Exposition
(Intro by Anon3mous)
1
*Exposition*
Life. This world is full of life.
The god perched in a tree, overlooking the large town. He sniffed at the air, taking in a faint, otherworldly bitterness that only he could detect. Yes... It is here. From the branch the pitch-black, roughly pony-shaped form rose. He spread his tattered wings, wings that should never have been able to support his weight, and launched himself towards the lights below. As he fell his mouth opened involuntarily, displaying his unnaturally large teeth, and he let out a wicked cackle of delight.
Equestria was fantastic.
---
"Isn't this just amazing?" Pinkie Pie bounded up and down in her seat, drawing stares from the other patrons of the restaurant. "I mean, every day is amazing, don't you think? But this is just so super-duper awesomely amazingly fantastic that I don't even—"
"Pinkie!" Twilight almost yelled from across the table. "It's just lunch. We do this all the time." Twilight Sparkle shifted uncomfortably at the number of eyes on them and slid her saddlebags to the floor. The restaurant was new, as were many of the ponies sitting in it. Ponyville was growing, much faster than anypony had anticipated. It seemed like there was a new house going up every day.
"Of course, silly filly!" Pinkie Pie continued, interrupting Twilight's thoughts. "But I haven't seen you even once in, like, a week! And that adds an extra layer of amazing for every day you've been gone, plus a level of chocolatey goodness for all that extra stuff we have to catch up on! So a whole seven days without Twilight Sparkle means that when I finally see you again it all adds up to..." She fumbled around momentarily beneath the table. "A whole chocolatey seven-layer cake of amazing!" From somewhere beneath her she pulled out an improbably large cake box, which she opened to reveal an actual seven-layer chocolate cake. On the top was a crude drawing of Twilight in purple frosting and the words "You are awesome!" written in pink around her.
Twilight smiled weakly. "Um... thanks, Pinkie?"
"You're welcome!"
"Your orders, madams?" asked an irritated waiter, who had been standing next to them throughout this exchange.
"Just a dandelion salad, please," said Twilight.
"Nothing for me, thanks," chirped Pinkie Pie. "I've got cake!" The waiter turned away, rolling his eyes. "And now, to celebrate friendship!" The pink pony took a huge, messy bite out of the cake, covering herself in chocolate and nearly toppling it over. "So Tphilight, wha's happn’ning?” she asked with her mouth full. She swallowed noisily. “What's kept you so busy all week?"
Twilight laughed nervously. "Oh, lots of things. Spike's still settling into his new room, and I had two different repair-ponies in to look at the stratoscreen. I think something's wrong with the antenna, but they say there's no problem. Plus there's all the studying I have to do, and I've been looking into Kira, so... I guess I just lost track of the time."
Pinkie Pie chewed a mouthful of cake thoughtfully. In the space of Twilight's story she'd somehow managed to consume nearly half of it, spilling chocolate crumbs all over the table. "You're interested in Kira?"
"Well, um, yes? I mean, who wouldn't be? Whatever kind of magic Kira uses is completely unheard of in all of recorded history. Ever! The potential for discovery is unbelievable!"
"What!?"
Twilight jumped, but Pinkie Pie was looking past her, towards the stratoscreen set into the restaurant's wall. "Peachy's Pies has been cancelled?" The pink pony stood up and shot over to the screen. Inwardly, Twilight sighed.
Since their invention, stratoscreens had spread across Equestria like wildfire. Shortly after the reemergence of the Crystal Empire, gemstones had been uncovered within its depths with the ability to capture and record images at an incredible rate, which, when combined with the rest of Equestria's comparatively futuristic camera technology, resulted in moving pictures. These images could then be played out on magically treated sheets of slate or marble, called stratoscreens. A second kind of crystal could store information for long periods of time and copy it onto others, and large "hub" crystals were used to broadcast it over long distances. The resulting “crystalvision” had completely revolutionized how ponies viewed art, entertainment and information, as well as providing new jobs for Equestria's rapidly growing population.
