"What's the matter Anonymous, you look like you've just seen death," said Death.
"I-ivory?" You manage to stutter out.
"Herself." She says with a playful smile. "Your reaction was rather quite overdone if you ask me, but don't worry. I get it all the time." She rolls her eyes with the last sentence.
"Huh, figured." Man aren't you a beast of an orator right now. The Roman Senate would be so jealous.
"Although I must say, if I expected anyone to not be scared of me by now, it would be you." She offers her forehoof to help you get up, and you accept without much thought.
"Sorry about that, it's that just... I thought you sent me back to Equestria."
"Oh?" She looks around with a mix of surprise and amusement in her eyes. "And did I not? This looks like Equestria to me."
"Well sure, but if it was the... mortal plane, then why would I meet you?"
The mare looks you in the eyes and grins. "I did say that we will be meeting soon."
You recall her parting words back in the cloud realm. "Yes, but I mean, why are you here?"
Her happy expression erodes away somewhat after hearing that. You are as smooth as diplomatic corps of Germany in 1914 it seems.
"I mean, how can you be here? I thought you were confined to your own world."
To your relief the pair of onyx eyes staring at you have reclaimed their joyful glister. "And what gave you that impression? If I could send you back, why shouldn't I be able to send myself?"
You recoil your head back a bit. "That is actually a good point. So you can visit Equestria any time you wish?"
She nods. "Even if I haven't been doing so too often. You see, you were not entirely wrong with your hypothesis regarding my confinement."
"How so?"
Ivory looks at you with a smile that you can only describe as ‘cheeky’. “Before I answer that, perhaps it would be best if we gave chase to our mare of the hour, would it not?”
You need a good couple seconds to realise that she is not talking about herself, but the blue pegasus. The same pegasus that is now a good distance away from you.
“Right, I wouldn’t want to lose myself after all,” you agree and start walking towards Dash, only to be joined by a much more casual pace of the alicorn besides you. Long legs and such. “So, about your confinement?”
The mare nods before looking up into the sky. "I am not meant to interact with mortal plane. It's an element of an ancient balance that I did not come up with. But..." You notice a mischievous smile forming with her lips. "They couldn't straight up trap me, so a workaround was found."
"That being?" You ask with genuine interest.
The alicorn looks back down on you. "A simple limitation. I am unable to interact in any way with living things. Be it talking to them, touching them, or even being seen or heard by them."
You nod with a thoughtful expression on your face. "I see. So as soon as someone dies you can talk to them and guide them... along?"
"Exactly. A solution that both allows me to perform my duties, and prevents me from doing much else." You notice a sad note in the second half of her sentence
"That seems like a rather inconsiderate way to do things, " you say before cringing at the sight of your head (or what used to be your head) bouncing up a good twenty centimeters into the air after hitting a rock.
The pale mare sighs. "My wellbeing was not exactly the top concern when creating this arrangement. Although there were some who got it worse than me, no doubt."
You begin to feel somewhat lost in her words, unsure about how ancient the things are that she was so casually discussing right now.
"I'm not going to ask about the details, since I will probably not understand anyway, but I am rather lost right now I'm afraid." Your body seems to share that sentiment, as one of your arms is now dragging behind at a very awkward angle.
She looks at you with a surprise in her eyes, almost as if she forgot that there was someone she was talking to. "You're right, my apologies. I tend to get lost in my thoughts sometimes."
"Yeah, you did mention that before. And I understand, even if I can't exactly relate. Being puny mortal and all."
You both share a chuckle, and Ivory seems to go back to her happy mood again. For some reason it makes you feel warm inside.
"So, you did send me back to Equestria after all and decided to join me soon after. Why not just go with me right away?"
"Well, for one thing the look on your face when you saw me was quite worth it." Once again she gives you that playful smile fit more for a filly than a primordial being tasked with taking care of the dead. Then again, you didn't meet too many of those before today, so what do you know? "And for another, I couldn't just travel here in my work attire, now could I?"
You raise your eyebrow before noticing what she is wearing right now. Or rather what she is not wearing. Her black cloak was gone, uncovering the entirety of her white body. You notice that her coat is all in the same shade of white, as you suspected before. It's a rather tame color, and you don't think you could mistake her for Celestia even without their hair being different. She didn't have quite the same radiance Sunhorse wore, but in a way it made her more… Approachable? Not a trait you'd think would be fitting for Death, at least yesterday. Her tail was just as dark as her mane, and contrasted heavy with the rest of her body, save for the deep onyx eyes. On her now exposed flank you could barely see her cutie mark, bumping up and down in rhythm with her stride. That combined with an angle you were seeing it from made it look like a smudge with a more vivid shade of white.
