//------------------------------// // "All the World's a Stage..." // Story: Death Be Not Proud // by ShinigamiDad //------------------------------// Twilight shifted uncomfortably on the couch she called her own in Luna’s dimly-lit chambers. She lounged among various scrolls, loose sheets of parchment, and books scattered about across a low table and on the sofa itself. She levitated a cup of liqueur-laced cider to her lips as she pored over notes from Shatter’s debriefing, and her own transcription of Smudge’s death vision. She stared blearily into the distance, and recalled her final encounter with the Void--the surge of dark power, the hot, wet, orgasmic rush of blood pouring out of her wrists, the cacophony in the crumbling cavern. She rubbed her eyes and jotted down a few sloppy annotations, before discarding her quill and draining the silver-and-crystal cup. She squinted at the multi-faceted crystal, turning and rotating it, peering through it like a kaleidoscope, until her gaze fell on the distorted image of her right flank. She released the cup, and it dropped to the floor, cracking loudly on impact. Hot tears welled in her eyes as she stared dully at Reaper’s inky-black cutie mark, emblazoned on her violet hide: “I hate it. I hate it. I HATE IT!” She felt bile rise suddenly in the back of her throat, and she hacked, then spat at the cutie mark, leaving a glistening smear that ran down her flank and dripped onto the upholstery. Twilight collapsed back against the sofa, scattering papers and notebooks to the floor, as the tears leaked from beneath her eyelids and ran down the side of her face, splattering the crumpled parchment beneath her head. She sobbed weakly between hiccoughs for a few minutes before dropping into a fitful slumber. A pair of aquamarine eyes narrowed at her from the deep shadows of a far corner. “Twilight Sparkle!” “Twilight Sparkle, please report to the Principal’s office!” Twilight snorted loudly and jerked her head up from her desk, trailing a line of saliva. She rubbed the back of her hand across her mouth and wiped it on her pleated skirt as she stood unsteadily and stumbled to the classroom door. She jogged down the empty hallway, passing multiple darkened doors and intersecting hallways. She glanced through a set of windows at the moonlit courtyard outside, and furrowed her brow: “What time is it?” Her footfalls echoed on the marble floors as she dashed around a final corner and stopped in front of a closed door, labeled “Vice Principal Luna” on its dimly-lit, frosted-glass window. Twilight straightened her skirt and knocked on the glass: “I’m here, Luna! Did you call for me?” “I did, indeed. Please come in, Twilight.” Twilight turned the knob and entered Luna’s office. A single lamp threw a weak pool of yellowish light across the desk, shrouding the room in dark shadows. Luna waved her hand at a chair in front of the desk: “Take a seat, please.” Twilight sat: “I’m sorry, Luna--I was asleep, and I didn’t--” Luna smiled: “No worries, Twilight. Celestia and I know you have been “burning the midnight oil” lately while completing your studies. That is why we do not mind you staying at the school after it has closed.” She stood, walked to the window and turned back with a grin: “I am something of a night owl myself, you know.” Twilight smiled: “So what can I do for you, Vice Principal? Do I need to go now? Are you locking-up?” Luna sat on the edge of her desk and looked down at Twilight with furrowed brow: “On the contrary, I need you to stay. Something worrisome has happened that will require your knowledge of magic to untangle.” “Magic?” “Yes. Sunset Shimmer has been going over some old architectural drawings of the school while doing research for a paper, and she discovered a small, hidden passage behind a boiler in the basement.” “And you want some help with the research?” Luna stood and paced nervously: “In a manner of speaking. It turns out the school’s foundations rest on a much older, ruined structure of some sort, long-buried beneath the school. Sunset explored this structure earlier today, and reported that she had found an old mirror, akin to the one you both have described.” Twilight chewed her lip: “You mean back in Canterlot?” “Yes. She felt that given her experience with magic she was best-suited to investigate it. I asked her to delay until Celestia and I had a chance to consult with you, but I fear she may have done something rash.” “Rash?” Luna sat down heavily behind her desk: “Sunset has not been seen since lunchtime.” Twilight jumped up from the chair: “This is very serious! Can you take me to this mirror now?” Luna stood and pulled a key ring out of her top drawer: “Yes. Follow me, please.” Twilight and Luna walked quickly through a series of dark hallways and down two sets of steep, dimly-lit stairways, arriving at last in the hot, stuffy confines of the school’s physical plant. Luna guided Twilight along a wall, behind the rusting remains of a decommissioned boiler, and through a narrow, cobweb-covered doorway. She pulled a