However, as with any leap forward, there were some difficulties as ponies tried to adjust to the new technology. For Twilight, one of these difficulties was Pinkie Pie. The poor mare was infatuated with crystalvision to the point of obsession. "Peachy Pie won't be doing a show today," Pinkie mourned, returning to the table. As soon as the Ponyville Hub Station had been constructed, Peachy Pie and her sister Sunny Days had applied for jobs there. Despite their youth and inexperience the station manager had seen great potential in them, so the studio had taken them on. Within a month Peachy Pie had launched one of Equestria’s first cooking shows, while Sunny Days covered weather and local news. "Pineapple was killed by Kira."
“He was her coltfriend, right?” Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie nodded sadly. Twilight pulled a notebook from her saddlebags and scribbled something down in it, but stopped when she saw Pinkie Pie’s stare. She put the book down and shuffled uncomfortably. "Wasn't Pineapple abusive? I mean... that's what I heard."
"Those were just rumors. Oh, Twilight, how can you want to know more about Kira? He's just a murderer."
The word rang in Twilight's ears. "Kira is not just a murderer. He's justice."
Pinkie Pie frowned. "I thought Princess Celestia was justice."
"That's what I used to think, too. But these days..." Twilight looked around carefully. Nopony seemed to be paying them any attention any more. “Look,” she said quietly, “Princess Celestia’s my teacher, and almost all of the time I agree with her about how Equestria should be run. Her ideas on taxation, foreign trade, diplomacy... nopony will say she’s not a brilliant ruler. But when it comes to criminal justice, she’s...” Twilight gulped. “Soft.”
“Soft and cuddly?”
“Not like that. I mean she’s too nice for her own good. Equestria is growing, and that means more crime. That’s not something we can avoid. But instead of building more prisons and courthouses, she’s been giving lighter sentences for bigger offenses. I thought things would improve after Luna returned, but... if anything, she’s just gotten worse. It’s like after her sister stopped being Nightmare Moon she became convinced everypony’s good on the inside, and it just takes a slap on the hoof to draw it out.”
Pinkie Pie looked confused. Her cake was nearly gone, and her expression was unusually serious. “Doesn’t it? I’ve never met anypony who’s bad all the way through. Even my Papa Pie, and he was the grumpiest grumpalump who ever grumped a lump, and all it took was one itty bitty ittle little twinkie Pinkie party for him to—”
Twilight slammed a hoof on the table. “It doesn’t always work like that!” She saw her friend’s shocked expression and backed down. “I’m sorry, Pinkie. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just... if somepony does something bad, and you don’t punish them, you’re just teaching them it’s okay to do bad things.” She closed her eyes. “Do you remember the day the princesses abolished the death penalty?”
“Of course! We had a big celebration, and there was singing and dancing and I made a cake shaped like an electric... Twilight, what’s wrong?”
Twilight shook her head, but Celestia’s words were burned into her memory. From now on, our prison systems must focus primarily on re-education and rehabilitation. Nopony should have to pay the ultimate price because of a mistake. No matter what your crime, everypony deserves a second chance – a chance I intend to give to you. “Back in Canterlot, I had a... well... there was a pony I knew called Moondancer.”
“Your salad, madam.”
“Oh, thank you.” Twilight accepted the dish and waited for the waiter to walk away before continuing. “I was too busy with books to get to know Moondancer well, but she was always kind and I wouldn’t have wished anything against her. But on the night when the princess made that announcement, just a few hours after that, that foalish speech... Moondancer was murdered.”
Pinkie Pie gasped, inhaling a mouthful of cake. Twilight waited until her friend was done coughing before continuing. “And do you know what happened to the pony who killed her? He didn’t even try to hide that he’d done it. He was found guilty and locked up. It was supposed to be for a year, just one year. But the prisons were close to overflowing, and new ponies were coming in every day, and...” She was starting to tear up. “And to make room they started letting ponies out early. Sharp Star was released after just three weeks. He... he killed somepony and got away with it.” Twilight lowered her head and forced herself to take a bite of her salad.
Pinkie Pie covered her mouth with her hoof. She’d stopped eating her cake, and her normally poofy hair had started to deflate. “That’s... that’s so sad.”
Twilight didn’t look up from her food. There was no need to continue her story to the end. Pinkie Pie had already gotten the message; there was no point upsetting her further.
---
In the end, it hadn’t been friends, relatives, or even a newspaper that had alerted Twilight to Moondancer’s death. It was teeth.
