//------------------------------// // 24. Aspects, Avatars, and Thestrals // Story: Hero Souls: Awakening // by SvenFoxx //------------------------------// The door opened. Twilight looked up from her book (an Equestrian version of War and Peace) and smiled at the sight of Luna. “Princess!” she greeted, waving a hoof. “Please, come in.” Luna smiled as well, stepping into Twilight’s hospital room. She sat in a chair next to the Unicorn’s bed. “Hello, Twilight. How are you doing today?” she asked. As she did so, two Thestrals in armor took up position by the door. Twilight patted her chest, grinning. “Good as new! According to Doctor Tender my body is pretty much completely healed. I leave tomorrow. He advises a few more days of relaxation, but honestly, managing a library isn’t really a hard job.” Luna nodded. “That is good to hear.” Her smile slipped. “I admit, seeing you in the condition you were in… It distressed me.” She shook her head. “It had caused some rather unpleasant memories to resurface.” “Princess?” Twilight asked. Luna waved a hoof. “Luna, Twilight. My friends may call me Luna, at least when not during a formal occasion.” Twilight seemed to hesitate, but then decided to change the subject. “Luna…” She cringed instinctively at addressing a royal informally. “I was wondering something after Princess Celestia and Fluttershy told me about what happened after I passed out.” She motioned towards the Thestrals. “How come you seem to favor the Thestrals for you Lunar Guard?” It was a genuinely curious question, Luna was relieved to note, and not one born of tribalism. Not that she expected Twilight to have tribalist tendencies, but still. She leaned back with a sigh. “That actually ties into the unpleasant memories I spoke of,” she admitted. “Oh.” Twilight winced. “Nevermind then. I’m sorry.” Luna waved it off. “No, no, it is not unbearable. In fact…” She looked thoughtful. “... In fact, speaking of it may help.” Twilight couldn’t hide the excited expression at the idea of learning something new, making Luna chuckle. After a time, she nodded. “You know the Thestral race worships me, correct?” Twilight nodded. “I do not like it, but I will not force them to not believe in something. I can only try and change their minds, unsuccessful though I may be,” she grumbled. “What do you know of Thestral culture?” she asked. Twilight frowned in thought. “Um… I know they mostly live underground due to their sensitive eyes and ears, and have a close relationship with the Minotaurs due to providing them mineral ores for their Forges. But their culture? I only know that they have a religion about you.” Luna nodded. “Yes, the Church of the Between.” She took a moment to consider how best to continue. “The simplest way to describe how the Thestrals see me is to say they believe I am Death.” Twilight screwed her face up. “Death?” she asked, seeking clarification. Luna chuckled at her expression. “Even that is difficult to describe in its entirety. Simplified… they see me as the one being in all of existence that holds absolute authority over Souls.” “Authority over Souls? Is that even possible?” Twilight asked. Luna paused, before looking at the Thestrals and waving a hoof. They saluted and left the room. Twilight instinctively shifted into a serious demeanor, realizing she was likely about to learn sensitive information. “You know that Existence is composed of an infinite number of worlds, yes?” Twilight nodded. “Well, Existence needs help to remain balanced, to keep track of everything and prevent bad things from happening. So it crafted Aspects, beings who would handle certain areas for it. At first there were many, but as time wound on they were either subsumed into the current four, or destroyed due to imbalances they caused.” “Current four?” Twilight zeroes in on that piece of information. Luna nodded. “Love, Time, Magic, and Death. They are the four Aspects of Existence, and are the four most important beings you will ever learn of. They are the absolute authority in their respective areas, but even they are sometimes not enough. And so the Avatars were born, beings who have displayed a particular affinity for one of the Aspects. They were granted a portion of the authority of their patron to ease their burden.” Luna motioned to herself. “I myself am an Avatar of Death.” Twilight took a moment to take this all in. “I have two questions,” she said. “Go ahead,” Luna encouraged. “What’s Death like? If you’ve met them, I mean,” Twilight added as an afterthought. Luna smirked. “I have met him, and… actually, one moment.” She concentrated for a moment, and then conjured an illusion. The illusion displayed a lanky human with messy black hair, piercing green eyes, and wore a doctor’s uniform. He had a cheerful smile. Twilight immediately noticed the odd lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. She stared. “... That’s it?” she asked after a moment. “I mean… realistically I knew he wouldn’t be what I expected… but he looks like a normal human!” Luna smirked, letting the illusion fade. “You of all ponies should know better than to judge a book by its cover,” she pointed out. “Harry, that is his name by the way, is a very fun loving person, and in fact very easy to be friends with. I met him shortly after I became an Alicorn. He had apparently felt the connection between himself and I due to my being one of his Avatars and came to see what had caused it. He left three days later with an open invitation from sister and I to visit whenever he wished.” She seemed lost in memories for a moment, before remembering where she was. “What was your other question?” Luna asked. “What does this have to do with my original question?” Twilight asked. “Not that it isn’t interesting!” she added hastily. “But… I guess I just don’t see the relevance,” she admitted. Luna nodded. “Perfectly understandable. I revealed this to you because I believe you are trustworthy, and because it provides context,” she said, getting a nod of understanding from Twilight. “Now, as to why the Thestrals worship me… it is because of something that happened before Nightmare Moon, and back when I was still relatively new to being an Avatar of Death. A Necromancer had set his sights on the Thestrals and, feeling the call to protect Souls, I immediately set out with ten of my Guard’s finest and most trusted.” Luna’s gaze became somewhat unfocused as she recalled the memory. “We arrived to find the last of the Thestrals in their capital fighting an army of Undead wearing the faces of their fallen comrades. We joined the fight… but it was too much. The necromantic magic sapped my power in ways I’ve never experienced. Before long I had lost all ten of my own comrades, and were now fighting their risen remains.” Twilight watched in worry as tears started to fall from Luna’s eyes. “I forced myself to strike them down. I remember feeling like I had somehow betrayed them with each one I killed… only for them to get back up and force me to kill them again and again…” “Prin… Luna,” Twilight said, laying a hoof on her shoulder. She didn’t react. “Eventually I called for a retreat, and the last Thestrals and I took shelter in a place that the Necromancer had yet to find. But we knew it was only a matter of time. I made the decision to face him head on, and told the Thestrals they were welcome to join me. I told them we would likely lose… that we would likely die and become puppets for him… but I’d rather die fighting than whimpering in a corner like a coward!” she roared. “Luna!” Twilight shook her shoulder. Luna gasped, and her eyes focused on Twilight. She breathed heavily for a moment, before wiping away her tears. “I apologize, Twilight. It seems I am not as over the event as I believed myself to be.” “No, it sounds like you faced something horrific,” Twilight said. She shivered. “Being forced to kill my friends over and over again… I don’t think I can do that. You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to,” she assured her friend. Luna smiled at Twilight. “Truly, you are a good friend… but I am fine now. The story gets better from here.” She settled again. “We assaulted his hideout, and the coward threw waves of Undead upon us to try and stop us. But we were fueled by righteous fury and a burning desire for justice. We tore through them all like so much paper. It was not long before we stood before the necromancer himself… and I engaged him myself while the others held off the Undead.” Luna shook her head. “He was a coward… but he was a powerful and ferocious coward. I very nearly lost that battle, but in the end my blade found his heart, and I ended his life. Then… then something amazing happened.” Twilight was taken aback by the teary smile Luna directed at her. “The moment he died, every single soul he had shackled to his whims appeared before me...and bowed, thanking me for freeing them. Then they moved on to the Afterlife. The Necromancer’s soul, on the other hand, I personally sealed within Tartarus to endure eternal torment. The Thestrals have since worshiped me and hold me above all else. This is why so many of them are in my Guard, because, quite frankly, the very idea that one would betray me is ludicrous.” Twilight was unsure how to respond. She had, after all, just heard a rather heart-wrenching tale, and had even seen Luna fall apart slightly. Luna gave a sigh, one that sounded relieved. “I do feel better after telling you that,” she admitted with a smile. “It still hurts… I lost some of the best friends I ever had that day. But… it is not so painful to remember now." Twilight smiled. "I'm glad," she said.