small flashlight out of her jacket pocket and shined its thin beam down a cramped passage which bent away to the right. Luna ducked under the low door frame: “Follow me.” They worked their way slowly along the rough tunnel, finally emerging in a small, crude chamber, reminiscent of the ruined shrine to Larg Luna first encountered on Kur. There, in the back wall, surrounded by a rough wooden frame, was a large, cloudy mirror. Twilight stepped up to the mirror and ran her hands over the frame, looking for any gaps or switches or buttons: “I don’t see any kind of mechanism. I’m not sure if it’s active or…?” Luna moved beside Twilight and reached toward the mirror: “I actually probed the mirror earlier when I came to look for Sunset earlier this evening, before summoning you.” “And?” “I stuck my head through, and kept my hands firmly on the frame to keep from falling in.” Twilight’s eyebrows shot up: “Luna!” Luna smiled sheepishly: “I know it was risky, but I did not feel I could ask for assistance unless I myself had at least made an assay.” Twilight sighed: “Well, you may have gotten lucky, but what did you find?” “Nothing notable--it was merely disorienting. Clearly it is some sort of portal or gateway, but I fear one must pass fully through.” “Yeah, that’s been my experience, too.” She squared her shoulders and centered herself before her reflection: “Only one way to find out. I’ll try to come back shortly and at least let you know what I find on the other side.” Luna shook her head: “No. It would be wrong of me to send you on such an errand alone. I left a note for Celestia making her aware of our location, and will accompany you.” Twilight bit her lip for a moment: “OK, but watch out--things can get really strange on the other side of these mirrors!” Luna brought a hand up to hide her smile: “I have no doubt…” The two stepped into the dim, smoky interior of Tal’ar’s Inn, emerging in a nook beside the large, crackling fireplace. Twilight was dressed in a rust-colored tunic and long, pale blue skirt, topped by a heavy, brown overcoat. She turned to look at Luna, who was wrapped in her white-trimmed, dark-blue cloak. Twilight’s eyes grew wide: “That cloak is beautiful!” Luna held an arm out, lifting the fabric for closer inspection: “Indeed it is! What a curious place this is.” Twilight held out her own arm and examined her now-light-tan skin: “Well, our coloring’s changed, for one thing--you’re a lot darker, and I’m a lot less purple!” Luna nodded at Twilight’s hip where Death’s Token hung, obscured by her coat: “And I never thought of you as the sword-bearing type.” Twilight glanced down and furrowed her brow: “Hmm. Maybe it’s because I have a unicorn’s horn back home?” Luna bit her lip nervously: “Y-yes, that must be it.” She scanned the common room and noted the presence of Sumi and Sagu in a corner, scheming with Zain as Regel and Tal’ar scurried between the tables, serving drinks. She turned back to Twilight: “Where might Sunset Shimmer have gone, do you suppose?” Twilight turned around, nearly bumping into a mud-streaked traveler: “I don’t know. There’s no good way to know how long she’s been here, if she’s even still here! She may have left.” “True. Perhaps we should sit and chat with the locals--maybe one of them saw something noteworthy.” Twilight stepped to an empty table and pulled a chair out: “OK, that makes sense. I just hope we can actually understand--” Luna shifted to Twilight’s blind side and closed her eyes for a moment. Suddenly a figure with long reddish hair spilling over a mustard-yellow cloak emerged from the dim recesses at the far end of the room near the front door, and dashed toward the main staircase leading to the upper floor. Twilight’s head swiveled and she bolted out of the chair: “Hey! That red hair! That must be her!” Luna put her hand on Twilight’s shoulder: “You saw someone with red hair? That certainly seems promising in this sea of brownish heads--even your hair is brown!” “Right--it must be her! Let’s go!” Twilight pushed between two heavy-set merchants as she stumbled toward the stairs: “Sunset, wait!” Luna nodded and smiled as she followed close behind: “Be careful! We do not know what we may find!” The common room began to dissolve into shadows and smoke in the background as she mounted the steps. Twilight skidded to a stop in front of the heavy, ornately-carved door that led to the Merchant’s Suite. She pressed her ear against the wood: “I hear voices. One of them sure sounds like Sunset; I can’t make out the other one, though it seems familiar.” Luna took position on the other side of the door frame and put her hand on the door’s latch: “Are you ready to go in, Twilight?” Twilight’s left hand settled on the hilt of her sword: “Yeah--let’s find out what this is all about!” Luna’s eyes drifted down to Twilight’s hip; she bit her lip and sighed: “I hope this works…” She pushed the door open with a creak, and Twilight entered quickly, peering about the darkened room: “Sunset Shimmer! Are you okay? Where are you?” A muffled voice came