//------------------------------// // Ghosts of War // Story: A Pony Called Death // by thehalfelf //------------------------------// Ghosts of War “Come on!  Is that the best you’ve got?”  Rose Petal grunted with effort, sending the scythe whistling through the air, ending its arc with a satisfying thump as the blade imbedded itself into the wooden target.  She struggled for a moment, wiggling the flexible steel back and forth until the scythe came free, swinging back around to rest across Rose’s back, as she had been taught. “Again,” Dashing Cloud said.  “Again!” Rose once again held the scythe surrounded by her magical energy--something she had learned was far more effective than the ‘hands’ she had been using--and swing again, throwing everything she could into the swing.  At long last, the scythe went straight through the target.  The wooden figure stood whole for a moment, before the top half collapsed and fell onto the tiled floor with a loud clatter.  Exhausted, Rose dropped the scythe. “Not terrible, I suppose,” Cloud said, picking up the scythe with his teeth and bringing it back to Rose.  “But still not good enough.” “It’s never good enough!”  Rose shouted.  “I’ve been whacking at targets for almost a week and it’s never good enough!  What more do you want from me?” “You need to get better.  If you have to banish a spirit, it’s not going to stand still, especially if it really wants to stay.  It’ll fight, and if you don’t win, you might not live to appoint a successor.” “I thought the cloak protected me from death,” Rose said, slinging the scythe onto her back before sitting on her haunches, relishing the cool marble floor. “Yeah, it’ll protect you from death, but if you get your soul sucked out?”  Cloud threw a hoof into the air.  “At that point, you’re just screwed.” “Then teach me to fight.  I don’t see how swinging at a wooden target is going to help.”  Rose motioned to the still standing half of the target.  “If that isn’t good enough, why am I wasting my time on it?” Cloud sighed.  “I will, in time, but you don’t have enough control over your scythe yet.  I don’t want to lose an ear because you’re flailing around, and we can’t just use a blunted one either.  That is a magic scythe, no non magic one is going to respond the same, and to be honest, I don’t know how much of your proficiency is given by the scythe itself.  We can’t just bate it either.  Because of the scythe’s magical nature, the bate will just slide right off, if we can put it on at all.” “Then how did you learn?”  Rose suppressed a smile.  The longer she kept him talking, the less time she would have to fight a block of wood. “Well, I never finished, exactly.”  At Rose’s questioning glance, Cloud said, “I’ll tell you the story, but only if you keep training.”  Rose groaned, but set up another target anyway, unlimbering the scythe.  “The Death before me was an earth pony, like you.  His name was Apple... Apple something, something Apple... it was so long ago.” Cloud stared off into the distance until the thunk of Rose’s scythe on wood drew him back into the present.  “Anyway, about two months into my training, he went with me on a difficult job, just like I’ve been doing with you.  But something went wrong.  We were separated in the Crystal North.  I was looking for him when a blizzard hit.  The cloak forced me back to Canterlot...” Schwing, thunk.  “And your master?” Rose asked, placing down a new target. Cloud shook his head.  “He never came back.  I sort of taught myself after that, with a little help from Fate and what aid Princess Celestia could give.” Rose embedded her scythe in another target and gave Cloud a sweaty, one-hooved hug.  The pegasus fluffed his wing, pushing the smaller mare away.  “Yick,” he said, “You’re gonna get me all sweaty.”  Rose’s smile fell for a moment before springing back, though not to her eyes.  “Come on, just a little bit more and we can take a bit of a break.” Rose turned her back, picked up the scythe, and sliced clean through with a grunt and a single swing. ***** “Alright, Rose,” Cloud said through the metal of his headpiece.  “Are you ready?” “Buck yeah!” Rose shouted, slinging the scythe down into the ready position Cloud taught her.  The gold pegasus raised an eyebrow.  “Uh, yeah.  Whenever you are.” “Now, are you sure there is no work to be done?” “There’s... something, but it isn’t urgent.  Come on, let’s do this!”  Rose lowered herself, centering her body and holding the scythe cocked just above her shoulder, blade pointed slightly down, point facing Cloud’s general direction. But he took off his helmet, letting his weapon’s point fall to the ground.  “What is the job?” “But, Cloud, you promised me yesterday we would fight!” Rose groused while figuring out her next job from the Instinct.  “It’s an, uh, spirit.” “Lingerer or ghost?” “What?” Cloud sighed.  “A lingerer is a spirit that has died, but for some reason or another can’t go to Eternity.  Usually, all we have to do is talk to them, or help them find peace, and they float on under their own power.  It’s the ghosts you have to worry about.  Those are ponies who are unhappy with Eternity, and force their way down.  They are the ones who you’ll have to fight and ultimately banish.” “Oh.”  Rose scratched her head.  “No, I have no idea.” “Well, that makes things a little more difficult...”  Cloud chewed his lip for a moment.  “Where is it?” After her first client a week previous, Rose had spent some of her time looking over maps of Equestria and other places where her services may be required to learn the basic geography, and more importantly, names.  “I’m not totally sure.  It’s somewhere outside of Equestria, to the west.  Other than that, I couldn’t tell you.” Cloud stared out the window for a few slow seconds.  “Alright, here’s what we’ll do.”  He turned back to face Rose.  “I’ll lead you, just like we’ve done before.  Keep your cloak on the whole time, no matter what.  We’ll see if we can deal with whatever kind of spirit it is.  If we can’t, we’ll come back here and I’ll train you in combat quickly, then you banish it.  Understood?” Rose nodded, giving Cloud a lopsided grin.  “Understood.  Cloak on, you lead us there, I mess with the spirit, we go home.” Cloud slipped on a cloak of his own before holding out a golden hoof.  Fighting down a smile, Rose put her white hoof on top.  Once again, she closed her eyes, focusing solely on the inexplicable urge to travel westward.  A brief moment later, she felt the sheet of cool water.  Seconds ticked by, growing ever longer as the two traveled across vast expanses of land and water. Dust clouded Rose’s vision as their long travel finally ended.  She coughed and spluttered, using the fur of one leg to try and rub the dust out of her eye.  Finally successful, she slowly opened her eyes, using a hoof to shade them from the bright sun.  Before Rose could say anything, Cloud pushed her to the ground, and motioned for her to be quiet, pointing into the air with one golden hoof. In the air, a battle raged.  Griffons, painted with strange and terrifying symbols on both their bodies and armor, flew through the air, slicing at one another with talons.  Arrows flew from the ground, shot by groups stationed on the ground.  Feathers flitted slowly down to the ground, every so often joined by bodies of slain griffons.  Thankfully, they hadn’t noticed Rose or her companion.  Yet. “Where are we?  What’s going on?” Rose whispered into Cloud’s ear.  When he didn’t respond, she repeated herself louder. “We’re in the New Griffon Republic.  As for what’s going on, it looks like another coup,” Cloud responded, with more than a bit of sarcasm.  “This would be the... fifteenth one in the last four decades...?” Rose’s eyes grew wide with astonishment.  “Fifteenth...?” “It’s a funny story really,” Cloud replied.  He cringed as an arrow embedded itself into the sand next to him.  “But I think it is one best told from safety.  I’m not invincible anymore.” Death nodded and began moving towards a copse of trees in the distance, crawling as close to the ground as possible.  Cloud followed suit.  The two made slow progress, stopping every time a griffon started flying lower, speeding up when an errant arrow landed anywhere nearby. They made it unnoticed and unharmed.  In the distance, the sky was hidden behind the airborne bodies of the fighting factions, though the cloud seemed thinner than when Rose and Cloud had arrived. “The New Griffon Republic,” Cloud said, taking off his cloak and taking a seat in the sun-heated sand, “was formed from a couple of government-less territories after the fall of the Great Empire two centuries ago.  Of course, each territory wanted total control over the others, so what began as a republic of equal representation of all slowly mutated and became a dictatorship that the griffons fought so long to replace. “Eventually, a group of them realized what had happened, and another bloody revolution started.  They won, after a few years of fighting, and the survivors swore to keep history from repeating itself.  Unfortunately, greed and ambition survives in spades, no matter where you are, and the cycle began again.” “But why don’t they just, stop.  Why do they continue to let corrupt... leaders rule their nation if the same things keep happening?  Why don’t they change?” Rose asked, moving to take off her cloak as well as the desert heat began to turn the black garment into a small inferno. “Leave it on, Rose.  I know, it can get hot.  