morning." Luna turned out the lights and started towards the door.

"Luna?"

"Yes, Tia?"

"Have you heard any word... from the Doctor?"

Luna paused before answering. "No, Tia. Nothing."

"I see." The alicorn sighed. "You foalish boy," she mumbled, "I knew this day would come..." Luna closed the door and the solar princess drifted into restless sleep.

“No, no, no!” Twilight Sparkle shouted, pounding her head against her desk in frustration. “This can’t be! It makes no sense!” She whirled around to glare at the Death Note accusingly. “How can you not be magical?” she yelled at the killer notebook. “You have to be! There’s no other explanation for what you do!” And yet, there it was, entirely unenchanted.

The mystery of how and why the Death Note worked both fascinated and infuriated Twilight. She’d been certain at first that the book was an artifact that tapped into the latent magical energies of all ponies in order to stop their hearts. Time and time again, however, the tests she’d run on the notebook had come out negative. She’d put every part of it under analysis, from the paper to the cover to the ink on the page and even the glue binding it together, but even while actively giving ponies heart attacks there wasn’t a drop of magic in the whole thing. Despite constantly reminding herself to never look a gift horse in the mouth, Twilight’s frustration grew with every test she performed. What was this book? How could it do the things it did? Perhaps most importantly, where had it come from?

This single, unanswerable conundrum was partly responsible for the darkening circles around Twilight’s eyes. She could cope with not knowing how things worked; she’d learned to accept Pinkie Pie’s twitches, Pinkie Pie’s teleporting, Pinkie Pie’s... actually, most things Pinkie Pie did defied explanation. If she could live with her, in time she’d adjust to a non-magical notebook that made no sense. But such a thing hadn’t just sprung out of nowhere. Somepony had made it, somepony with unbelievable power. No sane pony would just throw that kind of power away. Were they out there somewhere, looking for the book? Did they know she had it? If not, what would happen to her when they found out?

“No point worrying about things you can’t avoid,” Twilight muttered to herself halfheartedly. She put the Death Note back in its secret drawer and turned out the light. “For Moondancer,” she reminded herself. Her fears changed nothing. Even if there was a pony with power over life and death out there looking for her, she still had a responsibility to rid Equestria of crime. She kept this thought in her mind as she climbed into bed. I am Kira, was her final thought as she closed her eyes. I am justice.

At exactly midnight, the Night Court gathered. Close to a hundred ponies filed into the Lunar Tower’s main audience chamber. Unlike Celestia’s grand hall, this room was shaped like an auditorium; rows of seats at different heights looked down onto a raised platform at the far end of the hall. A brown pony with a light bulb cutie mark stood on the corner of the stage, setting up a projector. The ponies who filled the room were yawning and sipping coffee, many of them still in their bedclothes. Perhaps without noticing, they’d separated out into three groups: unicorns on the right, pegasi on the left, and the earth ponies in the middle. From her position in the shadows, Luna smiled and shook her head. Even after a thousand years, old pony habits never really went away.

There was a flurry of bows and salutes as Princess Luna entered onto the main stage. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" she announced loudly. "The Night Court is now in session." There was a general mumble of assent and everypony sat down. "I apologise for the late hour, but... you know, tradition." Luna blushed, still struggling to find an appropriate balance of formality, then immediately returned to her authoritative tone. “Since time is of the essence and most of you are unused to keeping these hours, I would like to not stand on ceremony and jump straight to the main issue. Are there any objections?” Unsurprisingly, there were none. “Good. Now, we are here to discuss... Kira."

Luna nodded to the pony with the projector. He pushed a button and the word Kira appeared on the wall behind her. "One week ago, ponies Equestria-wide began dying very suddenly. The numbers started small, but have since risen to close to a hundred a day. The cause of death remains unknown, but popular opinion has attributed the killings to an unknown entity called Kira. So far, the deaths have been exclusive to former or known criminals. I would like to take the opportunity to remind the court," Luna said in a colder tone, "that killing a pony is an act of murder, regardless of that pony’s past actions. My sister was very clear on this: nopony ever has the right to kill another. Let us focus on that." She cast a stern glance around the room. Everypony was staring at her in rapt attention, which pleased her. It reminded her of the old days, back when she’d been just as respected as her older sister. In the wild times, when it hadn’t always been safe to sleep, and Equestria needed a ruler of the night. "I now call upon the Canterlot Health Department. What have you discovered?"

