//------------------------------// // A Lesson In Death // Story: Do Not Go Gentle // by ShinigamiDad //------------------------------// “So,” Reaper began, hesitantly, “you want to talk about that?” “What is there to say?” Luna responded. “Clearly I was responsible for Sea Foam’s death! My sister was wrong: I did kill!” She levitated the broken helm and stared at it blankly. Reaper hummed tunelessly to himself for a moment, then reached up and rubbed under his chin. “I don’t know about that,” he said at last breaking his reverie, “I couldn’t see inside the cave, and after it collapsed, it was too late to work out a cause-and-effect chain.” Luna turned to face him, and opened her mouth to speak; he cut her off: “I know--it clearly looked like she died of shock, of the horrors Nightmare Moon was inflicting beyond an old pony’s ability to withstand. I’ve seen death-by-fright before. But I really want to see into that cave…” “The cave was me,” Luna retorted, “just as poor Sea Foam was pressed into service as a proxy for my sister!” She ran a hoof down the length of her muzzle and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Reaper turned away and slowly walked toward the banner, lost in thought: “I don’t know…” Luna shouted, panic creeping into her voice, “She entered me just as surely as Firebrand had! When I said “I am the dark” it was not a mere metaphor!” Reaper stopped and looked back over his shoulder, brows furrowed: “so you caused the cave entrance to appear?” “I must have!” Reaper’s puzzlement deepened: “That doesn’t answer my question: “must have” does not equal “did.” Did you create the cave opening?” Luna advanced on Reaper, bristling: “What does it matter? Do you, of all ponies, not know death when you see it? I was its author then, and I now fear, countless other times as well!” Reaper glared back: “Alright, Princess, let’s assume for the sake of argument that you’re right and you did traumatize Sea Foam beyond endurance, and her heart gave out. I repeat: I’ve seen it before. That doesn’t make you the genesis of this dark-beyond-darkness that blots out ponies’ essences!” “Where else would they have gone?!” she spat back. Reaper tipped his head back slightly and closed his eyes halfway. “Time for a lesson in death, Princess.” The castle vanished in a sudden swirl of grey, as though it had been blasted away by a sandstorm. Reaper’s “waiting room” came into view for an instant, then both ponies were falling through rain-soaked clouds, the wind whistling in their ears. Reaper turned his head to Luna and shouted, “Do you know where we are?” “Falling, from the looks of it,” Luna replied, fanning her wings out instinctively. “Don’t!” Reaper said sharply, “Keep ‘em tucked in. You’ll be fine. Look to your left.” Luna rolled her shoulders and peered through the clouds to her left. She saw a young pegasus falling in a spinning dive next to her, his left wing shredded and useless. “Who…?” she began to ask. “His name is, well, was, Cloud Deck--a young, talented, overenthusiastic flyer who ignored storm warnings and tried some high-risk maneuvers among some particularly challenging rock formations.” Reaper nodded downward: “You see the result so far, and can likely guess the end result, too.” Luna nodded, and replied weakly, “Yes…” “Now watch.” Cloud Deck furiously attempted to break his fall, but his speed was too great, and the downdraft too strong, that even had he had full use of both wings, he would not have been able to pull out. His cries for help became increasingly hysterical. “Please, Celestia, anypony! Help meeee!” He glanced frantically to his right and looked with amazement at the faint shadow of Reaper nearby. “Oh, please! It was a stupid mistake! Don’t take me!!” Cloud Deck shrieked like a banshee, his eyes frozen open, as the earth rushed up to meet him. He hit the rough, rock-strewn ground and burst open like an overripe melon, spilling intestines and brains for several feet in all directions. Luna grimaced and fought back the urge to retch. She and Reaper hovered a few inches above Cloud Deck’s ruined body, their descent having simply stopped with no attendant deceleration. “So,” Reaper asked, “when did this poor bastard die?” Luna swallowed hard and spat the taste of bile out of her mouth before replying: “Obviously, the moment he hit the ground. What was the point