What you found more interesting however, was the lack of gemstone that she wore on her chest before. Her new chestpiece was a delicate ornament made out of something that looked like silver to your untrained eyes. In the middle of it rested a small, tame, and seemingly not hypnotizing diamond. It probably also means that you could stare at her all day now, and not drift away.
...
Not that you wanted to do that of course.
Anyway, you could also see her hoofwear made out of the same delicate material her "necklace" was. All in all she looked more like a noblemare than a Grim Reaper.
And probably expected you to comment on that.
"Oh, sorry. I did not notice before now."
She scoffs and flaps her wings.
Shit.
Bad answer dummy. You better think of something to save yourself, and quick.
"I mean, you kind of surprised me here, you know, the situation being rather new to me, and..." You stop stuttering for a second. Her wings have been put at rest, but her expression is far from being pleased yet. Welp. Time for the big guns.
"And you do look beautiful, Ivory."
She instantly recoils her head in surprise and stops in place, the disgruntled look on her face giving in to a surprised one. Hit and sunk. Your bold strategy seems to have forked fine. Really fine in fact, as her muzzle suddenly gains a cute, marble shade of pink in what you assume is a deep blush for her.
Frankly, the only reason blood is not rushing to your cheeks right now is because your heart is not working, otherwise you would've joined the mare in the blushing department as the situation was rather awkward. And for some reason, you seemed to be a magnet for awkward situations, so you would know your body’s reactions to them. If it wasn’t being currently dragged like a sack of potato by a certain cunt. Perks of being dead, huh? Or rather, having died.
Before you get to appreciate the sight of a non-monochromatic Ivory though, she covers her face with her right wing leaving everything below her now smiling eyes concealed. "Well if I had any doubts if you are a stallion before, you've just made them all go away. Truly it takes one to commit such a travesty of obliviousness." She tries to make her voice sound have a reprimanding tone, but you can hear an amused note giving the masquerade away. "Although I must admit that you know how to talk your way out of a hole you clumsily tripped into."
You sigh with relief internally, and put a smile on your immaterial face. "I'm afraid my tongue is a double edged sword, both causing trouble and solving it."
The alicorn narrows her eyes and presses her wing harder against her nuzzle. Did you say something wrong?
”Oh, I'm sure it could solve a lot of troubles if used correctly.”
…
Did she really go there? Surely not. An ancient being watching over countless generations of deceased equines would not go there. Right?
You decide to derail the conversation from ‘there’ just in case it actually was ‘there’. "So, uhm, you said that you can't interact with living ponies in any way, right?" you ask before starting to walk again, encouraging the alicorn to follow.
She gives you a surprised look before moving herself. "That's... correct, little one." Her voice is slightly muffled because of her wing positioning, and it looks like she struggled to find the correct choice of words there.
You find that strangely amusing.
"But in that case, how comes Raincunt..." You pause, but remember that she already knows all the "creative" nicknames you gave Dash. "Well, how comes that she heard me when I spoke out loud?"
The alicorn raises an eyebrow and distances her feathered limb from her muzzle slightly. "Oh? She did? And what did you say exactly?"
"Not much, really. I actually kind of just shouted "what" out loud, since she... mentioned something I did not expect in a thousand years," you confess, before looking at the bearer of strange news (and your body) in question, who currently is catching her breath with one hoof supported on your chest.
"Well, that would explain why." Death said before lowering her wing and letting it rest on her side once again. The pink trace that looked so fitting on her was gone by now. “She heard you, because you wanted her to hear you.”
"Really?"
"Yes. For you see, there is something you need to still understand about your current... state."
You nod encouraging the mare to continue.
"Even though it may not feel like it right now, this is your natural form."
You nod again before realising what you just heard. "Wait, what?"
She smiles seeing your confused expression. "Your memories before this day reach no further than the birth your mother gave you on your world. At least I assume so, since you don't look like a reptile to me."
You involuntarily get an image of little Nonny hatching from an egg. "I'm not. Just a standard mammal like every pony here. But I do not exactly remember my birth you see."