As usual, the unicorn’s study of magic bounced her from topic to topic at a rate that none of her friends were able to keep up with. By chance An Introduction to Magical Dentistry had caught her eye during one of her lengthy re-shelving sessions, and within a matter of days she could name nearly every spell in an amateur dentist’s repertoire. An exhaustive list of tips on healthy eating habits pointed her towards a study of tooth decay under differing conditions, including what seemed to her an unnecessarily detailed section on food served in prisons. This discrepancy led her to an outdated essay on prison statistics, followed by a trip to the library’s archives. Everything fell naturally into place from there.
Twilight felt a slight chill as she made her way down the stairs into the basement. She disliked coming down here; something about the cold, dusty air among the roots of the still-living tree was off-putting to her in a way that most libraries weren’t. Thankfully, any project that drew her down here was usually big enough to keep her distracted from this fact. She checked the reference number she’d written down and trotted over to the appropriate shelf, counting volumes to herself.
What surprised Twilight most about the book of Equestrian Justice Records was how large it was. Instead of the thin tome she’d been expecting she came away with a massive book more than half her height and almost as thick, warm to the touch with the faint buzz of magic. Like all public records, it was enchanted to be self-updating; every time a file was added or updated in the police records anywhere in Equestria, the book would rewrite itself to match. At first, she assumed the text’s thickness came from its age. After all, aside from the occasional scam artist or supervillain, Ponyville was subject to maybe one or two crimes a year. How much could there be in the rest of Equestria?
As the young pony was quick to discover, Ponyville was the exception rather than the rule.
Theft. Assault. Murder. Twilight felt herself turn numb as she flipped through page after page. The numbers varied by type and region, but they were all high – to her troubled mind, impossibly high. Even in Canterlot, it was rare that a day went by when somepony wasn’t killed or assaulted. Only Ponyville, under the watchful eye of Celestia, seemed safe from the slow turning of Equestria. Did something change? Twilight wondered, leafing through what seemed to be the thousandth death report. Or was it always this way, and I was just too high up to notice?
Twilight’s eyes began to glaze over as she read, the reports starting to blend into each other, forming one long, concentrated chain of wrongness stretching from one end of Equestria to the other. She only stopped when a page brushed against her nose, having inched closer and closer to the book with each turn of the page. “Easy, Twilight,” she sighed, forcing herself through the calming breathing techniques several of her friends had insisted she learn. “Nothing’s changed. It’s just statistical bias, that’s all. Too much information at once. It’s not as bad as it looks.” It was then that a name on the page caught her eye.
Moondancer.
Later on, a letter to relatives in Canterlot would confirm it; her fellow student Moondancer had been stabbed to death at a unicorn bar one dark and stormy night. But for the longest time Twilight could only sit, reading over the same report again and again, feeling some part of her deep inside begin to erode away.
That had been just two months ago.
---
Thanks to Twilight’s glacial pace and Pinkie Pie’s incessant chattering, it was mid-afternoon when the pair finally left the restaurant. They left the exasperated waiter a large tip and walked out to the sound of arguing. “Darling, you can’t mean to say you actually support that monster!”
“Sure Ah do!” The second voice was revealed to be Applejack, pulling a mostly-empty cart in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity walked beside her, glaring angrily at her friend. “Ah mean sure, it sounded awful at first, ponies dyin’ left and right. But ever since then, business is better than it’s ever been. Ponies don’t go pickin’ apples in our fields no more, and Ah haven’t been short-changed all week. Them thieves are too scared to pick on us hard-workin’ ponies any more.”
“That is not an excuse for murder! Kira’s nothing but a cold-blooded coward.” Rarity finally noticed the two ponies walking towards them. “Hello, Pinkie Pie. And Twilight Sparkle! My goodness, dear, where have you been?”
“Hi, girls,” said Twilight. “I’ve been, you know, busy. Studying.”
“Were you two talking about Kira?” asked Pinkie Pie, bounding up and down. “Twilight and I were just talking about the same thing! Twilight’s a supporter, and she told this really sad story,” she caught Twilight’s expression, “which I don’t think she wants to tell again, and as for me, well, I just don’t know what to think!”
