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// Death 3 
// Story: The Next Lesson 
// by Bandy 
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Let us take a moment to acknowledge the significance of this soul’s accomplishment. 

The soul formerly known as Rainbow Charm had done something truly remarkable--she’d surprised Death twice in two consecutive lifetimes. Her life’s trajectory was supposed to extend far beyond that fateful day in the laboratory beneath Canterlot. She’d been meant to survive, carry guilt through the rest of her life, and have many small hard-earned moments of catharsis culminate sometime in her late seventies. 

But that... that was truly unanticipated. 

Death--the small piece of the larger universal consciousness tasked with ferrying dead souls into the higher-dimensional plane and preparing them for their next life--swelled with joy. In a single moment, she’d grown one step closer to flying out of the wheel of life and death. 

There would be time to work on her next life soon enough--a noblepony, perhaps, one born into providence. It was easier for a pony to pass through the eye of a needle than navigate the myriad challenges of dealing with unearned wealth. But first, her soul deserved a reprieve. A short and easy life. Something to bolster her spirits, no pun intended, and tease her with the bliss that awaited her when she became the lucky thirteenth soul to escape the cycle of reincarnation.

A bird, perhaps.

Birds were misunderstood creatures--not because ponies didn’t think they were beautiful, but because they didn’t understand just how truly beautiful they were. Bird songs were Death’s favorite music. Ponies, not being able to speak bird, were limited to appreciating the melodic qualities of their songs. But Death spoke every conceivable language. So when the birds sang, he understood. 

The truest beauty of a birdsong came in its lyrics. When a bird sang, it always sang in perfect rhyme.