from the shadows: “Over here, Twilight! I have something amazing to show you…” Twilight stepped into the gloom, then froze as a white-cloaked figure appeared before her: “Wait! I know you! Sunset--we’re in danger!” Reaper lunged for Twilight as Sunset’s empty cloak fell to the floor; Twilight pivoted and spun away, backing against Luna: “Twilight, wait! This is not as it seems!” Twilight swept her sword from its sheath and brought it down toward Reaper’s head in a glowing, violet arc: “Get out! I hate you! This is all your fault!” Luna darted forward and thrust out her arm; Twilight’s sword bit into Luna’s vambrace with a clank. She slid behind Twilight and pointed at the yellow cloak, which suddenly flowed up Twilight’s legs, binding them. Twilight gave a shout and hacked at Reaper again as she stumbled. Reaper shot out his left hand, grabbing Twilight’s right wrist, forcing her arm behind her back as she fell against him. He hugged her tight to his body and slid his right hand through her hair, gripping the back of her head, forcing her flushed face toward his. Twilight’s eyes flared white and her sword flickered with crimson flames as Reaper crushed his lips against hers and took a long, deep breath. She struggled wildly and screamed incoherently into his mouth as she was overcome by a wave of intense cold. Reaper locked his eyes with Twilight’s as he held her in a tight, deadly embrace, feeling her heartbeat falter as her struggling lessened. After a minute, her eyes drooped half-shut, her breathing stopped and the sword behind her back clattered to the floor. A dark stain spread across the front of her skirt, she twitched, then sagged lifelessly into Reaper’s arms. He broke the kiss and settled to the floor, cradling Twilight’s head in his lap. “Did it work? Will she come back?" “We’ll know in a minute. It’s up to her, now.” Luna choked back a cry as the scene dissolved. “Oh, Reaper! Was it too much?” Twilight snorted loudly and jerked her head up from her desk, trailing a line of saliva. She rubbed the back of her hand across her mouth and wiped it on her pleated skirt as she squinted at the blinding moonlight flooding the empty classroom. She felt the floor heave beneath her desk, and lurched to her feet as she glanced up at the crumbling ceiling in alarm. “Twilight Sparkle! Please report to Canterlot!” She stumbled sideways drunkenly as a section of wall crashed down beside her, and a glowing black crack split the floor behind her feet. “Twilight! Come to Canterlot now!” She wobbled back a step, nearly toppling into the yawning chasm opening across the back of the room. She looked around frantically and saw a pale golden light glowing through the classroom door. “TWILIGHT!” She cried out in panic as she staggered toward the door, dodging chunks of masonry and sparking wires, as the dark chasm behind her sheared away an entire wing of the school. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she lunged breathlessly for the door in its twisting, splintering frame: “Help me! Somebody help me!” “I cannot…” Twilight’s hand reached for the doorknob as the window shattered, piercing her hands and face with shards of glass. The darkness poured in through the ruined door as Twilight lurched forward blindly, her heart pounding, her last words escaping as a frightened whisper as she clutched at the blood-slicked knob. “I’m afraid…” “Oh, Reaper! Was it too much?” Reaper phased-in next to Luna and they both slowly approached Twilight. She was sprawled awkwardly across the urine-soaked sofa, head tipped back, blank eyes half-open, a stream of spittle and bile running down her cheek onto her shoulder. She wasn’t breathing. Luna looked down with wide eyes: “Is--is she alive?” Reaper closed his eyes for a moment: “Yes, but just barely. There’s nothing I can do to help her this time, and you’ve done all you can. She’s going to have to claw her way the last few inches by herself.” Luna chewed her lip: “Oh, Reaper! Was it too much?” “I don’t know. Maybe.” Twilight’s stomach lurched suddenly and she retched weakly, coughing and sputtering as she fought to take a breath. She shuddered violently and forced her eyes to focus as Luna dropped to her knees in front of Twilight. “Lu-Luna...is it really you this time?” Luna stood and swept Twilight from the sofa to a nearby pile of cushions and cradled her to her chest, wrapping her wings around Twilight’s trembling body: “Oh, Twilight--you live! Thank the moon and stars, you came through it alive!” Twilight shuddered and hiccoughed: “Is--is this real? I’m not in another dream am--am I?” Reaper knelt beside the two alicorns: “After spending a few weeks with the Dreamweaver here, I totally understand your skepticism, Twilight! However, I assure you this is real--you’re out of the dreamscape and awake.” Twilight closed her eyes and leaned heavily against Luna: “Oh--oh, thank Celestia! But...it’s gone!” She struggled to sit up: “Wh-where’s my sword?” Reaper smiled lightly as he summoned Death’s Token from beneath Twilight’s sofa. He held it to his