A pure white earth pony near the front of the room stood and bowed to the princess. A large white coat covered his cutie mark. "Red Cross, your majesty, acting head of the Canterlot Medical Board." He turned to address the rest of the room. “Several experts have studied the bodies of those ponies killed by Kira. In every case, the cause of death was identified as a heart attack."

There were a few murmurs of confusion from the rest of the group. "For those unfamiliar with the term, a heart attack is an affliction in which a tear or blockage in a major vein stops blood flow in the heart. Similar afflictions are occasionally seen, but it is virtually unheard of in ponies. However, in all cases no damage to the heart or surrounding tissues was discovered. The flow of blood simply... stopped." Red Cross paused to let this sink in. "There were no signs of toxins or parasites in the bodies, apart from a few who had consumed various street drugs before death. It is not caused by a virus, bacteria or any known poison that we can detect. While we haven't exhausted every option, at this point it seems most likely that the Kira attacks are magical in nature." He bowed again and sat down to some polite hoof-stomping.

"Excellent work, Red Cross." Luna smiled kindly. The earth pony blushed and looked away. "If you find anything else, be sure to let us know. Now, I have also contacted several magical organizations to discuss the possibility of a magical attack. Who represents them?"

There was some discussion from the unicorn section of the audience before a midnight blue pony stood up and bowed towards the stage. "Spell Nexus," he said humbly, "headmaster of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I have been in conference with many other experts in all schools of magic. While spells for causing death do exist, there is no known curse in any culture that is said to kill in this manner, and none that can take effect without any contact with the victim. In several cases, the only information any ‘Kira’ would have access to were a face and a name."

The unicorn looked around nervously, and Luna realized that he was frightened. Most branches of magic were thought to be close to being fully comprehended, but here he was in the middle of something not only dangerous, but completely alien to him. "Currently we are researching ancient Zebrican curses,” he continued, “many of which are still not fully understood. It is possible that some of them may be used to harm others from a distance. However, these magics generally require complex and time-consuming ceremonies to perform, as well as a body part or personal effect of the intended victim. Unless we find an exception to this rule, I am not hopeful that we will find our answer there."

"Thank you, Spell." Spell Nexus bowed again and sat down. "Is there anypony else who wishes to speak?" Stunned silence. "Very well. I will turn the floor over to our final speaker. Who represents L?”

Some ponies gasped at the name, while others stared in confusion. A pony in a hooded cloak and saddlebags melded out of the shadows at the edge of the room and walked up onto the stage. The material was enchanted, and well; from every angle the cloak cast dark shadows over the wearer’s face, hiding their true colours. The shape and bulk of the fabric made it impossible to tell whether the pony beneath was male or female, or an earth pony, pegasus or unicorn. The sight made Luna smile. “Sideline,” she whispered as the mystery pony stepped onto the stage. “I know it’s a new pony under that hood, but... it is good to see you again.” The cloaked figure said nothing. Luna faced her stunned audience. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, this is Sideline, L’s personal representative. All communication between us and L will take place through her.”

Sideline gave the slightest of bows towards the audience. From her saddlebags she pulled out a small box, which she unfolded into a tripod and placed into the middle of the stage. A recording crystal was set into the front of the box, and a small stratoscreen on the top. Sideline then took a place next to the projectionist-pony, pulling a sheet of slides from her other bag. The word Kira disappeared from the back wall and was replaced by a highly stylized letter L.

“Greetings, everypony.” The voice boomed over the auditorium, seeming to come from everywhere at once. It was highly distorted and echoed strangely in the huge room, making it impossible to identify. “I am L.

“I apologize for being able to send only my voice to you. I’m sure a face, even a false one, would be more comforting in this time of need. Unfortunately, a full visual transmission carries enough information to be traced, and I cannot allow that to happen.” The more tech-savvy ponies in the audience recognized the lie, but kept silent. Clearly L had reasons for remaining hidden. “I have been monitoring your discussion, and I agree with your conclusions. The method by which Kira murders is unknown to us. Unless new information arises, it is unlikely that we will be able to track him in this way.” This sentence caused a stir, but L ignored it. “If we are to stop these murders, we must be more direct with our approach. We must find Kira.”

