A Bad Day to Fish

by FlashKenshin77

34 - Death's Gambit

Mike’s eyes flew open, his fur drenched in cold sweat. All he could see is pink as he untangled himself from Fluttershy. She turned away from him and continued to sleep peacefully. He stared at her for a moment before leaning forward, resting his head in his hooves. “What have I done…” He whispered, tears gently hitting the blanket.
Fluttershy yawned, wearily opening her eyes as she turned to look at him. “Michael?” She said and finally noticed his body rocking with quiet sobs. She quickly got up and wrapped her hooves around his neck. “What’s wrong? Is everything alright?”
He was silent, burying his face into her chest, the tears soaking her fur.
She hugged him tightly. “It’s ok, I’m here…” She whispered in his ear.
He barely reacted, his mind elsewhere. “I should’ve listened Flutters… I should’ve listened but I caused it anyway…” He struggled to say, repeating it over and over.
She looked at him dumbfounded before forcing him to look her in the eye. “What are you talking about?”
He avoided her eyes. “Half of a half…”
“Michael, tell me what happened.”
“I was arguing with Death and he promised to take Martin’s soul to settle a debt with Apollo and I gave up half of my soul, my human half, and Death will take Martin’s humanity and give him a new soul. I did it anyway, no matter what I do, I just caused it anyway… Martin has less than a week...”
Her jaw dropped. “Y-you made a deal with Death?”
He nodded in her hooves.
She gulped. “A-and he said Martin only has less than a week to live?”
He nodded again.
“W-what about this humanity thing, did he say what would happen to Martin?”
He shook his head. “All he said was he’d give him a new soul.”
She held him in her hooves tightly, kissing the top of his head before getting up, holding his hoof as she headed towards the door. “We have to go check on Martin.”
“It’s my fault though, all my fault.”
She frowned. “Michael, it doesn’t matter right now. We have to make sure Martin is safe.”
“Seems he finally broke.” Discord said, munching on a carrot.
She eeped and stared at Discord. “W-what are you d-doing here?”
He yawned, stretching out as the remnants of the carrot hit the bed. “Nothing much, just catching up on a few things.” He floated towards Michael and poked him with a claw. “I think a couple screw came loose.”
She glared at him. “Leave him alone…”
He laughed. ‘So the Element of Kindness does have some assertiveness in her.” He floated upside down and looked at her. “What’s with the glare? It’s not like I’ve done anything.”
She stomped her hoof. “We don’t have time… we need to go check on Martin!”
“By all means, go check on him. I’ll stay here and watch Mr. Broken here.” He said, making shooing motions.
She shook her head. “No… he’s coming with me, right Michael?”
He was silent, lost in his own little world.
She looked at him, surprised. “Mi-Michael?” It was silent for a moment, her mane sliding to cover her face. “O-ok… I understand…” She said, leaving the room. They could hear the front door slowly open and click shut.
“Fluttershy…” Mike whispered and raised a hoof at the closed door, his mind in turmoil. Come on! Finally a few moments later, much to Discord’s delight, he flung himself after her and galloped as fast as he could.
Fluttershy walked through town , her head close to the ground, trying not to cry as she towards the farm. She ignored the few ponies awake, each going about their own business.
“Hey Fluttershy, you ok?” Spike asked and ran up to her, his arms full of quills and parchment.
She gazed at him, her eyes unfocused. “Hey Spike…”.
He looked at her sadly. “What’s wrong?” He asked, juggling everything into one arm and held the other on her shoulder.
She sighed. “I-I don’t know… something’s wrong with Michael and Martin…”
“What do you mean wrong? Wrong how?” He asked, confused.
She lowered her head again. “I don’t know…” She mumbled before walking past him towards the farm.
He watched her walked away and sighed, shaking his head. He turned around and almost got kicked by Michael as he flew overhead, towards Fluttershy. “Hey! Watch it Michael!” He yelled angrily.
Fluttershy raised her head and looked at Mike. “Michael…” She turned around and galloped towards him.
