Chapter 2: Undead
Last chapter: Kieron knods after taking a bite out of the apple, he then continues to explain to the two of them “Yes, I am now death itself, but that isn’t always a good thing as I have found out. I can’t touch ponies with my bare hooves, I have to wear these gloves, I can cause pain, hurt, and torture but I can’t kill, that is one of the responsibilities of being death, I can’t kill unless it is their time.” He adds before taking another bite of the apple, Thomas sits on his chair to think about Kieron’s circumstances.
“So you can hurt but not kill, are you willing to still work with us knowing you can’t kill anypony?” he asks while having a hoof against his chin to think, Kieron knods.
He stands up, walks over to Thomas’s chair and lowers onto one knee, scythe in other hoof and head low before replying, “I am always willing to work for you, Grand Master.”
Kieron sits back onto the chair and clicks his fingers only for a zombie like pony to appear and give him a slice of forest gateaux on a plate and then disappear, Thomas’ expression shows how disgusting the pony was as he covers his face with a cloth to hide his nose from the smell, Bloodshade intrigued by the pony.
“What was that thing and where did it come from?” Thomas asks as he lifts the cloth from his nose to see if the air was free of the stench, Kieron lifted the fork with a piece of the cake on it only to put it down and pick off a piece of rotting flesh from it and throw it away before picking up the fork and putting the cake into his mouth, Thomas gags at the thought of how that must taste, he asks the question again.
Once Kieron finished the piece he smacked his lips together, it must have been nice as drool fills his mouth, he turns to face Thomas and lifts the cake up, “Would you like some, it’s rather nice?” he offers but immediately Thomas refuses the offer and gives up on asking the question, “Oh, and to answer your question, it came from the void, a place of peace and eternal life, for those fortunate enough, rather boring place...” he says as he lifts the fork ready to take another bite of the cake but stops as he remembers something, “Then there’s the mirror world, rather unpredictable place, even you would like that place, Thomas. Anyone unfortunate enough goes to the mirror world and lives forever...” he adds, Thomas confused by his last remark.
“I’m sorry but did you say ‘Lives forever’ with unfortunate, which sounds like a good thing to me.” He replies but Kieron chuckles while putting a finger up.
“Oh no, believe me, you wouldn’t like it at all. That place is called the mirror world for a reason, this world is full of peace and harmony, mirror that and you get death, rape, pain and pleasure to unbelievable amounts, the princesses rule that place under fear and power...” he explains as Bloodshade glances out of the window to see a couple of mechs chasing down a stolen vehicle in the city below, then back at Kieron to listen.
“Here, I am death and my touch kills all of those unlucky enough to get it, but mirror that and you get the touch of life, instead of being death I create life, those who die, I bring back to life, I am god in that world but I don’t like to hang around for long, I prefer this world, in my opinion.” He explains more, Thomas intrigued by this ‘Mirror world’.
He quickly interrupts Kieron to ask him a question, “Can you show me this world?” Kieron sharply looks over to him.
“You wish to see the mirror world...hmm, well I can allow for a one-time visit, only for an hour at the most, if you stay for too long, you will die and then cease to exist.” He replies as he offers the terms, Thomas stands up out of his chair and picks up his cane, Bloodshade walks up to Kieron and asks for the same, Kieron disallows it at first but then allows it to see how he would react.
Kieron gets the two of them to stand in the middle of the room, he then steps back and begins to chant in an unknown language, a large symbol appears on the floor around them, one like the pentagram. He then picks up his scythe and places the base of the handle against one of the outer lines, this causes the symbol to glow bright red, he lifts his scythe and pulls back ready to swing at them, “Please can all passengers keep all limbs inside the symbol at all times, and can you place make sure you have no loose item on you, thank you and enjoy your ride.” He advises to them.
The front door suddenly opens as Moonshine pops her head inside to see Thomas and a pony she’d never shagged, I mean seen before with a hooded figure looking right at them with a large scythe up behind it ready to attack them, just as she goes to stop the figure it looks at her and smiles, she stops dead in her tracks as she recognises that face, the figure then swings its scythe, Thomas and Bloodshade are then cut in half but no blood as the halves fade away along with the symbol, the figure then waves once at her and disappears too.
