A single black notebook lay in the middle of a lush floral field just outside the boundaries of Canterlot. The wind fluttered the pages carelessly, opening it to the first page.
The name of the pony written in this notebook will die
.
"Court is adjourned!"
The judge smacked the gavel onto the pedestal with a loud thump. A medium-height stallion trotted angrily out of the courthouse into the rest of the building, a glare painted onto his face. He was dressed in a Canterlot royal guard uniform, a uniform only high-ranking military officers (such as Shining Armor) wore, medals shining due to the sun reflecting off the multiple stained-glass windows he walked besides. His coat was gray, as dark and depressing as the look that was plastered on his face, and his mane was no cheerier: a dark blue with purple tips. His half-angry, half-disappointed expression was due to the fact that he had just lost his first case in two years.
"Ponies are so despicable sometimes." the stallion mumbled under his breath angrily. "To actually let somepony of such disposable nature go." the gray horse muttered, grinding his teeth and looking out of the window. He looked across the lush field, surveying every little detail as a way of calming himself. He spotted a single black spot in the middle of the field. Unusual. He raised his eyebrows and made a mental note of it.
"Prosecutor Moonlit!" A voice cried from behind him.
"That's Major Moonlit to you. What do you--" he turned around to see glaring lights flashing in front of his eyes and microphones being put uncomfortably close to his face. He growled quietly, but to no effect on the relentless reporters.
"How is it losing your first case in years?" a light green stallion asked
.
Major Moonlit didn't even bother to humor his question, as he began to walk away from the cameras towards another door. He only had trotted four steps by the time he heard another voice behind him.
"What was your opinion on the strategy of the defense?" another stallion asked, this one with a purple mane. Major Moonlit ground his teeth more as he began to pick up speed, jogging away from the reporters. He had reached his boiling point with these ponies, asking him every question they could about his defeat.
"How does it feel to--"
"Get the hell away from me, all right?" Major Moonlit snarled, his red eyes deepening. His anger gave off a dark aura that would even give Discord the creeps. The reporters, wide-eyed, began to step backwards from shock. Major Moonlit continued to give them an intimidating glare.
"If I were you, I would leave right now." Major Moonlit growled, suppressing his anger. The reporters decided to take his advice and left, stumbling over one another.
"This world is so... putrid." Major Moonlit grumbled as he began to stalk down the crystal-set staircase of the courthouse building, stomping down until he reached the bottom. He swiped his mane out of his face with his hoof, and was free of the building.
Celestia’s sun, just risen into the sky just a few hours earlier, shone onto Major Moonlit, making his medals gleam more brightly still, hindering how own eyesight in the process. Major Moonlit began to take in the surrounding area around him as he surveyed the courthouse’s courtyard, eventually bringing his attention back on the field that he had looked over just earlier. Wait… the black dot!
Thinking nothing of it, and having nothing better to do anyways, he trotted into the middle of the field, flowers and weeds brushing up against his uniform as he came up upon the notebook, which lay open at the middle pages, the wind slightly brushing the pages. The Major touched the book preparing to pick it up when he felt an unpleasant shock through his body. His body had almost rejected the book entirely, but, not caring about the consequences, he scanned the cover, which only had two words on it.
"... ‘Death Note’? You can't be serious." Major Moonlit laughed aloud. "Hmm… must be some dark prank by school ponies.” Still intrigued, Major Moonlit opened up the book to its first page, skimming over it.
“‘The name of the pony written in this notebook will die...’" Major Moonlit read out loud. The hell? Even more intrigued, Major Moonlit stuck the notebook in his dress uniform’s pocket.
"This prank is ridiculous. But...well... I guess it won't hurt anyone for me to take this with me to examine a little more thoroughly." Major Moonlit caught himself thinking aloud again.
About an hour after the discovery of the dark notebook, Major Moonlit was on transit back home on the Canterlot Express train. On the way inside, he had picked up a newspaper, and looking at the headlines only worsened his mood: Exclusive: Sycamore Bush Freed of Charges for Murder of Family!