Mike landed right in front of her and we stared at each other for a second before he turned away. “I’m sorry…”
She grabbed his face and turned it so they’d be face to face. She gently kissed him. He closed his eyes and kissed back. “Why don’t you two get a room, sheesh.” Spike said, shaking his head and headed back towards the library.
Fluttershy blushed. “Um… w-we have to go check on Martin…” She said, breaking the kiss.
“Y-yeah…” He agreed with a small blush and held out a hoof for her.
She smiled and grabbed it, gently bopping him on the snout. “Don’t ever do that again…” She whispered into his ear and kissed his cheek.
“I won’t.” He faintly smiled and leaned in close, nuzzling her cheek as they quickly made their way to the farm.
“Aww, they’re no fun.” Discord pouted, watching the scene from a cloud.
Death chuckled. “There will be enough chaos once Martin becomes one with his new soul.” He said, standing next to the draconequus.
Discord laughed. “I still can’t believe you didn’t tell Mike, I thought he got you good with that half of a half schtick.”
Death smiled. “No one outsmarts me, at least not so easily.”
“Didn’t see it coming though, did ya?”
He nodded. “Yes… but he still has to learn, he has no idea what I’m capable of.” He chuckled.
Discord yawned again and stretched, the cloud rearragainging itself with every movement. “Seems like it gets more and more interesting every day.” He paused and looked up at Death. ”So this new soul of Martins’...”
“Yes?”
Discord grinned. “I think I got a few ideas…”
“As long as you don’t mess with my plans…”
“Me? Mess with plans? I’d never do that…” Discord said melodramatically.
Death glared and Discord could feel an invisible force squeezing his throat.”Discord, you’re only immortal as long as I let you live.”
Discord’s eyes glowed and Death’s grip vanished. “Don’t forget I gave you that power John, without me, the cosmos wouldn’t exist. Chaos started this universe and it’ll be there till the end of time.”
“You gave me the power to decide upon life and death, that also means I choose wether you die… or live. Even if the universe ends, no one stands above me but I still owe you that favor…”
Discord shook his head. “You may try but its hard to kill the thing that gave you power, that he could take away. As long as I see fit to, that is.” He paused for a moment. “Think of the chaos that’d cause, no Death…”
Death smiled. “You’ll be surprised, my power has changed a lot over time.” He looked at the farm. “But I have no reason to try and kill you.”
Discord sighed. “I don’t think it’d be good to fight in this realm, too much damage. By the way, Martin will know soon.”
Death laughed. “We will see if he copes…”
“I’d like to believe he could, if he plays his cards right.”
Death nodded and looked at the sky. “I have to go now, a soul needs to be collected.”
Discord waved at him. “I’ll keep an eye on things, make sure nothing too drastic happens while you’re away.”
Death glared at Discord one last time before he disappeared. Discord grinned and turned to look at the farm. “Now the fun begins…”

=

Mike and Fluttershy finally got to the farm, everything seemed normal. As they got closer to the farmhouse, the light was on upstairs and no pony was out, getting ready for applebucking. Fluttershy gently knocked on the door and they waited for a moment before Mike slowly opened the door.
“Hello?” He said.
Somepony rushed down the stairs and turned on the light. It was AJ, her trusty hat gone and she looked exhausted. “Michael? What are ya doin’ here?” She asked.
“Is everything alright? You look a bit worried…”
She shook her head. “Somethin’ wrong with Martin. We were getting ready fer bed when he fell over. He’s awfully cold and pale. Ah… ah don’t know what’s wrong with him…”
Fluttershy and Mike shared a look. “Where is he?”
“Upstairs.” She said, leading upstairs to the guest room. Martin was lying on the bed, wrapped in several blankets, shaking.
“Martin?” Mike asked, gently nudging him.
The human didn’t respond. He seemed to be lost in his own world, barely breathing as he grunted in pain.
“But he said he still had a week!” Mike yelled.
AJ looked at the pegasus confused. “What are ya talkin’ bout?”