left hip with a hoof as he magically wrapped and knotted its cord around his waist: “You mean my sword, Princess?” Twilight furrowed her brow: “Oh, it’s all gone, isn’t it! I’m so empty!” She began to sob as Luna looked down at her face in confusion: “The screaming and crying and blood and all of it--it’s gone! I can’t hear them dying in my head anymore and..and..I must be dead!” She turned to Reaper, her face drawn with grief: “Thank you! I can rest now! I can go lie down with the dead and not hear them...but...but I could see them again! Oh, Celestia, please help me!” Twilight began to tremble and writhe in Luna’s forelegs. Luna turned to Reaper, her eyes wide with concern: “Why does she believe she is dead? I do not understand!” Reaper sighed: “Because a bit of her did die.” “What?!” “Hold on a minute--let me get Celestia and I’ll explain. I think Twilight’s going to need all the comforting and soothing we can muster.” Reaper faded out, and Celestia appeared in a flash at the entrance to Luna’s chambers a moment later: “Twilight! Are you in here? It sounded like somepony said you were in distress and I--” She stopped and stared at the three ponies at the base of Luna’s dais: “Oh, sister! You’re alive!” She rushed up to Luna and shied away from Reaper at the last moment, eyeing him nervously: “Your cloak, your sword--are you really back, too?” Reaper nodded and pointed to the mark on his flank: “In the non-flesh!” Celestia sniffed the sour air and wrinkled her nose as she looked down at Twilight: “What happened to Twilight? She looks awful!” Twilight stopped twitching and opened her bloodshot eyes: “Oh, Celestia--please tell me I’m really alive! I can’t tell anymore! I’m all empty and numb inside!” Celestia turned to Reaper, brow furrowed as she settled down beside Luna, extending her own wing around Twilight: “I don’t understand.” Reaper took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby ottoman: “Okay, Luna, here’s how this went down--when we were on Kur, my power--Death’s power--lay largely dormant in you, save for a couple of notable instances.” “When I slew the hartz, or in the baths.” “Yeah, that was a doozy--bloody mets'il! Anyway, other than that, Death’s power was largely quiet until it flared that final time. But by then, Nightmare Moon or the 'Dark Angel,' or whoever she was, was in control, and channeled the power.” Luna nodded: “Yes--I was largely a bystander.” “Right. So when T'zarjāin separated you from your body, Death’s power was still there. He didn’t finish the job for another few moments, stripping my power from her. Yours was a clean death that rendered you unconscious for the rest of the process.” He turned to Twilight who was now breathing steadily and evenly as Celestia stroked her mane: “Unfortunately, Twilight here was fully invested with Death’s power for weeks--it was an integral part of her, and given a few more weeks, it might well have simply hollowed her out, leaving her as some sort of wraith.” Luna furrowed her brow: “How horrible!” “Agreed. The power of Death is not intended to be held in living vessels, not even ones of your power. Eventually it would consume you, burning away your real existence, turning you into, well, me--a being of cosmic energy, but not really alive.” Celestia bit her lip: “Will she be okay now?” “She should be. Old T'zarjāin was right on both counts--with a caveat: we had to take Twilight by surprise, which we did thanks to Luna’s stagecraft, and I had to kill her--sort of.” “‘Sort of?’” Reaper stood and walked to the side table, retrieving a pair of cups of cider for Luna and Celestia: “Up until a few weeks ago, I never worried about precision. Somepony died, I showed up and cleaned up. Somepony was lingering, I showed up, reaped and cleaned up.” He set the cups next to the Princesses: “But a few months back, when I had to time your deaths perfectly, then resurrect you, I was forced to calibrate my power and its use with a nuance I had never before considered.” He nodded at Twilight, whose eyes were again open and focused on his: “So when Twilight and I were locked in a literal kiss of death, I had to take every iota of my own power, and a good ninety-eight percent of hers, in order to break the bond between her and Death’s power.” Twilight stirred weakly: “I--I saw another death vision--my own.” Reaper nodded: “I know--I saw it, as well. In a very real sense, a small piece of you died as I stripped away that power. Twilight the Harbinger died. Twilight the alicorn Princess, damn-near did, too.” Celestia took a drink from her cup: “Well I’m very grateful she didn’t! Will she recover? Will there be any lasting effect?” Reaper tapped his chin: “She should recover, I would think. It will likely take a couple of days, as it did last time.” He turned back to Luna: “Again, you got the clean death, and T'zarjāin returned your native power to you at the end. I’m sure you’re tired, but you came through relatively unscathed.” He knelt next to Twilight: “Unfortunately, our brave girl here got the short end of the stick