Our job is not to give readers what they want; our job is to show them things they never imagined. --Walt Williams
After dying in a train crash, Twilight finds herself offered a deal by the Reaper: a game of chess for her soul. Twilight accepts, but there's something off about the game. Something she can't put her hoof on.
But the answer to that question is just perfect for who she is.
Cover art is from the Poets of the Fall album Clearview.
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Ohhh I loved this! Wonderful job! I like when people make Death more sympathetic, and this was a really nice original take. And cool that Twilight thought of how to save the others. =D I kinda hoped it would end like it did, and I was not disappointed. This honestly struck me as more of a feel-good story than a drama, which is funny since it involved death. But you balanced the serious subject nicely with humor and hope. Thanks for sharing!
Huh. That went in about the exact opposite direction than what I expected. It was nice though, I prefer this to the style of story I was expecting.
There was something I did notice that confused me a bit, though. Death said that only alicorns can play a game for their soul, but later Death refers to many other ponies that have challenged them to a game. Was Death lying about only playing with alicorns, are there just way more alicorns in Equestria than we've seen, or is it something else?
Wonderful example of Twilight at her best. Excellent work. Thank you for it.
10061619
Most ponies can only play if their lives are in the balance. Alicorns can play after any death. I'll edit it to make that clearer.
This was awesome and heartwarming.
10061639
Yeah, that was more clear when I came in.
Wonderful take on Death. Your whole philosophy on the concept of it was really cool to read. I love talking spirituality and philosophy with people, and even though it was one-sided in this case, it was really cool. Thanks for another great story.
You know. I'm not afraid to say that I fear death. Not the spectre itself. More the eventuality that I know is to come. I don't worry about it though. Whenever, wherever my time comes. It comes. Doesn't mean I won't be afraid to die. I think though, I'd be alright to meet the reaper, shake their hand and ask for a game, just for the sake of it.
I love stories about the pony afterlife, and this one was peachy keen.
This is one of the best Death stories I’ve ever read. Well done.
10061759
I agree this was excellent!
This was a very nice story and I liked it.
And thus a monster was born as twilight pursued her mission to be "on the same plane"as death.
Very nice :)
This story is most interesting. On one hand, it's about Death and Twilight, playing 13 games of chess. On the other hand, it's a conversation between Twilight and Death about Death herself. And Death is very nice to Twilight.
With the subject of Death, many would shy away from it, mostly because people don't really want to read about such a topic. But with this, it walks a lovely balance between being too heavy and being too light.
Story: *is rated E*
Also Story: *has Death tag*
Me:
derpicdn.net/img/2019/4/20/2017845/medium.jpeg
Outdated jokes aside, I really enjoyed this story. It's satisfyingly tense at first, then it slowly morphs into something that's actually pretty heartwarming, all things considered. I liked that.
Well done!
:)
Other beings have near Death experiences.
Death has near Luna experiences.
10061986
Well of course Death has a tag, she's one of the main characters!
10062005
Luna does not go monster hunting, because this implies the possibility of failure.
Luna goes monster killing
Of course Death loses at chess. He could never understand how this horse-shaped piece moved...
Like it was tomorrow.
Actually I wonder if celestai is on death's level.
That was awesome! Well done indeed!
Interesting. Death hear feels like a combination of Death of Discworld in terms of vast incomprehensible backdrop and Death of Sandman in terms of being personable. I’d be interested in reading more of her.
And Twilight forgot she could teleport again....FOR THE LAST TIME. (But not really).
Sweet story. Although I was expecting Twilight to lose the 11th Pony on the train, so she'd be reminded that she's playing with death, not Santa Claus.
Hee! Wonderful!
I def got a slight feel of Death of the Endless, but nothing overwhelmingly copied. More like there are some things that most personifications of Death to be likable will end up being in the same vein. (I've not read much Discworld, though I know that is something I should...)
Gary Gygax as pony challenged death to a DnD RPG....you know I can see that in so many ways.
10062480
Funny, I can only see it in one.
10061817
She is the Princess of Friendship.
The logical progression is to become Friendship itself. As primal forces go, becoming the avatar of one of the great bonds between others as a purple unicorn isn't an unappealing image. And besides, as Friendship, by her very nature she could be a good enough friend to be Death's BFFF. (Best Force Forever Friend, naturally.)
10062458
I procrastinated that series for YEARS before finally starting to read it recently.
Discworld's Death doesn't quite have the emotion most others do, but at the same time is extremely funny and likeable in a way that doesn't quite make sense.
It's an experience.
(Also, don't worry about just how many books there are. Discworld stories are rather self-contained, and avoid overdone fantasy tropes. It is very hard to be bored, and even if you grow tired of the style, it's easy to stop and start again three months later.)
This story was really heartwarming. Great job on the characterization of both Death and Twilight!
10062502
Oh wow, there really IS an xkcd for everything
Making rules and explaining those takes a bit fun out of it. Perhaps death just liked a challenge .. and chess :))
so interesting ey
Celestia: Ah Twilight, good to see you recovered from that crash.
Twilight: Indeed, though I must say that Death is quite good at Chess.
Celestia: Really? How did your game go, was it close?
Twilight: I lost.
10062611
I'm pretty sure Friendship is already a concept, like Death. She did mention that there were others.
10063279
Right. It's just a big step from being of Friendship to actually becoming the universal expression of it.
10061639
Ah, so like squirrels and cats.
Everybody asks "what is death? When is death?"
They never ask "How is Death?"
10062480
I'm more interested in the fact that pony Gygax was apparently an alicorn...
I don’t usually leave many comments after a story- but I must say that this story is wonderful and the characterization of both characters were well written (though there’s no canon ‘Death’ character).
This was nice.
Leave it to Twilight to make friends with Death.
This was such a nice read. Thank you for writing.
That was a good Death, and a good Twilight. I suspected from the description that the story might take this direction, and I was not disappointed.
You could have transplanted Discworld's Death to here, but instead crafted something unique.
This was a lovely, relaxing read! Well done!
That was excellent. I was hoping it would end with Twilight inviting her to visit for regular social calls. But excellent.
10063674
Death said that it was in any case that wasn't clear cut. Alicorns just get a default chance.
This was very good. But...
I get the feeling Death intentionally lost 12 times in a row. Why did she do that?
10064737
Conversation.
Reminds me of another story on here where Celestia and Fluttershy play chess and Luna watching, and discuss various topics while the rest of the M6 go to a Wonderbolt performance.
great story, keep up the good work!
10065591
Oh, I remember it too, but don't recall the name of the fic. Anyone know the title?