“Death and him had a bit of an exchange you see Applejack.” Discord said, appearing with a bright flash, gnawing on an apple. “Well these are the best I’ve ever tasted, your boast is true after all.”
Everypony in the room jumped and glared at him. “Wha? Death? What’s going on… Ah’m sorta lost.” AJ asked, staring at Mike for answers.
“Oh my dear Applejack, Mike’s been keeping quite a few secrets… from all of you.” Discord finished the apple stem disappearing. “It seemed Death needs Martin for a bit of revenge.”
Mike turned and went to yell at Discord as AJ interrupted him. “What?”
“What did you call it? A ‘half of a half’?” Discord grinned at him. “It seems Mike here gave up his human half of his soul for Martin here… but didn’t realize Martin’s soul was already split into two. And since Mike gave up his human half… Martin had to give up…”
AJ turned from the chaos god to stare at Mike. “What… what did ya do?”
Mike sighed. “Death was going to get revenge on the previous Grandmaster by taking out Martin… so I thought I could stop it by giving up half of my soul, or life for Martin. I didn’t know he could only give up his human soul.”
AJ sadly looked at Martin. “What’s gonna happen ta him?”
“Who knows? He could stay like that forever, he could die. Or if he does comes back, be a new person.” Discord shrugged.
AJ and Fluttershy gasped as Mike lowered his head. “I’m sorry AJ, I thought I could stop it…” He quickly realized something and glared at Discord. “How do you know all this?”
“Oh I’ve been around…” Discord grinned evilly.
Martin took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “What… where am I?”
“Martin? Are you ok?” Mike asked, everypony rushing over to him.
He looked at his friend, trying to focus as his vision grew blurry. “Michael… what are you doing here?” He grunted in pain.
“To make sure you were alright.”
He closed his eyes, trying to breath. “Th-that’s nice…”
“How are you feeling?
He forced a smile. “C-cold, weak… pain… agony… Nothing new…”
Mike grimaced. “AJ, stay with him and keep him talking, I’m gonna go get Nurse Redheart.” Mike whispered.
AJ nodded. “What bout our floatin’ Spirit of Chaos here?”
Mike looked and Discord waved at him. “I’m not sure, can’t really tell a demigod what to do.” He said, heading towards the door.
AJ looked at Discord helplessly. “Bu… but…” She frowned. “Fine.” She said, sitting down next to Martin on the bed.
“Well I feel so welcomed here…” Discord said as he followed the pegasus out.
Fluttershy bit her lower lip as she followed him as well, passing Discord and leaned close to Mike’s ear. “Discord’s following us…”
“I figured as much.” He whispered back. “What do you want to do?”
She quickly glanced at the demigod. “I-I don’t know…”
“Psst… what are we whispering about?” Pinkie asked as she stood on Fluttershy’s back.
They both screamed and Pinkie hopped off her back. “Pinkie? Where did you come from?” Fluttershy asked, startled.
“From my mommy silly.” Pinkie giggled, bopping her on the snout. “So what are you two-” She noticed Discord and smiled. “OH!! Are you going to make it rain chocolate again?!”
Discord laughed. “Maybe Pinkie, maybe…”
Fluttershy tapped Pinkie on the shoulder. “Umm… Pinkie, we have to get Nurse Redheart… Martin isn’t feeling well…”
Pinkie gasped .”Maybe he just needs some cake! Whenever I feel down, I eat a slice and I’m all super better.” She said, hopping away.
“Now that’s my kind of pony.” Discord laughed.
Mike grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof. “Come on, we need to hurry.”
They rushed to the hospital, hoping Nurse Redheart was there already.

=

Martin laid in bed, barely any feeling in his body, except pain. It was cold, his body continuously shaking as he weakly pulled the covered up to his chin. It was mostly silent in the room, save for his labored efforts to continue breathing.
“It’s gonna be fine, Redheart will fix ya up in no time.” AJ said, putting a hoof on his shoulder.
