//------------------------------// // Her beginning // Story: My Little Death Note // by Caberea //------------------------------// After Twilight had sealed the deal with the Old Man she had promptly fallen asleep. She hadn’t even had time to make it to her bed before the exhaustion overcame her, but considering the energy she had expended it wasn’t much of a surprise. After all, it wasn’t every day that she came up with an entire spell. Though exhausted, she couldn’t have been happier about her new creation, maybe she could show her friends it, or perhaps even Celestia, the princess would be so pleased to see her student come so far. No, she couldn’t show them. She certainly couldn’t show Celestia. What would happen if she thought her student was trying to surpass her? Would Celestia praise her for her achievements, or would she fear her for them? What efforts would Celestia go to in order to stop Twilight from becoming stronger than her; she had admitted herself that she had slaughtered hundreds to extend her own lifespan, so what would she do to extend her reign? All another reason for her to learn Death Magic. She had to be ready to ascend to her position as goddess of the new world, and if Celestia was a half-Shinigami, then she would have to be stronger than her, stronger than Star, stronger than anypony. Time magic could be left out of the equation. She doubted that there was anypony left in Equestria, let alone their whole world, that knew time magic thoroughly. She had done some study on time magic, and very ponies learnt beyond how to slow time in areas, as otherwise they risked damaging reality. Twilight highly doubted that Celestia would be willing to risk such destruction just to stop her student. The odds would still not be in Twilight’s favor, even if she could master Death Magic, Celestia had hundreds of years of experience; Twilight had a bit over twenty. She would need followers, but they would need to understand the power she had, the true righteousness she wielded. ------------------------------------------------------ Twilight slept fitfully that night, dreams of Celestia banishing her from Equestria, being hunted down by Star, having her friends all turn on her. All seemed to be entirely unconnected except for one worrying similarity; everypony seemed to be out to get her. The dreams seemed so vivid, as some dreams did, but these dreams were different, they felt and seemed far too real, yet there was a part of her mind telling her that they were not. Normally that wouldn’t be too different from her regular dreams, her mind rational even while she was asleep. But this time her mind did not tell her things were a dream, only that they were not real…yet. She woke suddenly to see Star standing over her, the ball of fire from yesterday bearing down slowly upon Twilight. The next second Twilight blinked and it was gone, nothing but a phantom image from her dreams. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. There was something distinctly wrong about that unicorn…something very wrong indeed. After a large breakfast to accommodate for the amount of energy she had used yesterday, Twilight had spent the rest of the day locked in the basement with the Death Note. Deciding that she would be there for a while, she had conjured what would likely be described as an extremely comfortable beanbag. Just because it was a basement didn’t mean it needed to sacrifice comfort. Before Twilight began writing in the notebook, she did a scan of the Death Note, checking for if it had a magical print of sorts. Whenever a unicorn used magic, an imprint of that spell was left on them and the object they cast it on for a few days. It wasn’t difficult to scan for the Magical Print of a spell, but only advanced unicorns could detect what spell had been cast. It was rather strange, but the Death Note didn’t have a single trace of magic in it. Perhaps the workings of the Shinigami were undetectable to the scan, or maybe they didn’t even leave a Magical Print. Perhaps it wasn’t even a type of magic, though if that were the case Twilight had no idea what it was. Scanning the Death Note had given her an idea. What spell was it that Star had used to destroy her library? She still had the ashes of the books that Star had destroyed, as she had been debating whether she should throw them away or give them a proper burial. Twilight slid the Death Note underneath the conjured beanbag and unlocked the basement door, making sure to lock as she left. Even if she were leaving it only for a minute, it wouldn’t do to have anypony enter there. The ashes were hidden within a small pouch underneath her pillow. It wasn’t that she wanted to keep them a secret from everypony else, though she doubted revealing that she kept the ashes of the destroyed books would be a good idea. It was rather that she didn’t want Star to find them. She didn’t know what that pony would do, but Twilight found herself fearing every minute that she was near that unicorn. There was something strange about the ashes too, or rather their Magical Print. Namely the fact that there was none, or at least, there wasn’t any sort of magic that could cause it to turn it into its current state. There was a small trace of illusion magic on them, but it felt wrong, as if it were tainted with…something else. Again those thoughts returned to her, could Star really be a Shinigami? All the facts seemed to point to it, her magic was almost undetectable, similar to the way the Death Note seemed to possess no magic. Not only that, but she was insanely powerful, and didn’t seem to be affected by the Death Note either. So why couldn’t she accept it? Was it really that hard to believe that there was another Shinigami in her life? Celestia and Luna were part Shinigami, and likely Cadence and Blueblood too in that case. She had recently met The Old Man and Tenshura, at roughly the same time that she had met Star too. All things considered, was another Shinigami such a strange thought? If Star truly was a Shinigami, then Twilight would need to become a lot stronger in order to defeat her. But she would also need to keep track of how much of the Death Note she had relinquished. If she lost control of the Death Note entirely then Star would be able to kill her off if they had their own Death Note. She needed to be stronger, strong enough to kill Star. Once Star was dead she would be able to cleanse all the evil from her beautiful world. But until then Star was a threat. Star had made it clear from the beginning that she was an enemy, and she was a murderer as well now. There was no place in her world for criminals, none but the grave. Twilight left her analysis of the ashes. Dissatisfied with the results, but determined to do what she must to cleanse the world of its impurities. Twilight went back into the basement, before she realized that she would need the Mind Canvas in order to perform her task. Using her magic she levitated the