"Nopony does. And for a good reason." Her expression suddenly became very serious as she leans in a bit closer to you. "Your physical birth was not the beginning of "you". You existed before that, or rather aside that. In the place where time has no meaning. A free spirit, awaiting its destination in the material world."
You furrow your brows trying to take that in.
"I cannot tell you much more, but your current state is more than just that of a ghost. This is how you were created, before space or time."
You think on it for a bit, and a heavy silence invades the scene, only disrupted by chirping of the distant birds, defiantly indifferent to the weight of matters discussed, and a single thud that you can only assume to be your violated body part.
"I can't say I understand, because those are rather... abstract concepts. But I do believe you I suppose. It's just that I do not see how that allowed Dash to hear me."
"It's simple, relatively speaking. You can control how much imprint you leave behind you in this plane of existence. And because your state is so primal, you know how to do it.” She raises her wing and touches your shoulder with it. It feels warm. "Even if you do not realise it yet."
You feel like you're attempting to squeeze a Rubik's Cube through a keyhole whilst simultaneously solving it in 4 dimensions. "Could you... elaborate a bit?"
She puts on a warm smile that somehow reminds you of that one history teacher who always had patience for your questions. "You were once familiar with this form. Sure you don't remember it, but subconsciously you kept some of the instincts that came with it." She turns around and points at a tree that Rainbow seems to be heading towards. "Just like those birds know how to breathe, how to fly, and how to sing. Just as you knew how to let the air into your lungs when you left your mother's womb."
"But aren't those more organic things? What we've carried from years of evolution? How is that the same to having a memories from some kind of previous life?"
She snorts and answers without looking back at you. "It's not any previous life. It's the same life, you're still the same being that has just entered a catalyst of mortality."
"Okay, but what about my question?" you ask, feeling detached from the discussion a bit.
"I do not know the origin of your natural instincts. I take them for granted, something that was with you since you were given a specific form." Only now does she turn her head towards you. "And for your current one, it is natural for you to change the way you interact with the world on the fly." She extends her wing again, this time back towards the sandy surface you have landed on a moment ago. "I saw you cross without leaving a single trace. So you must have partially figured it out already."
You think back to Rainbow crawling up on you, how you really wanted her to not touch you. And how it worked, even though you did not know why. "So what you're saying is that I can be... physical when I just feel like it?"
"Correct. And the same applies to your friend hearing you."
You cringed at the word ‘friend’. "So she actually only heard me because I kind of wanted her to?"
The alicorn nods. You begin to understand now, or at least you're under such impression. You recall the thought that was in the back of your head behind that bush. That you somehow knew the right thing to do.
"Whatever it was that she revealed to you, it's probably resulted in you wanting to walk up to her and demand more information."
"Yes, on some level that was exactly what happened, even if it was not what I wanted to do in the end."
"But it was enough. Right there and then you wanted her to hear you, and you made it so that she did."
You instinctively look to the spot you were hiding in. "But some time after that she heard me when I rustled some leaves. And I didn't exactly do that on purpose there."
Ivory gives a thoughtful hum. "My guess is that at this point you were still stuck in the mindset of influencing the world, so to speak. If you didn't really want to be hidden from Rainbow, then you didn't exactly switch right away."
Come to think of it, you were a bit too distracted to care back then. You tried to recall events from your past, instead of focusing on stealth, so it makes sense.
"There's also another factor that might be in play here." The mare adds, causing you to raise your sort of existent eyebrow. "You're still used to being alive, even if it sounds a touch odd."
"I can't help but to agree," you say before sneaking a peek at your body that seems very much not alive.
Ivory chuckles softly before continuing. "You still expect to behave like a material being. When you step on the grass, you think that it will bend. When you step in sand, you expect to leave a hoofprint." You flare her a questioning look, and she corrects herself. "Yes, a footprint rather. And when you reach out to touch someone..." she interrupts herself by stopping in front of you, causing you to follow. You know where this is going, she's done that before. For some reason she likes to touch your shoulder when she talks. "... you expect them to feel it." The mare says before booping your nose with her hoof.
You scrunch hard and raise your hand to protect yourself from any further invasions of your nasal privacy. It seems however that whatever the purpose of this ruthless act was, it was already achieved as no more hooves were heading towards you right now.