“T-thanks AJ…” He shivered. “What’s ha-appening to me?”
“Ah’m not sure sugarcube… Mike and Fluttershy seem ta know though.”
He nodded. “A-aye…” Burning pain erupted in his chest as he gasped and grabbed the left side of his chest.
“You ok? What hurts?”
He gasped for air, the agony overwhelming. He tried to reply, but nothing came out.
“Martin? Are ya ok?” She asked frantically, gently touching where he was holding his chest.
The pain ebbed for a moment and he took a deep breath, struggling to get feeling back in his limbs. “Wh-what’s happening to me?” He asked again, the pain coming back for another round.
Her ears fell flat against her head. “Ah… Ah don’t know…” She said, a tear slowly sliding down her cheek.
He struggled to breath, his body feeling like dead weight. He tried to take a deep breath but he got very little air.
“Martin, just take it easy, Mike’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He tried to grab his chest but his arm wouldn’t move. “M-my arm… I-I can’t feel my arm…”
She grabbed his head and squeezed it as hard as she could. “Did ya feel that?”
He barely shook his head. “N-no…” He gasped and started to hyperventilate.
“Where is he?” Redheart’s voice came from downstairs and everypony rushed upstairs. Redheart walked over, a bag on her back. “Martin, can you hear me?” She asked.
He looked at her, everything out of focus as he nodded.
“Good, what hurts?” She asked, taking out a stethoscope.
He motioned at his entire body, not wanting to waste precious air.
“Hmm…” She said to herself as she rested the stethoscope on his chest. She poked him a few times, trying to gauge what he could feel. “It’s almost like a stroke with the loss of feeling but he should be able to breath…” She thought outloud. “We need to get him to the hospital so I can examine him more carefully.”
“Is that even possible? Ah mean he’s not doing so good… he might freeze or die before ya even reach the hospital!”
“Not if we can teleport.” Mike said, taking off to get Twilight.
Martin opened his eyes and looked around the room. He noticed all the ponies but also a blurry black figure standing at the end of the bed, staring at him. He blinked a few times and tried to move away, grunting in pain.
“Martin? Stay with me, who’s the owner of Sweet Apple Acres?” Redheart asked.
He closed his eyes as he tried to focus. “A-AJ…”
“Good, whose the Element of Magic?”
“T-Twilight…”
A flash of light blinded everyone. “Oh my Celestia, Martin are you ok?” Twilight said as she rushed over.
He gasped for breath again, feeling like a fish out of water and didn’t respond.
“Twilight, we need to get him to the hospital.” Redheart said.
“Oh right…” Twi said, her horn glowing again as everypony teleported there. She almost fell over from exhaustion but Mike caught her.
“Easy Twi, I got you…” He said.
She nodded and sat down. “I just need a moment…” She said exhausted.
Redheart grabbed a gurney and put Martin on it. She yelled for several doctors and wheeled him away. Everything was a blur of white, the hospital smell strong as they took him to a room. The black figure from before seemed to follow, everypony else oblivious to it. Doctors attached him several machines, the figure standing near the window. The doctors muttered to themselves, everything going in slow motion before freezing completely.
The black figure stepped closer and glared down at him. “Calm yourself Martin.” He said, his voice echoing.
“W-who are you?”
He raised a finger to his lips. “Shh…” He paused. “I am the beginning and the end… but I am neither for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your friend Michael, he tried to save you from me. He gave the human half of his soul so you wouldn’t have to die. But he didn’t know that your soul was already split in two.”
“H-he did what?” He tried to lean up but quickly fell back. “Wait… my soul is split into two?”
Death nodded. “Apollo has taken residence in your body, since the day Celestia made you a knight. But since you cannot live with only Apollo’s soul, I had to give you a new soul.”
“A new one? What does that mean?”
He glanced at Martin’s arms and legs. “It means that your body is nothing but a dying vessel. Your soul does not bind with it. So I came here, to give you what you require to live.”
“H-how are you going to do that?”