<Mirror world, Canterlot>
The three of them arrive in the main hall of the Canterlot castle, it looks exactly the same as the original, clean and peaceful but that peace is soon broken as a pony screams while running for its life along the top of the stairway, it stops as it see the three of them, “PLEASE, HELP ME!” it shouts to them, it goes to head down the stairs but is blocked off by a large white pony that drops down from above and blocks its path down the stairs, it was Celestia no doubt about it but she had both wings still intact.
The three of them watch as the pony runs back up the stair, stumbling along the way and tries to run away but another pony drops down to lands in its back and crush it into the ground causing it to scream in pain, that pony was none other than Luna herself, she then lowers her head and licks at the face of the pony who shouts out once more for help.
Celestia chuckles as she knows there is no escape for the pony, the pony them screams as Luna puts pressure on the pony’s back, but the screaming stops as Luna puts too much pressure on it and breaks the spine.
Kieron then knows his job is coming in and steps forward towards the steps, Celestia turns as she can feel the presence of something powerful, her face crooked and full of insanity, drool dripping from her mouth and her eyes tiny like pin pricks, Kieron turns his head back to look at Thomas, “That isn’t Celestia by the way, it is her mirror self, I call her Molestia. And Luna up there, I call Lunaughty or just cheeky bitch.” He says as Celestia lowers her head to him as he walks past, she knows that she can’t do much to him, he reaches the top of the stairs and uses the blade of the scythe to pull back Luna who tries to resist as she holds onto the dead corpse but he tugs hard causing the blade to cut her slightly and she squeals with pain a little and lets go, he walks over and crouches down to the corpse, pulls of the leather glove over his right hand and then slowly reaches forward.
He touches the pony on the forehead and holds it there for a few seconds before the pony suddenly opens its eyes and gasps as it gains life, he helps the pony up and uses his powers to safely teleport it away from the princesses.
Celestia lifts her head as she knows he is gone, looks over to Thomas and Bloodshade, notices that the pony has both wings and a horn, was this pony going to try and take her rightful place on the throne, she thought so and started to walk over to them, Thomas slightly scared as he had never seen her in such a way, Luna drops down out of nowhere next to ‘Tia, both of them had wide eyes with tiny pupils, Thomas backs up as they slowly walk towards them, Bloodshade stands his ground using his magic to throw some objects at them but they use their magic to deflect them.
Luna pounces forward and lands on Bloodshade and immediately bites at his face, while Celestia runs for Thomas but is stopped as Kieron suddenly appears in front of Thomas to guard him, she quickly turns and runs for the nearest door, along the way she doesn’t see Luna and falls over her, they both get up, Luna looks to see Kieron stood as ‘Tia legs it, Luna quickly joins her, both disappearing from sight, Kieron walks over to the dead corpse of Bloodshade who has died from blood loss, he pulls off the glove and touches him on the forehead, after a few seconds he gasps for air and returns to life.
Kieron puts on his glove, pats Bloodshade on the head and then looks at his watch, “Oh may, time to go back, time moves quickly here, and our hour is almost up.” He says before walking over to Thomas, grabs his arm and them puts the scythe end on Bloodshade’s head, puts the handle under his arm and clicks his finger teleporting them out of the manic, cruel world that it is.
They arrive unfortunately in the wrong place, Canterlot, in the exact place they left from in the mirror world leaving Thomas to be under the impression that they haven’t even left, “What the...Kieron, you didn’t do anything, we’re still in Canterlot.” He says as he frantically looks about. Kieron looks about but notices that it isn’t the same world but leaves Thomas to his problems in thinking they haven’t returned, Bloodshade isn’t even bothered as he looks about, his eyes slightly different from how they used to be, before they were normal like any other pony’s but now they are more cat-like, almost feral.
Thomas grabs tightly onto his cane as he follows Kieron up the stairs, Kieron leading him to Celestia’s room, Bloodshade staying in the foyer, they soon arrive at the room, Thomas recognises it and gulps as Kieron pushes the door open only to be greeted with a pillow flying at him, “Get out, I’m not even up yet.” A voice shouts, Thomas notices that the pony doesn’t seem to be as cruel as the one he just encountered.
“You lazy bitch, you should be up by now.” Kieron replies as he walks in with his hood up, Celestia pops her head up from behind the covers, remembering the voice.
“HOLY SHIT, IT’S DEATH, DON’T KILL ME!!” she shouts as she falls out of the side of the bed trying to get some distance between her and it.
“Do not fear Celestia is it only me...” he says as he pulls back the hood and then adds, “I’m back from the dead baby.”