again, and had to be fully-conscious as her life was sucked out of her.” Twilight nodded: “Will I always...remember?” Reaper frowned: “Yes. You will always remember your death, and the visions of all those you helped pass on. It is the burden of the Harbinger. I, too, now bear all those visions, as I was able to pull the memories of your time as Harbinger.” Twilight’s eyes glistened with tears, and Reaper smiled, pointing to Luna: “However, I am sure that Luna can assist you with that. Now that you are no longer the Harbinger, those visions will fade, like old scars. You will never be fully rid of them, but they will seem more like dreams.” Luna pulled Twilight tight: “Then I can certainly help!” Reaper stood and took a step back: “Unfortunately, reading Twilight’s memories revealed a new problem.” Celestia closed her eyes and nodded grimly: “Zecora.” Twilight wiped away her tears: “I--I was too late to save her!” Reaper shook his head: “You did everything you could, Twilight! Your securing the Void was brilliant, and there was no way you could have known what was happening until Smudge’s death.” “I--I know, but it all went so wrong, so fast.” Luna furrowed her brow: “I do not understand--what happened to Zecora?” Reaper sighed: “She was pulled inside the Void.” Luna gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth: “Oh, no! So then she’s--she’s…” “No, she's not dead. It didn’t tear her apart like Top Cover and Green Streak, and it didn’t suck out her essence like Solar Gleam. It drew her in intact, and Twilight’s sure she felt Zecora’s presence inside the Void.” “So how do we get her back?” “That’s an outstanding question. Nopony alive knows more about that thing now than Twilight, and she’s going to need a couple of days to recoup. I’m sure you’re exhausted, too, Luna.” Luna nodded wearily: “All that ‘stagecraft’ as you called it, really takes it out of a pony! I have rarely had to maintain nested realities like that, and never with such high stakes!” Reaper smiled: “No doubt! and a top-notch job you did, might I add! So, I suggest we meet again in a couple of days to make plans.” Celestia raised an eyebrow: “Will Zecora be safe in the meantime?” “Most certainly not! But rushing in now, without a solid plan and Twilight’s head on straight is just a recipe for disaster. And I think we’ve had enough disaster over the last few months, don’t you?” Celestia drained her cup and rubbed her muzzle: “I suppose so, but what’s to become of her while we plan?” “She’s resourceful, clever, tenacious, brave and has spent years thriving in the Everfree Forest. If that’s not solid preparation for whatever the Void can throw at her, I don’t know what is!” Celestia sighed: “Alright, I guess there’s nothing more we can do at the moment. I will get hold of Noble Steel and Shatter and have them join us in two days.” Twilight’s eyes drooped shut, but she began squirming uncomfortably: “I can’t close my eyes--I see more death. Please get me a drink--some of that apple liqueur. It helps a little.” Reaper frowned: “Luna--is there anything you can do for her now that we’re back?” Luna closed her eyes, and her horn glowed a pale blue as she leaned down and touched it to Twilight’s forehead: “Sleep.” Twilight slumped against Luna’s chest again, and Luna looked up at Celestia: “Would you please summon an attendant to bathe her while she slumbers? I can keep her asleep for some time, and it might be nice for her to be clean when she awakens.” Celestia nodded and stood: “I will send a couple of bath ponies shortly. What will you do now, Reaper?” He looked down at Luna and Twilight: “I have a lot of work to catch-up, but I’d appreciate just an hour to settle myself a little. Luna can attest to the fact that these last few days have been nuts!” Luna sighed heavily: “Indeed they have! I will welcome some real sleep, devoid of turmoil and danger for the first time in a while.” Reaper leaned down and kissed Twilight on the forehead: “I owe a debt to her--we all do, really--that I will never be able to repay. Please do what you can. I’m going to find a quiet, sunny spot and just sit.” He turned to Celestia: “Would you mind if I used the garden off your solarium?” A small, secret smile crossed Luna’s lips as Celestia shrugged: “That should be fine--I’ll alert the staff to stay out of the garden for the morning.” Reaper grinned: “Yeah, I’m not exactly everypony’s favorite guest anymore!” Celestia chuckled: “Perhaps not, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Reaper. You did what you had to and returned my sister and Twilight to their old selves, like you said you would!” Reaper bowed: “Well, I’d say Luna deserves at least seventy-five percent of the credit, but thank you!” He began to fade out: “You ladies know how to reach me, otherwise I’ll be back in two days.” Celestia looked down at Twilight nuzzling against Luna’s neck, snoring softly as Luna’s horn pulsed and glowed faintly. She closed her eyes and teleported in a golden flash. A glittering teardrop hit the floor as the glow dissipated.