Upon seeing your reaction the alicorn bursts into a healthy laughter and begins swishing her obsidian tail.
"You know, with all the ways I've seen death impersonated in my life, none came close to you," you state while rubbing your nose.
She controls herself enough to respond while wiping a single tear from her eye. "I'm going to give you the benefit of a doubt and take that as a compliment."
"I mean, I just didn't expect you to be so..." You pause and take a good look at her. Her eyes are watery from the laugh she had a second ago, but you could still see both amusement and growing curiosity. Her head is very slightly tilted, her tail continuing its pendulum motion as she watches you with anticipation. "Well, light."
She looks down at her chests and touches the fluff above her neckpiece with her hoof. "Why, do you not like the shade? Would you prefer it black?"
"No no, I meant, lighthearted. Happy. Joyful."
As if to prove your point, she giggles before asking "And do you consider yourself disappointed with that?"
"More like ‘pleasantly surprised’. I'm not sure what I expected, but I'm glad I was wrong anyway."
"Well, I try to make the best out of my situation. If I had to take everything seriously and act all grim all the time, I'd go insane." She circles her hoof next to her head in a universal gesture. "But I don't get to be like this all the time - far from it. When a soul must cross my domain, I guide it the best I can, and that's not the time for jokes."
You raise an eyebrow. "But my predicament is the time for jokes?"
"Precisely." She says with a huge grin.
You scoff and raise your head high in the air, trying to do your best Rarity impression. "Very well then, I see how things are. Now if you don't mind, I'll be going somewhere else, since apparently I am not being taken seriously here." And with that you hastily walk past the mare and head towards Thundercunt and your poor, violated body.
Ivory however does not fall for it one bit. "A great decision little one, you should put your hoof down when you're treated like that." She says before cantering towards you and easily catching up. "And I'll go with you. Heavens know what you might do to without my watchful eye."
You manage to keep your face stiff for about 3 seconds, before the sight of alicorn trotting at your side with the proud smile breaks you. You scoff and give in to the amusement, not able to pretend anymore.
"Oh really? And what did I ever do to earn your concern?"
"Well, there's that episode when you died today, and that's a bit worrisome."
You grab the base of your nose between the thumb and index finger before snorting. "Never change Ivory, never change."
You're answered with what you consider by now her trademark grin. "Thanks, I wasn't planning on doing that anyway."
And with that you both make towards the oak you saw Dash climb a moment ago, giggling like a pair of schoolgirls.
The weirdest pair of schoolgirls under the sun, no doubt.
* * *
Another oaken leaf gets stuck in your mane as you fly to the next branch up. Your ascent was painfully slow, but it was not your fault.
Well, not directly anyway. You know, in the greater scope it probably was your fault - you wouldn't have to carry Anon up this forsaken tree if you didn't hurt him. But the speed itself was the result of his weight slowing you down. So not your fault. He shouldn't be eating all those gross things. Like cheese, meat, and eggs.
You shudder involuntarily at the last one. You always considered Anon weird, him being alien and whatnot. But the eggs thing was pushing it too far. He was eating all of them, and even tried to make you eat some too. Well, he won't be doing that for a good while now, or anything else really.
You sigh. You really fucked up today. First you knocked out the only human in Equestria, who at very least was your friend's friend, even if you two never got along too well. Then you almost went crazy. And the seemingly genius plan of hiding him in the oak canopy you saw earlier turned up to be a bit flawed.
Sure, it would provide a great amount of shade, and would make it less likely for a random pony to stumble on him and… draw some wrong conclusions. But not only was he heavy as a boulder, he was also extremely inflexible. He got stuck on a thick branch earlier, and you decided to just keep pulling him up. A normal pony would either let go, or just stretch their limb to accommodate.
But not Anon. When you heard a snap you thought that the damn branch gave up, but in the end it was a human leg that was weaker and now his foot was stuck at a very odd angle. You never saw him put it that way, so it was a safe bet that you popped his joint or something. Normally you'd see that as a big issue, but seeing as how he didn’t react at all, you had bigger worries. If you caused him to fall into some kind of coma, this could be dangerous for his life.
...
Where do ponies go after death? Would Anon go there to? He would end up dying in the land of ponies, so probably. But then what? Would they let him in? And who are "they" anyway?