Applejack frowned. “Whaddaya mean, ya don’t know? It’s only the biggest thing to happen since Nightmare Moon. Everypony in Equestria is talkin’ about it, and you of all ponies don’t have an opinion?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Nope! How about you two?” Applejack and Rarity glowered at each other and opened their mouths, only to be interrupted. “Oh, wait! I can figure it out!” The pink pony jumped on top of the cart and produced, seemingly from nowhere, two hoof-puppets in the likeness of her friends. Applejack unhitched herself from the cart and turned around to watch. “‘Killing is wrong under any circumstances!’” Pinkie Pie said in an approximation of Rarity’s voice, jiggling the white unicorn puppet up and down.
“‘But Kira only kills bad ponies!’” the orange puppet said in a deeper voice. “‘If yer innocent, you’ve got nothing to worry about!’
“‘But what about cases of mistaken identity and wrongful arrest?’
“‘Duh, Kira’s too smart to fall for something like that!’
“‘He’s not omniscient. He can’t know everything. He can make mistakes.’
“‘Omnee-what? Besides, somepony needs to keep order. Might as well be Kira. He’s like a real-life Batmane! Hi-yah!’” Pinkie Pie mimed a karate chop.
“‘That’s absurd! Might does not make right!’
“‘Then why’s Celestia in charge?’
“‘Applejack! I can not believe you just said that!’
“‘We were all thinkin’ it.’
“‘You’re disgusting and I can’t believe I ever loved you!’
“‘You don’t mean that, Rarity!’
“‘I do. I don’t think I ever want to see you again!’
“‘Rarity, listen.’
“‘Unhand me, you ruffian!’
“‘Please? For me?’
“‘Oh Applejack, I can’t resist you!’ Kissy kissy! Hee hee!” Pinkie Pie pushed the two puppets together and giggled, then noticed her friends’ shocked expressions. “Oh... did that part not happen yet?”
Twilight looked desperately around for a clock. Her eyes finally settled on her new wristwatch, which she wasn’t quite used to wearing yet. “Oh, look at the time,” she said hurriedly. “Spike’s expecting me. Lovely to see you, gotta dash, bye!” She turned and galloped away towards the library.
Behind her, Applejack’s tongue finally loosened itself from the roof of her mouth. “Ah did not compare Kira to Batmane,” she said angrily.
---
Twilight Sparkle normally didn’t like keeping secrets. She felt it was much better to get everything out in the open than to keep parts of herself covered up; her studies had shown that not telling others how you feel was detrimental to friendships all around. Still, in this particular case, she couldn’t seem to feel bad about lying to her friends. It was too close to her heart, too personal. It seemed that there were some things better left unsaid after all.
One week ago, in secret, Twilight had visited Canterlot. She’d left in the late afternoon, leaving a note for Spike, and had taken her treasured hot air balloon. Thanks to a good wind the journey had taken under two hours, but it was dark by the time she had found a free landing pad. She crept into the city quietly, covering herself with a cloak. It was unlikely that she’d be noticed, but it paid to be cautious. She didn’t want news of this visit to reach her teacher.
It was one thing to read the police records – she must have gone over the death report hundreds of times, taking in detail after detail. Sharp Star, arrested for murder and released within a month. Case closed. The numbers were there, the names and dates laid out in black and white, and for her analytical mind that should have been enough.
But she hadn’t gone to Moondancer’s funeral. At the time she’d said she was too busy, but she hadn’t been, not really. She should have made time, she should have been there, but between her friends and her studying it hadn’t seemed important. Somehow, reading about Sharp Star’s release had brought the reality of the situation on her harder than the actual murder. To make this personal, to make amends, she had to know. She had to see for herself.
It was raining when Twilight reached the city’s slums, if they could even be called that; the houses were made of polished stone, and rose higher and grander than any in Ponyville. The few ponies who were outside at this hour paid no attention to her, each making their own way quickly and quietly down the overcast streets. After a few minutes of searching she found the Ley Line, the unicorn bar mentioned in the report. A gruff-looking pony eyed her carefully as she walked in, but didn’t ask for an I.D.
It was much warmer inside the bar than out. Twilight carefully hung her cloak on a hook by the door and looked around. The place was smaller than it had looked from outside, cozy but not cramped. The walls were lined with cheap wood paneling and brightly-burning torches, and tiny candles floated over the tables that lined the walls. Every stool at the bar itself was occupied by an older unicorn, most of them asleep. The air was full of quiet conversation and the smell of stale beer.
