*SNAP*
Welp, there went my neck.
I almost hadn't expected Shining Armor to do it, and certainly not as fast as he did. He had used his telekinesis to break my neck in the least painful way possible. I guess when a enormous, demonic tomcat tells you to kill it, you kill that son of a bitch. My now blood-starved brain started to shut down, with no heart motions to keep the flow. The already somewhat dark cave dimmed.
And I died.
And I woke up
I looked around the large room I was now in. The floor was a dark purple. The walls, purple. The ceiling saw through my dead eyes, although tinted blue. There were nine off-white pedestals curving around the room in a U shape, nearly each one containing a single black cat that had been mangled in some way. One was starved. Another was soaking wet, having been drowned. One near the apex of the curve had a large gash in it's neck, clearly self-inflicted. Each of these lives, I had learned something- how to control my powers, to resurrect the dead, to control the snow leopards I had made out of sheer loneliness. I tried to creak my still-broken neck straight, but all I managed to do was flop my head to look forward. It would have to do.
I looked at myself.
Melody.
In the middlemost part of the series of pedestals was a girl, a teenager. Unlike the cats around her, she seemed to have no injuries. She moved her dirty blonde hair behind her ears, a nervous tic I used to have. Her costume seemed homemade- a black cat with a purple, tooth studded collar. Her ghost-blue eyes stared into mine.
"So, we died again?" she asked. "What happened this time?"
"It finally happened. I found Shining Armor," I huffed, "and he killed me. He didn't even ask any questions."
She looked surprised for a moment, then her gaze hardened. "I wasn't expecting that, but oh well. You know what I have to do now, right?"
"Yeah, I know. I'm you, remember? Just... older."
She teared up a little. "I don't like losing any of you lives. It always leaves this place feeling empty. Now I'm going to lose all of you?" she sobbed. "Maybe... maybe I shouldn't do this..."
"But we have to. You know we do. To start over."
She smiled once more, tears still in her eyes. "To begin. Go. The healing process has been finished. Explain it to him. Maybe... he can help."
My neck straightened as another cat appeared beside me, his neck broken. The new cat walked over to the last, only empty pedestal, and sat down.
And I woke up.
Shining Armor was fighting Bone, trying to escape the cave now that I had died. The larger snow leopard was trying to keep him inside, on my orders. Flake, the smaller leopard was at my side, watching and making sure I wasn't stepped on or something during the tussle.
"Let me go home, you overgrown snowball!" Shining yelled. "Your master's dead, so there's no point in keeping me here."
Bone growled at the pony, then saw me over his shoulder. 'Oh good. You're up. After that dramatic performance you put on, I was kinda hoping you would bitch and moan when you resurrected.' Flake gave him a stern look, but didn't speak.
I finally spoke up. "That's where you're wrong, colt." I saw his head turn towards me in surprise. "I died, yes, but there was a huge point in bringing and keeping you here."
"To kill you again?" He asked, his horn lighting up, "Because I'll do it, if you really want to die-"
"-no!" I practically shrieked, backing away and puffing out a little,"no. Shining Armor, I hope to tell you a story, and maybe get a little help. I think you- or, at least, someone related to you may be able to help my situation."
Shining looked confused at my answer. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not from this world." I deadpanned. "I used to be a different creature entirely. Hell, I used to be female!"
He looked like he was doubting it, but I had just come back from the dead. He nodded in acceptance. "Go on."
"I was at a book cosplay convention thing, and this guy had a booth with crazy and awesome stuff in it. There was practically no line, which was weird now that I think about it, and in his booth he had a piece of my costume that I wasn't able to get anywhere else. It was like a godsend. He offered me a discount on the thing- this collar by the way, that's what he sold me- and it sent me here to Equis."
He was genuinely interested then. Or maybe he was just humoring me so he could leave. "So, what happened afterwards?"
"I became a god of death to the Crystal Ponies."
"Wat." I could hear the lack of an 'h' in that word.
"As contrived and evil as that sounds," I nodded, "yes. My powers wouldn't let me die, I could bring back the recently deceased, and I was a carnivore. I had to eat, and they were the closest source of food."