This caused an uproar, some ponies laughing, others shouting angrily. Luna cast her eyes over the crowd for a face she recognized. “Captain Straw Bolt,” she called, “do you disagree with L’s statement?”

The captain of the city guard rose, his imposing form silencing those around him. He spoke coldly towards the stage. “L, you speak of Kira as though it were an individual. We do not know if Kira is a group, an organization, or an entirely alien threat. How could such a massive attack be carried out by just one pony?”

“Thank you for your question, Captain. Sideline, slide one.” The hooded pony drew out another slide and the giant letter L was replaced with a complex chart and list of times. “These are the dates and times of death for all of Kira’s victims. Aside from the large clusters in the late evenings, there at first appears to be no pattern. However, on the third day after the killings started, deaths began to occur at all hours of the day. If we compile the data for the deaths throughout the day over the past week, we see this. Slide two.” The image changed to a slightly different chart, with certain sections highlighted in green. “As you can see, the deaths spread out throughout the day appear random, but without exception never occur during standard meal times. After the group killings late at night, the murders stop completely before resuming the following morning. This tells us that Kira functions on Equestrian time and needs to eat and sleep, meaning he is not an otherworldly or supernatural entity.

“My second observation pertains to the feasibility of keeping a larger organization secret. If the magic involved were to require a large number of ponies, hiding their activities would be near-impossible. This schedule would require them to spend most of the day in isolation, something that is easy for one pony, but difficult for a group to pull off without arousing suspicion. Slide three.” The chart disappeared and was replaced by a much shorter list of dates. “These are the times of death for criminals shown live on crystalvision. In every case where somepony was caught in the act of committing a crime, they were each killed within minutes of the announcement. A group of killers would take longer to contact one another, while an individual is able to act right away. You will also note that only half of all crimes reported live end in death. An organized group would keep watch of the news at all times, but a single Kira can’t spend all day glued to the stratoscreen.” L paused. “I have more, but anything beyond this point is pure speculation. We have only one week’s worth of data to work with, after all. However, I have no reason to believe Kira will not continue to follow existing trends.”

Straw Bolt gradually became aware that his mouth was open. He closed it, trying his best not to look impressed. How had this so-called detective managed to pull so much information together so quickly? He must have been working on these charts since the murders started... but no, there were the times of death from just a few hours ago. The captain cleared his throat. “You’re making a lot of assumptions here, L,” he said before sitting down.

“That is correct,” L admitted. “Which is why I intend to test these assumptions at the earliest possible opportunity. Incidentally,” he added after a moment’s thought, “I believe Kira may be in Ponyville.”

There was a general cry of “What? Why?” from the collected ponies.

“Just a hunch,” L answered the group. “It may come to nothing. I intend to test this theory as well. Who here represents Ponyville’s police force?”

A young, sky-blue unicorn stood up from her place at the back of the room and made her way forwards. Her cutie mark was shaped like an hourglass and her hair was striped two different shades of blue. “Romana, representing the Ponyville Police,” she said, bowing to Luna. “...Such as it is. The crime rate in Ponyville has never been high enough to warrant a full police force, so aside from myself all of our officers are, um... volunteers.”

From the speaker there was a sound like rustling paper. “Ah, Romana. A... decent record, under the circumstances."

Romana blinked. "Um... thank you?"

"Just what it says on the sheet. Do you have an alias?"

"In Ponyville I'm sometimes known as Colgate."

"I suggest you adopt that name. You will go to Ponyville immediately and assemble the finest volunteer police force available to you. If my efforts tomorrow prove successful, I will contact you again."

Captain Bolt leaped to his hooves. "This is unacceptable!" he roared. "A team of ponies pulled off the streets? That's insulting! Give the word and I can have ten of my best guards there, within the hour!"

"That won't be necessary, Captain." L's unceasingly calm voice only served to infuriate the guard captain further. "Subtlety will be key in this investigation. There's no point sending in the troops and causing a fuss if we don't have to. Lady Luna, I understand that you have a team of long-distance teleporters in your tower?"

Luna seemed surprised at the question. "Well, yes... they are still in training, but yes, they are here."

"Excellent. Colgate, you will travel via teleportation to Ponyville immediately. Good luck."

The newly dubbed Colgate smiled shyly. "Thank you, L," she said. "I mean... good luck to you too. But, um, why the teleporters? A pegasus chariot would be nearly as fast, and they've been, you know, tested..."

