How could Star be a Shingami? That just didn’t make any sense. Then again, since when did Shinigami’s make sense? What if Star knew that she had tried to kill her? How was she supposed to kill a Shinigami?
Twilight calmed herself down, before she could steer herself further into a panic. All she had to do was look at things rationally. For starters, the old man looked absolutely nothing like a pony, and though he did have a host of supernatural powers, among them didn’t seem to be shape-shifting. Looking at things from a probability perspective, there was an almost impossibly small chance that she would have encountered two Shinigami’s in such a small amount of time.
No, Twilight could cross Star being a Shinigami off of her worries for now, at least until some evidence arose to prove otherwise. It still left the question of how Star had survived the Death Note, but she had more important things to test, far more important.
Twilight released her magic’s hold on the Death Note and let it drop to the floor, her mind suddenly clearing as it fell open on the ground.
It was a bit too early to state that she had figured out the Death Note, but after a quick test it quickly became apparent that she was right. Twilight would stretch her magic out towards the death note, touching it with the thinnest thread of magic she could produce, before increasing the thickness of the thread by the smallest amounts. As she came into contact she would feel that new part of her grow inside her, almost as if it were alive. As she increased her hold on the book, so would the influence of that part of her increase.
As she began to have thoughts about how to kill Star, she cut off the link abruptly, scared to continue further. But she was aware that the influence of that new part of her hadn’t returned to normal, it was still there, and she could swear that it had become more a part of her by an infinitely small amount.
Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard an unfamiliar voice speak from right behind her.
“Old man, what are you doing here?”
Twilight quickly turned around expecting to see…well she wasn’t really too sure what she expected to see considering all that she had been through up till now. What she did see was a unicorn stallion, with a coat red and dark as blood. His mane and tail were a mix of white and gold that gave him the same sense of nobility that the Princesses carried with them. His Cutie Mark was a very strange one, a cross that would have been barely discernible from the rest of his coat, were it not outlined in the same gold of his mane.
The old man phased back into the mortal plane, this time he was actually standing on the ground, as opposed to the way he presented himself to her half the time. He seemed rather annoyed by the red unicorn, but also seemed to hold some strange kind of respect for the stallion.
“I’m here because this mare managed to find the Death Note before it’s time here expired. And you know what that means.”
The stallion poorly suppressed a laugh.
“Oh look at how far you’ve fallen old man. You thought you could do no wrong just because you were the only one capable of making Death Notes, yet here you are. Stuck on this plane with me for another….lessee…wow, looks like you’re going to be here quite some time, even if you can get her to make the eye deal.”
“Get to the point Tenshura.”
“Oh there isn’t any point; I just wanted to make sure you knew. Time seems to pass a lot slower down here than it does in the Shinigami realm, so it looks like you’re in for the long haul.”
The red unicorns horn began to glow with a magic she instantly recognized as teleport but, whether through her tone of voice, or simply by virtue of being present during the conversation, she managed to make him stop.
“Wait…what are you, who are you?
The red unicorn finally seemed to notice Twilights presence in the room, and turned to address her.
“Don’t they teach mares any manners these days? It’s always polite to introduce yourself first before asking the name of somepony.”
Twilight blushed, taken aback at both the insult to her manners, and at how casually this unicorn was speaking to her. If it hadn’t been for the unnaturalness that seemed to exude from him, she might have found the stallion attractive, a fact that only caused the blush to become even more apparent.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle”
“Pleased to meet you Miss Sparkle, my name is Tenshura, and as to what I am, well you should have guessed it now. I’m a Shinigami.”
The old man quickly cut in.
“Half-Shinigami.”
Tenshura conceded the point to the old man, but kept on talking to Twilight.
“Yes, technically I’m a half Shinigami. My mother was a mortal mare such as yourself, and my father was a Shinigami. Of course, since coupling with a mortal is disallowed by Shinigami law, he died, but thanks to him I’m now here.”
This Shinigami was curious, and made Twilight reconsider wether Star was in fact a Shinigami or not.
“So how does a Half-Shiniagmi differ from a regular one?”
“A good question. A Half-Shinigami is similar to a regular one in the way that we both receive our lifespans from the Death Note, however, half-Shinigami cannot be killed by any of the effects of the Death Note, or Shinigami law. Shinigami are invulnerable to the effects of the Death Note too, but if they break a single Shinigami law, they’re dead.”
“Are there any downsides to being a Half-Shinigami?”
“Just a few, but they are all relatively minor. The only major one is that a Half-Shinigami is stuck to this plane of existence, and can’t shift out of it, meaning we are actually mortal in the sense that we can be killed. However, we also have insanely strong magic, which helps to counter that.”
To demonstrate his point, Tenshura’s horn glowed a bright red, before materializing a blade of solid crimson light. Tenshura then proceeded to destroy the entire basement while humming a merry tune to himself, before casting yet another spell that somehow undid all the destruction he had caused in the blink of an eye.
“So in conclusion, us half-Shinigami are awesome.”
And before Twilight could even open her mouth to ask another question, he was gone.
Twilight and the old man each gave each other a look, and for once both of them were probably just as confused as each other. They moment she had regained her composure, all that Twilight could think to say was
“Well that was interesting.”
“Interesting dosen’t even cut it. As you just learned, that was Tenshura, otherwise known as the Blood Stallion. He’s probably the biggest freak of nature you will ever see in your life, and he couldn’t be prouder of it. He even managed to spread the filth of his kind into your nobility.”
Now it was just Twilight’s turn to be confused. Seeing the look on Twilights face, the old man gave Twilight the very first straight answer he had probably given anypony.
“Tenshura is the father of both Celestia and Luna.”