He became visibly sick at this. He tried to leave, but Bone made him sit again.
"The logic added up to them at the time. It was nearly two thousand years ago, and I was the only real predator in the area. What is a deity but some higher power responsible for something." I shrugged. "It took a while, about four hundred years, but it worked. I had a snow leopard pick up the bodies every month or so from the east side. If one of them wanted to die honorably, they would come find me. Their relatives would find a tooth on their doorstep later, a sign they were gone."
My mood visibly darkened. "It all worked really well, until Sombra came. He was convinced I could make him immortal. He destroyed all the snow leopards that were here before, and stole me. He... did things. I can't remember so well what happened, but it killed me more than once. Tore me up inside. The only good that came out of it was the mental fortitude I now have."
"It'll be gone soon. That is, if you're willing to help." The white unicorn looked iffily at me.
"And if I don't? What, exactly, do you want?"
"It's more like what I don't want," I sighed. "I don't want these memories. I don't want to be trapped in this cave anymore. I want to go ho-"
"WAIT." He interrupted "Why are you trapped here?"
I glared at him. "Because Sombra is a ginormous dick. I didn't get him the answers he wanted, and he decided to leave me here to rot. Quit interrupting me."
"If you don't help me, I'll find somepony who will. All I really needed you for was a time and attitude reference. That, and a way out of this cave. If you dispel the barrier keeping me in, I'll allow Bone to let you out. If you decide to help me after I forget, I could be a great help for you and yours."
"I don't know any memory spells," he said. "Most of them were outlawed over fifty years ago."
I rolled my eyes. "I don't need you for that. You were a nerd, right? You know what save points are?" He nodded uncomfortably.
I gestured to my collar. "That's basically what these teeth are. Every time I die, a new tooth appears. I can remember clearly what I did with that life. If I take a tooth out, it becomes unclear, foggy, like deleting a save point. If I take out the most recent... well, you can probably guess what'll happen then."
"So, then..." He trailed off, "what happens to the teeth once they're out?"
"A number of things. Along with the memories leaving, the teeth themselves still hold power. Given the right spell, you can animate things- the dead, golems, all sorts of stuff." I listed off. "I can actually bring back the dead. I just need to be touching them as they die, and their soul will be another tooth in the collar. I just take the tooth out, and push it into their magical focus. Then they'll come back."
"And what's stopping me from just making a tooth farm out of you?" Shining prodded.
"Three things," I started. "First, Bone and Flake. You wouldn't get very far. Second, pony mentality and morals. Grant it, you did just kill me, but there's no way you would willingly enslave anything sapient. The third, and final, reason would be that you need my consent, or the powers warp. Sombrero's curved horn?" I chuckled, "My fault. the longer the life was, the more problems you're gonna have."
Shining Armor had relaxed quite a bit, but his shield was still up. "So what would helping you entail... wow, for as long as we've been talking, you haven't actually told me your name yet."
"You can call me Sang. Helping me would basically be putting up with my childish antics. I was still a teenager when I first came here, after all, and I'll be one again. I'd want someone to look after me, help me out once in a while with life in general. Not becoming my father but... something close."
"Yeah," he nodded, "okay. this is a lot to take in. Can I just take a second... to get it all in? Just to think?" I dipped my head in agreement.
He walked to the other side of the cave, and sat there. His shield came down as he walked- probably figured he didn't need it anymore. I sat and meditated in my corner. Or maybe slept. Sometimes, I can almost swear I do both simultaneously. A large CLUNK sound woke me, though. I opened my eyes to see Shining armor standing in front of me, his horn glowing. A beam shot out, and hit the ceiling. The darker red aura vanished to give way to pink, then pink vanished. There was no barrier anymore. I was free. I looked up at the unicorn, eyes filled with hope. His gaze met mine.
"C'mon," he grunted, "I'll take you home."
I started crying with joy.
"Thank you."
I started pulling out the older teeth. Bone and Flake fell apart without my knowledge of keeping them together.
I pulled out the last tooth.