“‘Prosecutor Major Nightmare Moonlit loses first case in two years… The city, and possibly the rest of Equestria is astounded and shocked by this.’" The military officer read monotonically, narrowing his eyes as he turned away. The headline had brought back the memory of the pony he had worked against… a smug stallion that had murdered his entire family. Ponies like this motivated the Major to bring them to justice and have their punishment… and yet he had lost the case. This is one pony who deserves to die. To think he thinks he can just take the life of another! And not just one, his entire family--it makes me sick to think about ponies like him.
Major Moonlit was deep in his sulking when his eyes registered the notebook was sticking out of his pocket… as if it was inviting him to write the murderer's name in it. One less murderer in the world couldn’t possibly do any harm, a part of him coaxed. The Major shook his head and went back to the newspaper, finding himself staring angrily at the mugshot of the pony. The self-satisfied look on his face just antagonized him more. The screeching noise of the halting of the train snapped him out of his reverie as he realized his stop was here. Major Moonlit stuffed the notebook deeper into his pocket and got up and off the train, pushing past other ponies silently. He walked the rest of the way home, passing by a few ponies who gave him strange looks when they saw the words on the front of the black notebook. He read the rest of the rules on the first page while levitating it in front of him.
"This note will not take effect unless the writer has the pony’s face in their mind when writing their name."
"If the cause of death is written within the next forty seconds of writing the pony's name, it will happen."
Major Moonlit narrowed his eyes at this rule.
"If this thing is for real.." he trailed off.
"If the cause of death is not specified, the pony will simply die of a heart attack."
Not paying attention to where he was headed, Major didn't notice the inattentive mare in front of him. The two crashed into each other, falling onto their flanks, him losing control of his book as it fell on its cover face down. Major Moonlit looked up with a half annoyed, half confused look on his face to see a white-coated, purple-maned pony with long, curly eyelashes that framed crystal-blue eyes. Even one as sullen as Major Moonlit had to admit that she was above average for Ponyville standards. However, what she was doing around Hoovington, he had no answer to. He knew her only on a first name basis, him prosecuting a few cases for her. Rarity.
"Ah, Rarity. What a pleasure, even considering the circumstances." Major Moonlit said, acting as formal as possible, knowing that Rarity would do the same. He tossed his mane out from over his eyes. He then noticed his black book lying next to his hoof and swiftly levitated it behind his front hoof.
"Oh hello there, Nightmare." Rarity said with a smile.
Nightmare Moonlit flinched backward a bit. He hated being called by his first name, it sounded… evil--even for a pony as moody as he was. Most of his friends (only two or three ponies) called him either Major, or his childhood nickname, "Dark Side.” Only Rarity and his family really called him by his first name. He could make a special exception for her, though.
"Oh, er, hello, Rarity… Well, I won't waste your time. Sorry for bumping into you." Major said, tucking the notebook inside his pocket before Rarity could notice it. His only thought was to get away quickly before the noticeable lump in his pocket drew attention.
"Oh, no, no, Nightmare, I was actually wondering if I could come to your house tonight." Rarity requested, seeming confused at his eagerness to get away. He blinked.
"Um… sure?" Major said, taken aback by her request.
"I'll see you about, say, seven-thirty?"
Major tried to contain his uncomfortableness over the situation. He didn't have time for menial conversation, he had case files to organize… and he wanted to look into this notebook more.
"Sure. I have to go though, bye, Rarity." Hmm, the time’s only five-twenty. Major thought. I should have some time to spare. He rushed away before Rarity could get in anything else.
About twenty minutes later, Major arrived at his front doorstep of his one-story house, on the outskirts of Hoovington City. The major fumbled with the key to his front door until he finally got it open. Entering his dimly lit house, he sat down at his desk next to the bookshelf full of past cases. He sat his notebook and his newspaper on the desk and opened the book to its first page. He stared at the page, contemplating his next course of action. His more resentful state of mind started taking over. Are you sure Sycamore shouldn’t die? His whole family. Murdered. That’s a death-penalty thing, and everyone knows it.