of…” “Wrong!” Reaper interjected. “Watch again!” The scene rewound a few seconds, and this time, Reaper leaned in toward Luna, touching his horn to her right temple. Cloud Deck’s fall resumed, but at a greatly-reduced rate. The stretch of his mouth in his final death scream was more pronounced, and Luna saw a double image of him, flickering just at the edge of her peripheral vision. She heard a great rushing sound, like water being released far away. Her head swam and she had to fight a sudden wave of vertigo. Then the scene snapped back to its grim conclusion, and Luna, once again, hovered just above the smear that had been Cloud Deck. “Wha-what was that?” Luna stammered. “You know how you record all the details of ponies’ dreams, and call recall them all, given enough time and concentration?” Reaper asked. Luna nodded and looked away from Cloud Deck’s remains. “I am Death’s doorward, its agent, its final arbiter," Reaper stated. "Nothing that happens in a pony’s last moments is outside my senses or my power. I gave you a vague sense of that a moment ago. So I ask again, when did Cloud Deck die?” Luna closed her eyes and replayed the second before Cloud Deck hit the ground, as though it was a dream. She opened her eyes, puzzled, and replied: “He died just an instant before hitting the earth! His heart and mind gave out.” Reaper smiled grimly: “Close enough. Yes: he died--for all intents and purposes--of fright. The terror of his impending doom was too much for his mortal frame to withstand, and he died of a massive heart attack, which blacked him out.” Reaper stepped down from his displaced, hovering position and walked a bit away from the frozen scene. He pointed to raindrops hanging motionless in the air. “Every death is composed of hundreds of infinitesimally-small instants that surround the deceased like these raindrops, or like a cloud of dust. I can tell you, with certainty, within a fraction of eternity, exactly when a pony dies.” The scene dissolved, leaving Luna and Reaper standing again on his endless, slate-gray plain. Pale blue cushions appeared, and a still-shaken Luna gratefully settled onto them. Reaper continued: “However, without a trace of those moments--those particles, if you will--I cannot absolutely nail-down with precision how or when a pony passed.” Reaper walked over and sat down in front of Luna. “So, yes,” he said, “you likely were responsible for Sea Foam’s death, though I don’t really think Haymaker or Firebrand were your hoof-work. You set them up, to be sure, but whatever this impenetrable blackness is, caused their deaths and blotted them--and all traces of them--out.” Reaper looked deep into Luna’s eyes: “So I ask again--did you create the cave opening where Sea Foam sought refuge, or did she create it out of desperation, or was it something else?” Luna stared back, but her focus was far beyond Reaper’s eyes as she reconstructed her victim’s final moments. “I do not know,” she said slowly. “The cave was there, she fled into the cave, my hatred filled the cave, I was the cave, she was inside me, the blackness was me, the blackness spilled out of me, my rage blinded me and crushed everything…” “And Sea Foam died.” Reaper concluded. “But you still don’t know about the cave with absolute certainty. And you spoke of your 'blinding' rage.” Reaper stood and sighed, “So we still don’t really know…” Luna choked back a sob and stammered, “But it does not matter! The blackness must have come from me, even if it wasn’t actually me! Like the Tantabus!” Reaper pursed his lips: “Maybe. But we still can’t be sure.” He took a deep breath. “Look, let’s head back to your chambers for a little bit. I need to update Twilight, and a touch of real air and sunshine might do you good.” Luna looked up in alarm. “Oh, Blessed Night!” she cried in alarm. “Twilight will know of all this, now! I cannot bear for her or Celestia to know the true depth of my evil!” Reaper replied soothingly, “Twilight seems like a good kid, and she’s been through quite a bit this last couple of years. She knows and loves and trusts who you are now, Luna. Trust in that, and we’ll all figure this out together. I still don’t know if the pieces fit for you to be the root of all this. Something just seems off.” He held his hoof out to Luna and helped her to her feet. “I hope you are right, Reaper, otherwise none of us is safe!”