//------------------------------// // Part Fourteen: Death Battle. // Story: The Elements of Lunar Harmony // by Paganbrony //------------------------------// The Elements of Lunar Harmony Part Fourteen: Death Battle. The scythe came down cleanly on the strand of wispy energy and as it made contact the area was lit by supernatural light as the blade snapped upon contact. Deaths skull rang with the force of the impact and as he shook his head as he spat out the broken bladed scythe. His vision cleared as he focused on what had interrupted his work and broken his favorite Scythe. In a voice that was as deep as the deepest ocean that echoed through the stillness. “OH IT’S YOU.” Death would have frowned had he not been a skeleton but somehow he still managed to convey the sense of frowning as he continued. “IT’S NOT POLITE TO INTERUPT SOME PONY IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS WORK.” No Response was given. “THERE’S NO NEED TO BE RUDE YOU KNOW I’M JUST DOING MY JOB, NOT THAT I EVER GET ANY THANKS OF COURSE.” The other pony opened its mouth to speak but Death just carried on distracted by the last thought. “ITS NOT EASY YOU KNOW BEING DEATH… NO PONY CAN SEE ME IF THEIR NOT DEAD AND ONCE THEY ARE ALL I EVER GET IS THEM CARRYING ON ABOUT BEING DEAD!” Annoyed the other pony tried again. “OF COURSE YOU GET THE OLDER ONES WHO JUST ACCEPT IT AND ARE READY TO GO ON, BUT THEN ITS ALWAYS ABOUT IF THE CAT WILL BE OK OR WHETHER OR NOT THE UNGRATEFUL KIDS CRY WHEN THEY SEE ITS ALL GONE TO THE DOGS HOME…” More than a little peeved the other pony went to interrupt but Death just continued. “ITS VERY LONELY YOU KNOW…” “I DO HAVE HOBBIES THOUGH…” The spirit of the freshly dead pony finally found her voice and with a high pitched and stressed tone stopped Death dead in his tracks just as he mentioned something about building ships out of matches. “Sorry… Can I just stop you there… …Uh… I’m dead right?” Death stopped in the middle of describing his trouble getting the masts straight and the rigging done and replied in his deep tone that just commanded attention. “YES… WELL ALMOST…” “I beg your pardon…? What do you mean by ALMOST…?” “YOU’RE HANGING BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH IT SEEMS THAT SHE DOESN’T WANT YOU GOING OVER…” “…I’M NOT SURE WHY… BUT NO PONY EVER TELLS ME ANYTHING.” Death motioned a hoof at the mare stood a short distance away who looked infuriated at being ignored. Looking at her the nearly snuffed pony blinked slowly her mind barely taking all of it in. Nightmare moon laughed at her confusion and for show flapped her wings in an intimidating way as she addressed the spirit. “I need you to live child…” “What for… If it’s you it can’t be anything good…” Nightmare moon laughed heartily as the spirit frowned. “Very perceptive… Revenge… …I want Revenge…” “Huh like that wasn’t predictable, jeez you sound a side show villain, don’t you get tired of the same old spiel?” Nightmare moon was taken aback by the sarcasm that dripped from the pony’s voice as she sniffed and put her nose in the air in the most arrogant display of dismissal that Nightmare moon had ever seen outside a mirror. “The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to move on now so if you will excuse me I’ll be off.” Turning to Death Trixie adopted a slightly different tone as she addressed him. “Will she live…?” Death looked at the other hourglass and then down at the pitiful form of Spitfire laid out at his hooves as he looked back at Trixie and for just a second into the distance. “FOR NOW IT IS NOT CLEAR, THE NORMAL CHAIN OF EVENTS HAVE BEEN CHANGED BY HER…” Death gestured with a barely perceptible nod past Nightmare Moon. “SHE MAY YET SURVIVE OTHERS ARE ON THEIR WAY.” Trixie breathed a supernatural sigh of relief. “C-Can I go now… I don’t want to stay any longer…” “I haven’t finished with you yet petulant one you will help me take my revenge on Luna and all the others…” “…You wish for power and control… I can make that happen, help me and I will help you take whatever you want.” Trixie stared at her for a moment before she laughed at her, an idea had struck Trixie and after a quick run through and a couple of modifications she just ignored her as she once again turned to death and drawing close whispered to him. “WELL YES I SUPPOSE THERE ARE WAYS… BUT THEY ARE NOT WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES…” Nightmare moon blinked as she was cut completely out of the equation as Trixie pondered while tapping a see through hoof on her chin before again leaning in to whisper once more. “YOU WOULD GET WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE HAD IF SHE HAD NOT INTERFERRED BY GIFTING YOU THAT MAGIC.” Trixie gave Nightmare moon a look of pure disdain before asking Death how long she would have had, the answer surprised her as did how it would happen. “OH DEAR I SHOULDN’T HAVE TOLD YOU THAT…” “IT’S DIFFICULT YOU KNOW TRYING TO REMEMBER NOT TO TELL