"So… the name of the one written in this notebook shall die, eh? I know exactly who deserves to die." Major opened to the first page and stared at the mugshot. He levitated a pen from the empty Hoove-bucks cup that served as a container for a multitude of writing utensils, and clicked it open. Shaking nervously, he took the pen to the first page of the notebook.
S-Y-C-A-M-O…
"Think before you finish that."
Major heard a gruff voice behind him making him fumble and fall out of his seat, knocking over the pens and almost the desk in the process. He looked behind him to see a black figure with a blue face and glaring yellow eyes. It was an ape-like creature with a dark set of a shirt and pants on, a black skull belt loosely hanging from his waist. Major had vaguely seen this type of thing before, in something called anthropology books, but he couldn’t think what it was for his life.
"Ah--ah--monster!" Major shrieked as he tried to use his levitated pens as weapons and scramble away at the same time. Unfortunately, the pens shot through the creature and impaled themselves on the bookshelf behind him.
"Sorry. I'm a Shinigami. Those things don't affect me." the creature shrugged.
"A--a--Shinigami? The hell is that?" he backed up against the wall, looking aound for things that could possibly hurt the Shini-whatever, or exits.
"A god of death. My name is Ryuuk. Nice to meet you." Ryuuk extended his claw, smirking slightly at Major’s refusal to take it.
"But--but--but…” Major babbled. He shook his head feverishly. “This can't be real… this just can't be..." Major Moonlit pleaded, shaking his head again. It made him dizzy to try and believe all this, let alone understand it.
"Nope, it's all real." Ryuuk proclaimed. He pointed his knife-sharp fingernail at the Death Note. "And that there notebook… used to be mine."
"Uh… what?! This can't… that thing doesn't work, can it?"
"I'll assure you it works. I know from experience." Ryuuk said ominously. "Now, what’s your name?"
"...Um, Major Nightmare Moonlit. I’m, uh, a state prosecutor for Hoovington and I’m a Major in the Equestrian Royal Guard..." He felt it was better to answer than be difficult, just in case this wasn’t an extremely odd dream.
Major Moonlit edged around to the desk, watching the Shinigami, and protectively grabbed the notebook and a pen. Ryuuk raised his eyebrows.
"I've gotta be hallucinating..." Major said, testing out a theory. Ryuuk smiled. A bit sadly, the Major noted.
"Put it to the test, then.” the Shinigami challenged. “Finish the name. Just know, that afterwards… afterwards, you’re gonna have a bad time." Ryuuk said, saying no more on the subject of “having a bad time.”
Major scoffed. This guy has got to be kidding… nah, I’ll show him!
"You’re bluffing! There is no possible way a piece of paper can kill someone, anyway. Watch!" Major Moonlit carelessly scribbled the name "Sycamore Bush" onto the first page of the notebook, finishing with a long stroke that took up half of the page and slamming the notebook shut. Major looked up at the Shinigami with a condescending expression.
"See?"
"15 more seconds. Just wait." Ryuuk said, shaking his head disdainfully. "Oh yeah, by the way, anyone who uses that notebook can neither go to heaven nor hell after that first name is written that becomes your notebook." he added. “It comes with the consequences.”
"Tch, I'll happily take it, on the one-percent chance that this thing actually works." Major said with a confident smile. "I don't believe in any of that." The gray stallion showed no concern for his own fate after death.
"You’ll see, after you die, then." Ryuuk frowned, seeming upset that Major wasn’t intimidated by the thought of never finding a place in the afterlife for him. A thought crossed Major’s mind.
"Wait… why are you even here?" Major questioned. Ryuuk tilted his head.
"I am bound to you until you die. I dropped this here thinking this'd be boring, but I thought humans were boring too, before I dropped one on their world, too. When I dropped one in the human realm it turned out to be pretty fun. This time, I wonder if you'll get any further."