Twilight found a seat in an empty corner and tried to recall the pictures taken at the scene. Her stomach lurched as she realized the corner of the bar nearest her was where Moondancer had died, fatally stabbed through the neck. The table across from her was where Sharp Star had been arrested an hour later, still drinking as though nothing had happened. There was Sharp Star himself, looking exactly the same as in his mugshot— Sharp Star was right there.
Right there, at that exact same table, sat a smug-looking blue unicorn with a horrific smile on his face. A pair of ugly brown stallions sat on either side of him, levitating large mugs in front of their faces. All three were wearing long, black jackets that covered their cutie marks. Twilight’s stomach lurched as she realized the material was leather. Is that even legal? The pony on Sharp Star’s right was speaking. “How ‘bout, how about this,” he slurred, his drunken voice audible over the low murmur of the rest of the bar. He levitated his wobbling mug a little higher. “Here’s to, uh, Princess Celestia, the kindest, most gullible mare in aaaaaaall Equestria!” He grinned moronically.
Sharp Star’s smile twitched momentarily, then he raised his own glass as well. “I like it,” he said in a surprisingly quiet voice that was almost a hiss. “A toast, to the one who forgives all.” He snickered, an eerie, singularly unpleasant sound.
The colt on his left nudged him. “Hey, Sharp. Purple filly’s eyeballin’ you.”
With horror, Twilight realized she’d been staring as Sharp Star’s eyes flicked up to meet hers. In one fluid motion the blue unicorn rose and walked directly over the table towards her, closely followed by the other two. She looked around in a panic, but the other patrons were keeping their eyes fixed on their own drinks. With feigned nonchalance Twilight stood and began to make her way to the door, but the three unicorns intercepted her. “You like what you see, doll?” said one of the brown ones, cutting off her exit.
Sharp Star sniffed the air in front of Twilight’s face and grinned a little wider. “You remind me of the other one,” he whispered softly. “You wear your mane just the same as hers. Think you’d feel the same, too?” His eyes rolled back into his head and he smiled in pleasure. “You wanna ride my horn too, babe?”
He killed Moondancer.
Sharp Star laughed and the other two joined in, the combined waves of their foul breath assaulting Twilight’s nostrils.
He killed Moondancer. He got away with it.
She felt sick. She strongly resisted the urge to buck one of them.
He doesn’t care. He wasn’t punished.
And it’s all Princess Celestia’s fault.
“Hey bro, check it, she’s crying! You scared, little filly? Are we too-”
Twilight used a bolt of magic to shove the surprised thug aside and ran for the door, having enough presence of mind to grab her cloak on the way out. Shouts rang out behind her, but she wasn’t followed into the rain. Quickly she ducked into a side alley and collapsed against a wall, sobbing.
Then, in the darkness, something fell.
---
“Spike!” Twilight called as she entered the library. “Are you home?” She put down her saddlebags and looked around. The library was empty and unusually tidy, a sign that the baby dragon had been busy. Upstairs was just as quiet. “Spike?” Twilight made it to the third floor and knocked on the door to Spike’s room. “Are you home?”
After a few long seconds the door creaked open and a cloud of ash escaped. Twilight coughed loudly. A bleary-eyed Spike peered out. “Sorry, Twilight,” he mumbled. “I finished my chores and then I just sat down for a second, and I guess I forgot to leave the window open...”
Twilight stepped inside, opening as many windows as she could reach and levitating a nearby fan to clear the air. She stared at the soot-covered ceiling and sighed. Spike had grown less than an inch in the past year, but his flames were getting a lot stronger from constant use. As a result, he’d started blowing out occasional puffs of smoke while he slept. Twilight had at first insisted it wasn’t a problem, but when she’d started coughing during the night he’d moved into an old supply room near the top of the tree. The old boxes and shelves had been moved into the basement and the walls had been covered with posters of famous dragons, some of which were starting to curl at the edges. “We need to talk to Mr. Breezy about getting some proper ventilation in here,” said Twilight. “This can’t be good for the tree’s health.”