Tell you what, you keep thinking on it, and tell me what you come up with when we get back to Canterlot.  Until then, let’s get a move on.  Where to?”  Cloud got to his hooves, folding his cloak and resting it across his back like a flat saddlebag. “Uh, we need to go right...”  Rose took one step to the right.  “Here.” Cloud raised an eyebrow.  “There’s nothing here.  I thought you said there was a job to do.” “That’s what I’ve been told,” Rose replied, putting a hoof over her eyes and looking around.  “But I don’t see anypony.” “Look out!”  Rose felt something hit her, and found herself lying in the hot sand, stunned.  Where she had been standing laid the body of an armored griffon, riddled with arrows.  He coughed weakly, small droplets of blood spraying from his mouth, before exhaling slowly, eyes fluttering closed. As Rose watched, a shimmery, slightly transparent, form of the griffon slowly got to his feet, shaking his body to readjust his feathers.  He turned then, noticing Rose and Cloud for the first time.  “You!  You two!  What are ponies doing in the Republic?” Cloud looked over to Rose, deferring the conversation to her, ready to step in if things got out of hoof.  “Hello,” the white mare said nervously.  “I-I am Rose Petal, and this is Dashing Cloud.  We come from Equestria.” “What are you doing here?” the ghost asked, glaring holes at the white mare and her golden companion. “I am D-Death.  I have come to--” Rose was interrupted by the griffon’s laugh. “That is very funny, little pony.  Now, what are you doing here?  Tell me before I have to string you up and take you to my captain,” he threatened, extending one razor-sharp claw. Rose blanched, words freezing up in her throat.  Cloud stepped forward, smoothly taking control of the conversation.  “Sir, I am Dashing Cloud.  We were sent here to send you to Eternity.  I am sorry.” The griffon laughed, but the color was quickly draining behind his feathers.  “You... you lie!  I am simply dreaming, and will wake up victorious from the glorious battle!” Cloud shook his head, and took a step forward.  “I’m sorry, but you won’t ever wake up again.  Just listen to my associate and we can make this easy.” “No!  No, I shall not go!”  Contrary to his protesting, the griffon was beginning to fade, the trees behind him becoming visible through his transparent features. “Just let go, and know you did your duty.  The generations after you will lead a better life for it.”  The griffon continued to disappear, his voice becoming fainter in time with his body, until nothing was left.  Cloud turned to look at Rose.  “And that’s how it’s done.” Rose blinked.  “But...” “I simply made him realize that it was time to move on; I eased his passage.  To be honest, most lingerers are that easy to deal with.  Once they understand, they start to fade.  Once they start to fade, all that is left is to soften the blow, as it were.  It isn’t necessary, but I always tried to work to make Death as painless as possible,” Cloud said, anticipating Rose’s question.  “Come on, let’s get back.” Once again, Cloud put his hoof on Rose’s, allowing the white mare to lead their jump back into the training hall in Canterlot.  At long last, Rose willed the Death cloak away, entertaining the thought that as it fell away, a great cloud of steam blew from her back to the frescoed ceiling. “Now then,” Cloud said, draping his cloak over one of the upturned chairs.  “Have you realized why the New Griffon Republic is locked in a cycle to dictatorship and warfare?” “Uhhh....”  Rose’s eyes wandered over the room’s familiar decoration as she frantically searched for an answer. “Ah well,” Cloud said with a massive sigh.  “I suppose it won’t be obvious to you, you’re too young.  The griffons of the Republic are raised and live their lives hearing about the ideals that their country was founded upon, even though they were never truly realized.  Each faction that rises to the top and starts the conflict does so saying that it will be different this time, so they all go and fight and die because they think it’ll make their lives and those of their children better.  History is written by the victor, Rose, and when those who know the truth are dead and buried, history is only as honest as those writing it.” Cloud turned and began walking towards the door.  “Do you ever think it will be different?” Rose asked, causing the gold pegasus to turn around. “I don’t know.  Power tends to draw individuals who lust for it.  Greed is like death, we can’t do anything to stop it, and it isn’t likely to change, no matter what we may do.  Anyway, I think that’s enough for today.  Farewell, Rose.  We shall continue tomorrow.”  With that, Cloud walked out the door as a cloud blocked the sun, leaving the white mare in the suddenly dark room.