paper down to her, before firmly locking the basement door once again. “Old Man?” As the Old Man appeared right in front of her it occurred to Twilight how quickly she had grown accustomed to the Shinigami. It had only been yesterday that she had first encountered the creature and she already addressed him as if he were a regular acquaintance. A small smile spread across her face as she thought of how much the Death Note had changed her life, and how much it could still do for her. “Yes my student.” The Old Man said it in an imitation of Celestia’s voice, before dropping it immediately in favor of his deeper, darker tone. “Or would you rather ‘my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle’, or perhaps-“ Twilight’s smile was dashed from her face and replaced with a scowl as she cut off the Shinigami before he could continue. “The time has come to begin cleansing this world Old Man. You promised your aid in this for part of the Death Note, and so you shall give it.” Twilight paused for dramatic effect. “Unless…Do you no longer want the Death Note?” The Old Man didn’t even seem phased in the slightest. “Did I strike a nerve? Or is imitating one’s teacher taboo in this age, or perhaps she was more to you than that?” Twilight outwardly let out a laugh at the Old Man’s accusation, but inside she was still torn between her feelings for Celestia. Was the princess an obstacle or a friend? Did Celestia love her, or had the alicorn simply needed to maintain control over her? It was almost as if she felt her heart wrenching itself in two. Celestia had confessed that both she and Luna were guilty of murder, but could she bring herself to kill them. Were Cadence and Blueblood murderer’s too? Could she kill her brother’s wife? It would all have to wait for later, perhaps she would never need to confront them, and surely they had both repented for their crimes during their existence. All that mattered was if they stood in her way. “If the time comes for it, then we will deal with Celestia. Until then we have a world to purify.” The rest of the day passed in an expectable fashion. Twilight would request the names of criminals that were still alive, both pony and non-pony, along with their crimes. She requested them in differing orders as well. After about ten kills in alphabetical order, she would request the ones with most recent crimes, then after five kills she would change the order to something obscure such as the order in which the laws that were broken were created. It was a tedious process, but it was also the only way to avoid a pattern being discovered. She needed the world to know that there was somepony purifying it, ridding the world of its evil, but it would not do to give away anything that might lead ponies to know that she was their savior; at least not yet. For the moment the killings would seem criminal, detectives would be called in, and an investigation would be conducted. But in time they would all see the light, which could only lead to a better world. If there were an obvious pattern in the killings then it would become apparent that whoever was doing the killings was organized, and having organized the entirety of the Winter Wrap-up once, it would very quickly bring suspicion onto her. She couldn’t let that happen. It was only once she felt her stomach rumbling that she let herself finish her work. Before she unlocked the basement she ran over the names one more time. She counted the criminals as she went; the hundreds of names listed all proof of her might. This was perfect. The perfect world would some come to be, a world of order, a world of harmony, her world. Everypony would understand the sacrifices that had to be made to maintain that perfection, they would hail her as their goddess, the wielder of light and darkness, life and death. There would be obstacles until then, Star, Celestia, Luna; but once they were out of the way her world would be perfect…But what about the eyesore upon her perfect world that would help it come to be? The Old Man was a Shinigami, it was his job to kill ponies, but in her perfect world there would be no more need for that. She would command life and death, so that left only one solution. Once her perfect world was realized, The Old Man would have to die, all the Shinigami would have to die. Perhaps the royal family had earned their pardon, perhaps not, that would be decided in time, but Tenshura and the Old Man had to die. Twilight put the book back into the hidden pocket of her saddlebag, deciding as an afterthought to enchant it to be better hidden, casting a spell to make it appear as though there wasn’t even a pocket. She trusted that she would be able to remember where the hidden pocket was, and even if she couldn’t and it took some time to find it, it would be better than it being able to be found at all. Leaving the basement she found that nightfall had already arrived, the stars out in all their glory as Luna’s night settled across the sky. It was truly a beautiful sight to see, but as Twilight gazed upon it, she couldn’t help but think of how much better her own would look. What would she have for her first night as goddess? An aurora borealis sounded nice. A way to show the world the true beauty that she had created for them. Perhaps she could even get Rainbow Dash to perform a sonic rainboom that night, and let the stars catch its color as they twinkled in the sky. The sky, the earth, and the sea; it would all be hers soon; her perfect world. -------------------------------------------------- It was hard to tell how many ponies that mare had killed in that day alone. Normally he would have been able to keep track of all of them since it had originally been his Death Note. But he had never met an entity capable of writing so many names so quickly. Even he would have trouble keeping up if he restricted himself to the use of mortal methods. The preposterousness of it all almost made him want to laugh. He, the Old Man, reduced to being the mentor and, for the most part, slave to some run-of-the-mill unicorn. All he could do was hope that Ryuk was suffering as much as he was…in fact, he could do more than that. Was he not the original Shinigami, creator of the Death Note’s? If he had to be bound to this world, then should not the other Shinigami be bound likewise? Even though he hadn’t had to expend any real energy that day, it still took quite an effort to bring the Shinigami down. It wasn’t as though he could just bind the Death Note’s to the world, there were some Shinigami, such as Ryuk, that had no Death Note’s to bind. Those he had to forcibly commit to watching over somepony. By the time he had finished pulling down all the Shinigami to Equestria, he was trembling with the exhaustion that the feat had brought upon him, and he could swear he felt the effort had cost him a couple thousand years of his life, but it was done. Now it was simply a matter of choosing when to torment Ryuk about it.