“I’m sorry, Twilight.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault,” Twilight said gently. “Just try not to nap during library hours, okay?” Spike nodded. “Anyway, I just wanted to see if you had any plans for dinner. Did you want to go out somewhere?”
Spike shook his head, trying to jolt himself fully awake. He put one hand on his stomach and backed away slightly. “No thanks. Leftover quartzloaf is fine. I’ve got a lot of, uh, reading to do.”
Twilight beamed. “That’s great, Spike! It’s nice to hear you’re keeping up with your academic studies.” She retreated towards the door, fanning the last of the smoke towards the window. “Well, if you need me, you know where to find me.” The door closed.
Spike took a deep breath and belched out the scroll he’d been desperately trying to keep down throughout the conversation. He quickly scanned its contents before climbing out the open window, scaling down the outside of the tree to the ground below.
Twilight listened to his escape with her ear to the door. Spike had never been a very good liar. Part of her wanted to barge in and demand to know what he was doing, but he was just a young boy and she did owe him some privacy. She just hoped he wasn’t up to anything she needed to worry about.
Quietly, Twilight returned to her own room. Before entering, she touched her horn to the door, and a tiny spark of light jumped from her to the wooden surface. She went inside, closed the door behind her, and sighed. She'd forgotten how draining spending time with friends could be. Not that that was a bad thing, but after a week of near-solitude the experience was jarring. Still, no time to rest. She had work to do.
Crossing over to her desk, which she had moved far away from the window, she unlocked the top drawer and reached inside. All it contained was an old and well-worn diary with Twilight’s name scrawled on the front in ancient and flaking purple crayon. But she reached down behind this, knocked twice on the wooden surface, then reached through the wood to the hidden compartment behind it. From within she pulled out a thin black book, its cover completely blank. She put this down on her desk and then pulled out another, much larger book: the folder containing the self-updating criminal record files. A glow from her horn expanded it to its full size, covering more than half the desk. She flipped it open to a random page and sat down. So much to do, so little time.
Sharp Star was a murderer. Princess Celestia had set him free, and now he was dead. Pineapple had been an abusive coltfriend. There were no less than four separate arrests listed due to domestic violence, but the timid Peachy Pie had never pressed charges. He would never bother the innocent filly again. Right now, a known burglar's case was being dropped due to "lack of evidence". Twilight opened the black book and picked up her favorite quill. Sometimes, the simplest solutions were the best ones.
---
That night in Canterlot, cowering and crying in a poorly-lit alleyway, everything had changed.
Twilight felt like throwing up. She had just seen Moondancer's murderer, not just out of prison, but enjoying himself; he wasn't sorry, he hadn't learned anything, he would do it again given half the chance. In fact, she was certain that within a month another mare would be lying dead in that bar. How can this be justice? How could anypony think that this is right?
It was in that moment, that horrible, soul-destroying moment, that something fell.
It hit the ground with a gentle thud, skidding across the cobbles before coming to a halt near Twilight's hooves. She looked up, surprised, but there was nopony nearby who could have dropped it. The overhang from the buildings on either side gave no room for it to have fallen from high up. She stopped crying and picked it up, finding no words on its cover. She flipped through, but every page was blank. Too tired to consider the matter further, her inner librarian not willing to abandon the book to the rain, she slipped it under her cloak and walked away.
The storm would keep her from leaving Canterlot until morning. She supposed she could have stayed with her family, but she didn't feel particularly up to facing anypony after the night's events, least of all her parents. After wandering for a few streets, she found a cheap motel and took a room for the night. The space they gave her was small, little more than a bed and a desk, but just for the night it would suffice.
As she hung up her cloak, something inside fell to the floor. She'd completely forgotten about the notebook. Curiosity flaring, she picked it up and examined it more thoroughly. There were words on it, small print filling the inside cover. A title blazed at the top, somehow legible even in the near-darkness:
Death Note
Underneath were the words How To Use It, and then the first and most important rule:
The pony whose name is written in the Death Note will die.
Twilight stared at the notebook, taking a few seconds to comprehend, then chuckled. For all that mystery, all she'd stumbled upon was some morbid foal's hate book. She flipped through the rest of the book again, unsure if she'd missed something, but every page was blank. There was no way of telling who it belonged to. Of course, she thought, you couldn't write your own name in a “Death Note”... Twilight shook her head. For a second she considered asking around the area to see if anypony had lost it, but then remembered Sharp Star and shuddered. She wanted to get out of the city in the morning as fast as possible, and put herself far, far away from... him. She put the Death Note on the desk, turned towards the bed, and then had an idea. A silly, foalish idea.