He grabbed his lantern and unlocked the ancient padlock. He reached inside and grabbed the flame with his bare hand. “I will give you a new body.”
Martin’s eyes widened. “B-but…”
He blew the flame and it covered Martin’s entire body. It was agonizing as he felt his body burn, every little twitch waves of pain. Air filled his lungs Death disappeared and the world started again, the doctors quickly getting out of the fire’s path.
“Oh Celestia! Stand back!” A doctor said.
Martin screamed, his body hidden by the flames. He could feel his body shrink and squeezed, certain parts stretched. The doctors could only stare in awe and horror. AJ burst through the door, followed by Fluttershy and Michael. “Martin!” She yelled, confused at what she was looking at.
The flames died down and revealed a coffee cream colored coat and a long dark brown spiky mane. A small mustache above his snout and a goatee under his chin. He kept his eyes closed as the pain faded away.
“M-martin?” AJ squeaked as every other ponies jaw dropped.
He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. “Oh god… wh-what happened? There was this weird guy in a suit and he spit fire on me…” He trailed off, holding a hoof to his head. AJ had a slight blush to her face as Mike’s jaw was nearly touching the floor.
“Ma-martin, just take it easy now, ya hear?” AJ said, reaching forward to touch his shoulder.
Martin looked at himself and touched his snout. He flinched slightly with every poke. “I-I’m a pony…” He gulped. “Ok, I’m sure its just a dream…” He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again. “Oh god…”
“This ain’t a dream… yer a pony, an earth pony… Just like me…” AJ said quietly.
He flung the covers off and his eyes widened even more as he saw his short tail. “I-I.. guess… I think I need a moment.” He said, quickly shutting his eyes and muttered something to himself. He slowly opened them again and jumped out of the bed, landing on his hooves. He wobbled a little but managed to stay on his hooves.
The doctors were the first to recover. “Sir, we’re going to need to check your vitals.”
Martin looked at his hooves. “Ok, how do I do this… front right, then left front, right back and left back…” He muttered to himself, moving hoof by hoof.
A hoof grabbed him and held him in place, it was AJ’s. “Let them make sure yer good so we don’t have ta keep coming ta the hospital.”
He nodded. “Aye, ok doc, maybe you could come over here. It might me a good while to walk over there.”
They nodded and walked over to him, pushing him back towards the bed. “This should only take a few minutes.” They said.
Martin sighed and followed their instructions. After they finished what he hoped was the final test, he cleared his throat. “Everything the way it should be?”
The doctor paused, reading the results. “It looks like it..”
Martin sighed in relief. “Ok, next is learning to to walk… and going to the bathroom...”
“Practice, lots and lots of practice.” The doctor said as AJ covered her face with a hoof.
Martin laughed. “We’ll see about the bathroom part. Ok, right front, left front, right back, left back.” He made his way around the room.
“So what do you think?” Mike asked.
Martin looked at him. “It’s kinda odd, wouldn’t have expected to become a pony you know.” He looked back at his hooves. “What comes after left back?”
“Right back.” Mike said, mimicking the motion.
Martin nodded. “Course, right back…” He smiled at AJ. “Hey AJ, you seeing this? I’m learning how to live as a pony!”
She smiled, her face a tad red. “Well Ah’ll be, yer a fast learner.”
“At least I’m not whining about it, aye?”
“Well forgive me for having a mental breakdown.” Mike said. “Try having one eye and blind on top of it.”
Martin chuckled. “Ok, ok… I was there.” It was silent, the doctors filing out of the room mumbling to themselves. “So… what now?” He asked.
“I’m sure we should inform Celestia since you can’t be the grandmaster anymore.” Twi said from the doorway.
He quickly shook his head. “What are you talking about, first pony grandmaster!”
“You can only be apart of it if you're human or Mike would’ve been fine, remember?”
He chuckled. “I still have half a human soul inside me, and until Princess Celestia says anything, I’m still grandmaster. And I choose the Order not to die out, anyone can join, if they prove themselves worthy.”