"Two reasons. Firstly, time is of the essence. Unless we can prove otherwise, we must assume that every second counts." There was a pause. "Secondly, because I heard a rumor that distance teleportation gives you two heads. I want to see if it's true. Dismissed!" With that the little box collapsed, folded up into a neat package and fell to the stage, where it was retrieved by Sideline.

Luna stared at the spot where L's voice had come from, apparently just as shocked as everypony else. "I suppose... this meeting of the Night Court is concluded." The lunar princess looked around nervously. "Unless, of course, anypony has anything they wish to add...?"

Colgate slipped out the door amidst a sea of angry voices.

Twenty minutes later, a loud pop echoed throughout Ponyville. Colgate stumbled slightly as she landed in the main square, a little dizzy from the trip. She sat down and frantically touched her cheeks, her mane, her neck – yep, still one head. She shook herself off and trotted towards the old police station. If she worked quickly, she might be able to get a couple hours of sleep in before the sun rose.

The noise of her arrival woke up most of Ponyville. Most simply startled awake, rolled over and fell back to sleep. A few got up to check for emergencies, finding nothing and leaving them tired and cranky the following morning. When Twilight Sparkle woke up, she discovered a grinning demon hovering over her bed. Understandably, she screamed.

"Whoa, shh," whispered the demon, covering Twilight's mouth with a deformed foot. She stared in horror at the appendage, which somehow seemed to end in both a hoof and a set of claws. "I'm not going to hurt you."

They stared at each other for a few seconds. "If I let you go," the demon asked, "are you going to scream again?" Twilight nodded. "Oh." It scratched its chin with its other hoof. "If I tell you who I am, do you promise not to scream when I let you go?"

That would depend on who you are, Twilight thought, but nodded anyway.

"My name is Byuk. I'm one of the Shinigami, what you would call a god of death. I own the Death Note." He took his hoof away from Twilight's mouth. She stared at the god, then at her desk, then back at him. Then she screamed.

"Oh, for..." Byuk rolled his eyes and floated away, hovering through the air without moving his wings.

"Twilight?" There was a loud pounding at the door. "Twilight, are you okay?" a young dragon's voice called out.

The unicorn stopped screaming. Spike sounded scared. Twilight stared wide-eyed at Byuk, who shrugged. Getting a better look at him only made him more terrifying. He was shaped roughly like a large pegasus pony, but... wrong. His legs were far too long and bent at strange angles to the rest of his body, while his wings were far too short and leathery. His coat and mane were pitch black, but instead of flowing downwards the hair stood up straight in thick, spiny tufts. By contrast, his bone-white face was plastered unevenly across a misshapen skull, resulting in a mouth that stretched improbably from ear to ear and huge yellow eyes. He gave what might have been a warm smile, showing at least two rows of wickedly sharp teeth. "I'm okay, Spike," Twilight called, her voice trembling. "I... I was just having a bad dream. I'm sorry I woke you."

Spike hesitated at the door. "You sure you're okay, Twilight?"

"I'm fine, Spike. Go back to bed." She waited for the little dragon's footprints to vanish up the stairs before speaking again. "Are you going to kill me?"

Byuk laughed, a loud, throaty chuckle that traveled down the length of his body. "Kill you? Why would I kill you? This is the most fun I've had in decades!"

"...Huh?"

"I love Equestria! So many lights, so many interesting ponies! And the food... oh, the food!"

"So... you're not mad that I took your book?"

"Mad?" The god of death shook his head. "No, of course not. I dropped it, you found it. Finders keepers. It's yours now."

"Okay, wait. You're just..." Twilight sat up and took a deep breath. She focused Byuk with a more serious look. "What are you, exactly? Why are you here?"

Byuk settled down on the desk and mimicked Twilight's expression. As he moved, the unicorn’s eyes fell to his sides; his left flank bore a cutie mark of a black rectangle, barely visible atop his dark flesh, but the right side was enigmatically blank. "I come from a place called the Shinigami Realm," he said in a more somber tone. "It is a place between Heaven and Hell, overlooking all worlds. It is a place of death.

"At their creation, every god of death is given a Death Note from the Shinigami King. We look down into the worlds below us and see the lives of all things go by. If we write down the name of a living being in a Death Note, their life ends and their remaining lifespan is added to ours. So long as we don’t get lazy, we can extend our lives indefinitely and live... forever.”