Your spine is overrun with a cold shiver. You REALLY didn't want to think about that thing in particular. Whatever creature would be there to welcome you would have to be scary as Tartarus. Well, maybe not as Tartarus, since it was guarded by that whole Cerberus dog.
...
Would you go there? If you ended up killing a... more or less innocent creature, would it be worth being condemned for eternity? You could not hide what you did from "them" either. Celestia would be hard enough to trick, Twilight would be manageable.
But Death? How could you lie to her if she, or he, or whatever, no doubt talked to Anon when he died. And you doubt he would be covering your rump in that scenario.
Whatever. That won’t happen, because you are going to see to Anon getting well. You messed up, and you will fix it.
So when you will have to face "her," you’ll be able to look into her eyes with a mostly clear conscience. Into her cold, empty gaze. And hear her lifeless voice.
No, no, no. You stupid filly, focus. Anon. Tree. Up. Now.
You grab his shoulders and flutter your wings with double the effort. You swear that with each branch he was somehow getting heavier. That, or you were growing weaker. But there's not much left to go. A few more branches and the canopy will be so thick there's no way anypony will spot him, and he will be safe from the sun.
You settle Anon with a thud and wipe the sweat out of your eyes. This was a workout, as you don’t usually lift weights in flight at Wonderbolts trainings. But there's a perfect branch right above you. Nice and wide, it will nest him for now, until you return with some help.
Come on, last effort.
You focus hard on ignoring your aching muscles and shorter breath. So hard in fact, that you didn't hear the beehive you were now floating towards. Not until it was too late anyway.
You manage to settle Anon on the branch of your choice. You even make sure that he is safe from falling and can be left alone for a bit. But that was going to be the last thing you did, because you finally realise the neighborhood you just gave him. And his new neighbors came to say hi.
To your flank.
With their stingers.
You honestly couldn't care less as to why, but when you were too preoccupied with safely nestling Anon, you upset a nearby branch with the hive on it. Not the smartest thing to do, to be honest, but this isn't the time for self reflection. This is the time for panic. Again, a running theme today.
You spring up into the air the instant you realise your situation. Unfortunately you were still in the thick oaken canopy, and above you was another branch, now probably wearing an imprint of a pony head. The concussion you got from this is rather short-lived though, as a sting to your rear area brings you back to reality. Oh, there goes gravity, as you take into the air once more, this time aware of the branch above you. You make your way towards the edge of this green-brown maze as soon as you can, which is not soon enough as far as your rump is concerned. But hey, it is really difficult to navigate this particular airspace, so you won't feel to bad about yourself. When you get to think about it anyway.
Finally you break free into the open air, and relief fills your heart. That is until you notice that the bees have followed you. No getting away this easily it seems. You make a dash towards the stream you know is not far from here at all. Even if you were faster than the angry swarm, it would stay relentless in its pursuit, though the water should bring you safety.
You can now see the azure ribbon that will soon prove to be your sanctuary. Hopefully. Normally outrunning something as slow as a swarm of bees wouldn't be a problem for you, but all the heavy lifting left you rather exhausted. You could feel the bases of your wings beginning to burn with the pain you normally didn't feel until much, much later into a flight routine. But then again, you were made for speed, not heavy lifting and Anon was quite a heavy person to carry around. Not as heavy as your sins though.
A sharp sting in your withers brings you back from the moment of reflection. For a second there you're scared that the Celestia damn swarm has caught up with you, but it was not the case. It was just a protest of your tired body, that added on to the list of things that hurt you now. Wings, forelegs, withers, flanks, rump, and muzzle. Be it from fatigue or bees, almost all of your body feels like it is on fire, which only makes the water this much more of a promising goal.
The last meters feel like flying through mud, but you finally make it. You dive under the surface of the cold stream and feel the clashing sensations on your skin. The little insects' venom trying to overflow you with the burn, while the welcoming embrace of water attempts to override it with a pleasant chill. It partially succeeds in doing so, and you're eager to feel any relief at this point. You will need to take care of the stings properly soon, but for now you should be alright.
The mad dive from the tree left your breath rather short though, and you are forced to surface yourself much sooner than you would prefer to. You raise your head into the air, and after taking a deep breath you look around.
You do not see any bees chasing you now, but you're not exactly happy with what you do see.
"O-oh my goodness Dashie, are you o-okay?" asked Fluttershy with real concern in her voice.