PONIES THINGS LIKE THAT WHEN YOU DON’T GET TO SPEND MUCH TIME WITH THOSE WHO MIGHT ACTUALLY GET TO PUT IT TO USE….” Trixie shook off the surprise at the rather heroic death in store for her and the impending nature of it. Whispering again she asked Death a curious question. “THAT WOULD REQUIRE ME TO BREAK THE RULES I DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE LIVING REALM…” Trixie studied Death for a moment then sticking her tongue out at the incandescent Nightmare moon she return to animatedly whispering to Death. Nightmare moon unaccustomed to such treatment fumed. “YOU WANT ALL THAT… THAT IS FIRST TIME ANY PONY HAS EVER ASKED SUCH A THING…” Death cocked his head to one side. “AND IN RETURN…?” Trixie’s answer was the first time Death had ever in all of time itself been rendered speechless. The mare formally known as the mare on the moon was near cataclysmic as she could only hear what death was saying and it seemed Trixie had had a flash of brilliance by the sound of it Death seemed to think so too. “HMMM… I SUPPOSE JUST THIS ONCE… AFTER ALL THERE IS A PRECEDENT BY HER INTERFERENCE…” Death nodded to Trixie as he magically retrieved his scythe and without effort it seemed to repair itself but as it did the images depicted changed and it grew slightly in length as did the already wicked looking blade which when finished sent shivers down the spiritual spines of the two watchers. “YOU WILL LEAVE NOW…” Nightmare moon narrowed her eyes as Death once more wielded his blade this time entirely with magic and as it slowly span through the air it made whooshing sounds as if it was cutting the very air itself. “I will not allow her to pass on I am in need of her, she will make a great vessel…” “I AM NOT ACCUSTOMED TO SAYING THINGS TWICE…” Nightmare moon just stood as she weighed her options. “You will leave or I will make you.” Death merely stared at her with his baleful eyes which burned with a renewed fire, driven by the most eventful ‘moving on’ in centuries. At a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye Death’s scythe flashed past Nightmare moon before returning as quickly. It took a few seconds before she reacted but when it did Nightmare moons eyes widened in shock, part of her mane had been cut from her and was dissolving as it floated to the ground. Since her defeat she had been stuck between worlds left a spiritual husk that had taken a long time to return to power enough to interfere with natural events. However as a spirit normally nothing could harm you other than the most powerful of dispel magic’s, but she’d just been cut by a lowly farming implement!!! In her rage she summoned all of her energy and with a blast of energy that in the living realm would have torn any pony maybe even a princess in half she watched as it just vanished upon impact. “ARE YOU QUITE FINISHED…?” “IT’S JUST I DO HAVE PLACES TO GO YOU KNOW… THEY’LL BE WAITING AND I DO HAVE A BACKLOG…” Nightmare moon switched her glances between Death and Trixie, snarling she hung her head slightly and made to retreat. Unfortunately she was too stupid to have ever paid attention to anything she had ever heard that didn’t click with her and so as she lunged in a full frontal attack her lack of knowledge about Death was her undoing. As the mares hoof came into contact with Death she touched his exposed bone…. Trixie watched as with screams too terrible to describe Nightmare moon reared back and as she screamed she began to fade from existence itself and as she did her face betrayed the fear she so dearly loved to inflict. “I WARNED HER… STILL… IT WAS WRITTEN AFTER ALL…” “Wait you knew she was going to die?” “OF COURSE NOT… BUT NOTHING LIVES FOR EVER… WELL PERHAPS ME BUT ONE CAN NEVER BE TOO SURE…” Trixie watched as Death summoned another hourglass from thin air and studied it, leaning closer she could see the name engraved on a small silver plate on the wooden housing that was blackened wood engraved with strange symbols of an arcane nature. …Nightmare Moon… “Wow…” Trixie saw the last grains hit the bottom and looked up as the last things to disappear were her eyes which just stared into nothing before they were finally gone. The pair watched the hourglass turned to dust in the wind, Death and Trixie shared a look of understanding. Trixie took a second to look down at her own corpse… The blue mare allowed all the pent up fear, emotions like anger and her shock at the way her life seemed to just be one disaster after another and wept. Death let her have a moment then solemnly turned his attention to the task in hoof. Summoning the pair of hourglasses that had remained motionless in the air throughout the entire encounter Death summoned the smallest spark of energy that once it floated into the space between them latched onto both of them and created a link… Trixie began to fade back into her body and before she disappeared into the mortal realm once more she nodded to Death a wicked smile on her face.