Major’s head was swimming. What are humans?
"Well, I don't know what your talking about, and frankly it doesn't matter to me--"
Major's phone began to ring in his pocket. It was Starshooter, his younger brother. Starshooter worked at the local president and was in charge of the case done today. He smiled, then pressed the answer button. Let's see what's good.
"Yes, this is Major Nightmare Moonlit."
"Nightmare!” Starshooter exclaimed. Major winced, but let his brother continue. “Sycamore Bush is dead. We were in transit taking Sycamore Bush back down to the precedent for questioning when he fell out, and then we pulled the carriage over and it seems he had a heart attack! Or, at the very least, his heart stopped for some unknown reason."
“Uhm, uh… I have to go.” he hung up on Starshooter. Major's eyes went wide as he looked back at the laughing Shinigami.
"Proof enough for you?” Ryuuk asked, flying in circles in the air.
"There's no possible way…” Major whispered. “It’s… gotta be a coincidence! Ha-ha! Just a coincidence, he was morbidly obese anyways he was bound to die of a heart attack or stroke or something of the sort eventually! Just a coincidence!" Major jabbered on, trying to find a rational explanation while the Shinigami looked at him, not fooled. Major was scared. Did I just... kill someone? Ryuuk started to talk again, which startled the gray stallion.
"In that case, if it's just a coincidence, I guess you'd have no problem writing your own name in there?"
Major gulped at the suggestion. No, I can't risk it. But it all has to be some coincidence or some really organized joke… right?
"No...I’ll just write another criminal's name.” Major said, swallowing. “If he dies then..." he didn’t need to say another thing, the Shinigami understood. Major flipped through the newspaper, panicky, until he came up on an article about a bank robber stealing money from the bank, then killing the teller, though she had done what he demanded.
"Missile Toe, eh?"
Major pulled another pen out of the holster, still sitting on the floor and wrote the name as neatly and clearly as possible.
"Why don't you write a cause of death while your at it and make it as specific as possible? Then you'll have no reason to believe it's fake." Ryuuk suggested, sitting on air as though it were an armchair. Major spent the next five minutes writing in the notebook, attempting to make his death almost impossible to logically achieve.
"Well?"
"Five more seconds." the satirical pony proclaimed, looking upwards intensely. He unlocked the front door.
Ryuuk looked confused. "What're you--"
Suddenly, a tan Earth pony with a green mane, Missile Toe burst through the front door, taking both Major and Ryuuk by surprise. He started chanting in a foreign language and began ramming his head ferociously into the wall, creating a large gash. Blood rushed out of the wound and began pouring everywhere. Missile, somehow still able to move, then ran to the kitchen and unscrewed a salt shaker and poured the entirety of the salt into his head gash. The blood bubbled up from the burning sensation it must have undoubtedly caused, causing him to topple over headfirst into a knife that had fell off the shelf. Missile immediately died. Blood poured from the numerous wounds and filled up the cracks in the tiled floor. For good measure, a flower vase fell from the top shelf and cracked onto his dead body.
"Th--that cuts it? This thing is for real..." Major muttered, stunned at what just unfolded in front of him. He looked on the edge of screaming and running away from the entire thing. Ryuuk looked pleased, and slightly frightened.
"Wow, you’re a sadistic little bugger.” Ryuuk commented. “That was harsh. Even to a God of Death."
Major struggled to defend himself. "I had to make sure it was real, so I specified it in a way where it couldn't be a coincidence. Plus, I knew he lived a block or two down from me, so it wasn't impossible."
"Crafty, aren't you?" Ryuuk laughed.
Major Moonlit realized something.
"Wait… Ryuuk! What time is it?”
"About seven-fifteen. Why?" the Shinigami asked, interested.
Major almost had a heart attack himself. Rarity was due in 15 minutes, and he had a dead body in his living room, an impatient god of death, and a killer notebook.