//------------------------------// // Confrontation // Story: The Life of Death // by Nightmare Darkness //------------------------------// It took me a moment to place myself and my heart kept into my throat as well as a taste of bile at the smell. The moans of the wounded mixed with the smell of urine, blood, and other smells I rather not put into words. I was in a combat hospital. I forced myself forward finding my first pony, a pegasus whose wing that was once there was now a stub and missing forehoof. His bandages were soaked through with blood and they had done everything to save him given the conditions but it had been fruitless. His breathing was shallow, I lowered my scythe and gently removed him from his painful state. What happened next frightened me, the earth ripped open and pulled in the pony to Hades screaming and kicking. It took me a moment to recover and carried on trying not to think about it as their lives flashed before my eyes and cruelly got to know them before they were judged. Every soul I pulled they were promptly removed by a ground shudder, fiery chains and a scream and Hades was one soul more as my own seem to be chipped away. I stopped at a young stallion that had internal bleeding, eight broken ribs and several fractures. Again I saw his life flash before my eyes. A shy stallion from a farm outside Vanhoover never did anything wrong of major evil, then a letter in the mail, training with new found friends, being transported to the front, Luna's rousing speech, his first kill, then a changeling bombardment, and finally now in the hospital going to die. I pulled his soul gently and soon as his ghostly hooves touched the ground he vane me a sad smile. The ground began to shudder and break open, my heart sank. I was looking at this innocent stallion begin to get pulled into Hades. Without thinking I swung my scythe cutting the chains as if they were mere rope. He looked at me surprised. As no sooner as I had cut the chains the tents time stopped and an explosion of flame erupted and a very severely peeved Fire Pleasure stood there frowning. "Who do you think you are?!" He exclaimed. "He's Innocent!" I yell back which he replied with a roll if his eyes. "Think again! He's killed some pony!" He rebuttaled. "Were at war!" I retorted which to he had a look of annoyance. "You think war is a valid reason for somepony to kill? Open your eyes." He stated. "This stallion is innocent." I reinstated. "You going to do this for everypony and changeling you come across and think they are innocent then we will have a problem." He said as he stomped the ground and three demons appeared in a burst of flame beside him. I frowned. "Are you threatening me?" I say dangerously and lower my scythe which gave him pause. "Your stopping me from doing my job, do yourself a favor and lose your emotions. Death has no need for them." He said matter of factly. I have to say I have never been so affronted in my life. "I don't know how you work but emotions are what differentiate us from mindless monsters." I said lowering my scythe. "Look around you Death, the sick and injured are here because of problem and ponies ruled by emotions and morals. If they didn't want to kill one another you would would think they would help the starving changelings and not force their hooves to invade to simply survive. Have you not seen how dire their predicament is?" He said accusingly. My mind flashed to the deaths of the starving changeling family. "But all of this has been facilitated by Vedra...so." I began. "Should they all get a free pass?" He said sarcastically. I glared at him, sure he's a demon did he have to be such an asshole? "Promise me that all of them are not being treated very poorly." I said now knowing that this debate was fruitless. He was right I have to be so impartial that it hurts. There is no black and white, life is grey full of contradictions. "Its Hades..." He said simply as the stallion who was quiet during the entire conversation looked at me with horror I'm his eyes as the three demons descended on the stallion and the earth swallowed them all with a sudden and loud scream. It broke me. I was alone with Fire and I collapsed shaking and sobbing who visibly relaxed and walked over to me. "I c-cant do this." I start to sob as he sat down beside me with a sigh. "I'm sorry." He said simply and I gave a small mocking noise. "I am, war is ugly and always unfair. No matter what you do at the end of the day you just must keep the world balanced and turning." He explained simply. I looked up at him and saw he was being sincere. "You don't like being a demon?" I asked sniffing. "We were angels once, but you know...balance." He said bitterly, moving his hooves to act as if they were scales. "What about that story about you got you." I asked and he laughed. "My cutie mark? I made that up." He stood up and helped me to stand. "I got to go, if you need somepony to talk to go to Apple Scroll first, I suck at this kind of thing, sentimentality isn't my schtick." He said uncomfortably. "Thanks Fire and I think you did well considering." I said even though I didn't feel any better. He waved to me and burned up and was gone. I looked around the hospital and began to finish the reapings. I felt a numbness begin to fill me up as I went about the grim business. I stepped out of the tent and was greeted by the sight of war plane and simple. Were I was I overlooked the field of battle. Magic fire laced through the sky and as changelings dive bombed into the ranks of ponies as pegasus fought above them. Cries, screams, and blood covered the muddied fields but something was felt off. I wiped my tears away and I could see souls being drawn up into the sky by an eerie green light. Focusing on it it took the form of a centaur who looked over the field of death and pain with a sadistic smile as the weapons he held emitted the green light as they consumed the souls of hundreds. "Vedra!" I exploded with rage and without a thought boned wings exploded from my back and found myself closing the distance between us at an alarming rate. I raised my scythe and yelled as he just noticed me and his smile disappeared. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed and swung my scythe with all I had and he just blocked it with his shield but he flew into a mountainside. I was shaking, but now it was with rage. He pulled himself from his own crater and he was on me in a second. I blocked his attack. "Death..." He said simply. I began to attack viciously and all he could do was block but a smile crept across his face. "You can't stop me..." He said and I growled and swung aiming at the shield which connected with a loud bang and a small crack appeared in its armor making Vedra look at me with annoyance. "My army marches on Hades and Heaven its only a matter of time till I have souls of demons and angels and I'll be more powerful than even you." This gave me pause and he took advantage of this swinging his sickle at me as I just blocked it and made me fly into the ground making the world spin. I recovered and flew up from the dust cloud to find he was gone. I screamed in frustration. "Celestia Damn it all!" I cursed as I saw the battle below had come to a slowed pace as the troops from both sides tried to discern who's weapon had caused that crator. She looked to see the fort that most likely Luna was in commanding the military from. I needed to alert Lucifer and Celestia about the armies moving on the other plaines. I need to stop the fighting long enough to slow the amount of souls that Vedra can get his claws on. I racked my brain and came to an uncomfortable solution. "Discord..." I to myself. "You called?" His voice said softly into my ear making me recoil in shock. "How?!" I asked in shock. He was already poking my skeletal wings. "I'm like superman." He said and looked into a blue and red costume with a large D on the center of his chest. "Superman....who or nevermind can you stop this conflict?" I asked "Ya why." He said flexing muscles he didn't have. "Why didn't you...nevermind please stop them." I asked. "What's in it for me...I find this rather chaotic... I have a soft spot for chaos." He said and that made me blink in surprise. "Because its the right thing to do!" I say louder then I should have. "Oh alright." He said rolling his eyes snapping his claw and thousands of other Discord's appeared by everypony and stopped many of them in mid fight, canceling magic and freezing some in place and picking them up moving all of them to their appropriate sides and went on to form a line between them and poofed into a wall with barbed wire tops. Several Discord's patrolled the wall dressed with a blue helmet with white letters 'UN' emblazoned on them. "Thank you." I said. "Oh don't thank me yet...now you owe me." He said smiling with a hint of mischief.