//------------------------------// // Bound // Story: Death Be Not Proud // by ShinigamiDad //------------------------------// Reaper and Luna stumbled into her chambers, and were met by an angry, distraught Celestia: “How could you have let this happen?!” Reaper rubbed his muzzle and forehead in an effort to clear his lingering double-vision: “Considering I don’t really know what happened, I’m gonna have to get back to you with an answer.” “She touched your damn sword!” Celestia spat, turning away from Reaper, trotting back to Twilight’s side. Luna filled a cup with cider and walked unsteadily to her sister: “How did she come to touch it? Was it not secured?” Celestia looked at the floor, where the open crystal case still lay on a sky-blue pillow: “I guess she must have opened the case. I don’t know if it this has anything to do with these evil books scattered around, but I’m furious at all three of you for sneaking around, messing in things better left untouched!” Reaper sat down heavily on a padded stool: “I’m sorry for whatever may have happened to Twilight, but I’m not sure how this is my fault--or Luna’s! Your protégé’s a big filly! She can take care of herself!” He glanced down at the empty, translucent receptacle: “Dammit, she’s even the one who cast the binding spell on that case! She clearly knew what she was doing!” Twilight half opened an eye and spoke thickly, as though drugged: “They’re not to blame, Princess Celestia. I did know what I was doing; it was just an accident…” Celestia turned back to Twilight: “How do you feel? Can you sit up? Let’s get that damn thing back under wraps--I’ll cast the binding spell, this time!” Twilight pulled the naked blade close and pressed her ears flat to the side of her head. Reaper paused mid-drink, and stood up: “Oh, shit.” “Give me the sword, Twilight,” he said quietly, stepping up beside Celestia. “I can’t.” Luna raised an eyebrow: “You cannot or will not?” “Both,” Reaper replied as he closed his eyes. “It belongs to her, now. She’s this world’s new Harbinger of Death.” Celestia sat down heavily on a pile of cushions, tears welling in her eyes: “I don’t understand! How can she be you now?” Reaper took a deep breath and sat down on the couch next to Twilight: “Because I emptied every iota of power I had left in order to resurrect and reconstitute Luna and Twilight.” He looked back and forth between the three distraught Princesses: “Clearly that power did more than just repair and raise them--it suffused them and became a part of them.” Luna nodded slowly: “That must be why I was affected from afar when she touched the sword.” “Exactly,” Reaper replied, reaching for the blanket covering Twilight. “And now, let’s check this...” He pulled the blanket off her legs and over her rump, exposing her left flank, and the black 死 emblazoned there. Celestia gasped: “How--when did that get there?!” Reaper sighed: “Probably as soon as she hit the floor and the fog settled, same as me. But you were distracted, or her tail was in the way, or a dozen little things that kept you from looking at her flank until it was too late, because then it was covered by a blanket.” Twilight lifted her head wearily, and looked down at her new cutie mark: “Oh, no! I can’t go around with this mark! What will my friends think?” Reaper shook his head: “It’s more complicated than that, Twilight.” “How so?” asked Luna, retrieving the scabbard and levitating it to Twilight, who took it absentmindedly, while staring at her flank. “She’s going to have to do my job, at least for the time being,” Reaper replied, rubbing his temples and refilling his cider cup. “What? No! I can’t do that!” Twilight cried, staggering to her feet and looking left and right, as though searching for an escape route. Her blanket fell away, and Celestia pointed at her now-exposed right flank: “Look!” Twilight’s familiar, magenta six-pointed star flashed at the assembled ponies, and she stopped to look at it in confusion. Reaper stood up, brow furrowed, and walked over behind Twilight: “Lift your tail, please.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, but complied, hesitantly lifting her tail high as Reaper leaned in for a closer look at her backside. “Hmm,” he mused. “All your mare-parts are right where they belong--from teats to ass.” He picked up a silver serving tray and walked in front of her. “Take a deep breath and try to fog this tray,” Reaper requested. “It’s still kind of chilly in here, so this should be a snap.” Twilight looked around self-consciously, then breathed on the cold metal, leaving behind a smudge of condensation. “But what does it all mean?” Luna wondered aloud Reaper shrugged: “I don’t really know. Clearly Twilight is both pony and Harbinger--alive and something other than alive.” Celestia frowned: “What does that imply for Luna, then?” “Again, I don’t know,” Reaper replied. “I assume that had Luna touched the sword first, it would have bound to her instead.” Luna took a step back in alarm. Reaper smiled: “I doubt you have much to worry about at this point. I’m pretty sure the blade is now bonded to Twilight for the foreseeable future.” “But-but I can’t kill anypony!” Twilight stammered, wide-eyed. Reaper sighed: “You’re not going to have to actually reap anypony very often--that’s actually less than a third of the job. Most of the time I simply clean up the disassociated spirits of ponies who have died.” “Impossible!” Celestia protested, standing up. “She’s the Princess of Friendship! She can’t become associated with death!” “And I have no idea what to do!” Twilight said, chewing her lip, fidgeting with the sword. “I’ve never been trained! I seem to throw up or pee when I get terrified or see something awful!” Reaper smiled lightly and gestured for Twilight to sit next to him: “I think you’ll find a lot of that is gone, now. And, unlike when I was given the job, you will have somepony to help.” He looked up at Celestia: “And as for her being associated with death, it’s not like I wander around, tapping ponies on the shoulder in cafes!” “Yes, I suppose,” Celestia replied, crossly, “but why is any of this necessary? Can’t we just hold on until you figure out how to recover your power?” Reaper looked over at Luna, who was staring into a cup of cider: “Have you seen an uptick in nightmares over the last five days?” She pondered the question for a minute: “Yes, now that you mention it, I have heard more ponies complaining of bad dreams lately.” Reaper nodded: “And it’s just going to get worse.” Celestia walked to the side table and filled a plate with pastries: “Why? What do nightmares have to do with your job”? “It’s not only nightmares--those are just symptoms,” he answered, “you’re going to start seeing hauntings and paranormal disturbances soon.” A look of comprehension suddenly broke across Twilight’s face: “Spirits! Disembodied spirits!” Reaper nodded: “Correct--and the fact you recognize that shows you already have a rudimentary feel for the job. Ponies still die, even without my intervention--illness, accident, violence, what have you. Their spirits detach from their bodies and drift.” He stood and walked toward the windows, squinting in the bright light, casting a strong, dark shadow on the floor. “My job is largely one of clean-up,” he continued, “gathering up the spirits of the dead, escorting them on beyond the bounds of this world.” Reaper turned back to the Princesses: “There are occasions where I have to use the sword to reap a spirit, but it’s not frequent. I usually show up at the moment of death, just to tidy-up.” Celestia sat down with a defeated sigh, and looked at Reaper: “Fine. Let’s suppose that Twilight has to do the job for now. What are you going to be doing?” “That is the question, isn’t it?” he replied, pouring another cup of cider. “I have to figure out how to reclaim my power from Twilight and Luna, and I’m pretty sure nopony in Equestria’s ever studied that particular problem!” Luna tipped her head as the now-forgotten ancient books, scattered nearby caught her eye: “I think you may be wrong on that count…”