“But didn’t you say you couldn’t join unless you were full human?” Mike asked.
“Aye, I can’t remain grandmaster of the Agathor Order… but I still am in command of the order’s guards. As I am the last Grandmaster the castle still belongs to me, since I am the only living member…”
“But technically you aren’t, you’ve had your soul removed.”
“But Apollo’s soul is still there, its still one with my new soul.”
“That is as deux ex machina as you can get.” Mike deadpanned.
Martin laughed. “Yep, but I don’t care. If not the Agathor Order, there shall be a new order… that’s basically the same just for all creatures to join.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “Whatever man.”
“I wish to protect this land. If I can’t remain part of the order, I’ll just found a new one.”
“Whatever you wanna do, not my life.” Mike said, rubbing his eyes with a hoof.
“Aww come on mate, don’t be that way. You know I always wanna help and the princess gave me an important task. I can’t continue it the way she asked me but I’ll try to do my best to keep going in a new way.”
“Never said it was a bad thing.”
“Aye, who knows, you might wanna join me one day?” He asked, smiling.
“Maybe if I ever wanted to be in the spotlight, I prefer anonymity.”
“Well its up to you but I’ll have to talk to the princess about it.”
“Tis won’t be necessary.” Luna’s voice came out of Michael’s mouth, his eyes replaced with pure white.
Everypony’s eyes widened as Martin took a few steps back. “What the fuck?”
“Don’t worry, your friend is fine. We borrowed his body for the moment to relay you that we informed our sister of your situation.” Luna said.
“Oh… well… um… thanks, I guess.” He wasn’t sure what to think, glancing at AJ with an eyebrow raised.
They were just as surprised, Twi staring intently at him. “She informed us to tell you that the new order your requesting will gladly be put into effect and the old order will disappear into nothing.” She said, her voice going cold.
Martin nodded. “But the castle archives will keep all their information?”
“Of course.”
“Good, thousands of years are written down in that castle.
Mike nodded. “As we speak, the information stored down there is being transferred to the Archives and the Royal Librarian is recording the scrolls.”
“That’s wonderful!”
“Indeed.”
“So… anything else you wanted to borrow Michael for?”
“Oh no, I just thought it’d save you ponies a trip. Anything you wanted to say either of us?”
Martin looked at the others. “I didn’t have anything else to say, Twi?”
“H-how are you doing that?” She asked.
“You’ll learn in time Twilight but for now, I should let Michael regain his body. Its unhealthy if I stay too long.” She said as he slumped to the floor.
Martin slowly made his way towards his friend. “Left back, right back… Michael, I reached you! Ok, so I didn’t catch you but I’m here now.” He grabbed him and tried to lift him up. “Ok, grabbing with hooves is weird…”
Mike shook his head and hesitantly stood on his hooves. “W-what happened?”
“Oh you know, Luna took over you body and talked to us a little.”
“Oh for a second there I thought I blacked-whaaaaaaaat?” He stopped in mid-sentence.
“Ya know, Luna was in your body.”
Mike blinked, the gears in head turning. “Creepy…”
“I know… Anyways… what now?” He repeated.
“We go to Canterlot to talk to Celestia?” Mike offered.
“Nah, why do you think Luna talked to us? She took care of everything.”
Mike scratched his head. “Oh… that’s good…”
“Aye…” Martin gazed around the room till his eyes fell on AJ. “So AJ, wanna go back to the farm?” He asked, slowly but surely making his way towards her.
“Sure, Ah guess it wouldn’t hurt ta see if ya can help on the farm.”
Martin smiled. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“Ugh… you just had to say it?” Mike said, facehooving.
His eyes widened. “Uh… I jinxed it!”
“Eeyup…” Mike and AJ said at the same time.
Martin frowned and walked out the door, slower than a turtle. AJ quickly caught up to him. “Just follow me and we’ll be there lickity split.”
“Aye, lead the way.” She nodded and hit his snout with her tail as she lead the way home. He shook his head and blinked a few times. “Oi…” He muttered.