“That’s... horrible.” Twilight shuddered. “Why would such a place even exist?”

Byuk shrugged. “I never asked. Why does your world exist? Why does any?” Seeing that the unicorn had no answer, he continued. “The problem with eternal life, see, is finding ways to keep yourself occupied. Say I write the name of an old lady in the Death Note, with just six months left to live. That alone gives me a whole six months when I don’t have to do anything. Six months of boredom. Nothing grows in the Shinigami Realm. There are no animals, no buildings, no food or water. Nothing exists there but us... and the dust of those who came before us. All we have are our windows to the worlds below, places to look down at the lives beneath us, but most Shinigami don’t even bother with these. They play games with whatever remains they can find, gambling with the years of their lives. I think that a lot of them play to lose.

“But then, one of your weeks ago, something wonderful happened. As I walked alone across the plain, I found a new portal that had opened in the ground. I looked inside and I saw... ponies. Beautiful, wonderful, colourful ponies, completely untouched by the hands of the Shinigami.” Byuk started to laugh. “And then... heh... what do you know, in my surprise I dropped my Death Note. It fell right down through the portal, heh heh, and of course I had to go down after it. But before I could find it, who should pick it up but you.

“And you have been busy, haven’t you? Just as I track the Death Note down to the big city, you take it away, bring it here, and then hide it away. I spent three days watching different ponies before I found you, sleeping right under my nose.” He reached down, directly through the wooden desk, and pulled out the Death Note. “I like the hidden drawer. Very clever. Did you make it yourself?”

“Um... no, that came with the desk. I guess it belonged to the old librarian, whoever that was. When I found it it contained some, um, personal books. You know, very... private literature.” Byuk gave her a blank look. Twilight smiled awkwardly. “So... you’re okay with me keeping the Death Note?”

Byuk scratched his head. “Well... I suppose I could kill you and take it back.” Twilight shrank against her bed. “But that would be against the rules. And even if I did, I’d just have to take it back to the Shinigami Realm.” His smile grew a little wider. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to let you keep it for awhile.”

“YES!” Twilight leaped into the air and began bounding around the room with joy. “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Oh thank you Byuk, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I’ll use it well, I promise, I’ll make you proud, I really will!”

“Whatever,” Byuk grunted. Twilight stopped abruptly mid-leap and tumbled to the floor. “I don’t really care how you use it. Just make sure my stay here is enjoyable.”

“Oh, I will. I’ll put on a show like none you’ve ever seen. I will become justice. I’ll be the ruler of the new world!”

“You ponies are weird.” Byuk stretched his wings and began to float upwards. “Only ponies who’ve touched the Death Note can see me, by the way, so I’ll be staying with you. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Oh! One more thing,” Twilight called. The god of death stopped. “You said the Death Note increases your lifespan when you use it. Does that mean I’ve been adding years to my life, too?”

“Nope. That only applies to the Shinigami. The lives you end are simply ended.” One of his eyes rolled downwards. “A lot of lives, too. I’m impressed.”

“I’ve been busy,” Twilight said.

“Whatever. As you ponies say, goodnight.” Byuk lifted himself through the ceiling and disappeared.

Twilight walked back to her bed with a huge grin on her face. Just then, she heard a loud clatter and the scrape of metal against wood. She rushed to the window and stuck her head outside, her jaw dropping at the sight above her. “Have you been sleeping on our antenna?”

“Is that what this is?”

Twilight gasped. “So you’re the one who’s been messing up our signal!”

“Huh?”

“Get down from there! Right now!”

Dear Princess Luna,

I have arrived safely in Ponyville, still with only one head. Currently writing to you from the Ponyville police station, gathering files on potential volunteers. As per your instructions, I will contact the dragon Spike as soon as the sun rises and establish communication via dragonfire. Assuming everypony is as willing to help out as they have been in the past, I should have a sizable force put together by this afternoon. Not as professional as I would have liked, but with teamwork and cooperation we’ve kept Ponyville safe in the past. Plus, with the Elements of Harmony on our side, there’s no danger we can’t stand against.

If it’s not an imposition to ask, and if it’s not a mystery to you too... what did L mean by his “efforts tomorrow”? Is he planning something we should know about?

Your faithful servant,
Romana