Slowly, she looked back towards the notebook. "Well..." she said aloud, "finders keepers, right?" She sat down at the desk and flipped the notebook open. In the darkness the blank pages seemed comforting, inviting. From across the room she levitated a quill and ink bottle out of a pocket in her cloak and brought them towards her. Smiling wickedly, picturing the blue unicorn's stupid, murderous face, on the first line she wrote down a name.
Sharp Star
Twilight threw down her quill and jumped onto the bed. She'd put all of her hate into writing that name, and, foalish as it was, she did feel a little better. She closed her eyes and was asleep within seconds.
Less than twenty minutes later, she was awoken by the sound of sirens.
Twilight jolted awake, nearly tumbling out of bed before catching herself. There were loud noises outside, and shouting. She rushed to the window to look. An ambulance was passing by, two ponies pulling a white covered cart while a third stood on top waving recognizable red and blue lights. A pegasus pony flew somewhere high overhead, pushing rainclouds aside to clear their path. Twilight stared, aghast, as they rushed in the direction of the Ley Line. A few minutes later they passed again in the opposite direction, this time at a slower pace. The cart they carried was now occupied, a sheet pulled all the way over the body. Wind pressed against the white fabric, revealing the outline of a unicorn. A unicorn wearing a long jacket.
Twilight backed away from the window, knocking the chair over in her panic. "No," she whispered. She turned and leaped into the corner of the room, throwing the linen from the bed over herself as if it could block out the image from outside. "No!" she screamed, pounding her hooves against her head. "No! No!"
---
At the time, she'd told herself she was just tired. The strain of the night had caused her to make a connection she shouldn't have during an unlikely coincidence. By the time she drifted off to sleep again she’d half-convinced herself she’d dreamed the whole thing. And yet, the next day there it was. Sharp Star's picture was in the obituaries section of the Equestria Daily she picked up over breakfast. Twilight choked on her complimentary muffin as she read it, but forcibly steadied herself. Okay Twilight, calm down, she said to herself, seeing a couple ponies in the greasy cafeteria glance at her. She hid behind her newspaper and hoped none of them had heard of her. I couldn't have killed that colt. I just couldn't have. All I did was write his name in a book. That couldn't have done anything... it’s impossible.
I can’t be a murderer.
---
Before checking out, Twilight returned to her room to gather her things. The Death Note was right where she'd left it, still open to the first page. She bent over it and started reading the directions on the inside cover more thoroughly.
The pony whose name is written in the Death Note will die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the pony’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, ponies sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the pony’s name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the pony will die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written within the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
More rules followed in smaller text. Some were extremely specific, others infuriatingly vague, and Twilight’s head hurt trying to take them all in. None of them said anything about how or why the Death Note worked, or why it existed. And what in Equestria was a Shinigami?
Twilight slammed the notebook shut. This whole thing was absurd. The book was at best a sick joke written by some madpony, at worst the weapon of a murderer. The smart thing to do would be to throw it away, never look at it or think of it again.
But Sharp Star was dead.
That thought gave her pause. Last night she’d been certain that another mare would be killed by that monster. Now that monster was gone, maybe because of the book. Maybe because of her. One way or another, a murderer had received the punishment he deserved. And if this book had the power to do that... if there was even the slightest chance that it could be used not as an instrument of death, but of justice...
Maybe, just for now, it was worth holding onto.
---
The journey back to Ponyville took less time than the first trip. It was only midmorning when Twilight touched down in front of the library, so few ponies were there to see her arrive. Inside it was quiet; as she’d predicted, without her there to wake him up Spike had overslept. She made his breakfast and crept upstairs, only to rush back down after opening his door. “Open some windows!” she wheezed, coughing violently.
Once the air was clear and Spike was done apologizing, Twilight sent him on his way and retired to her room. She pulled the Death Note from her cloak and settled down in front of her stratoscreen. She wasn’t fond of the device, but Pinkie Pie had insisted she get one, and some days there was just no saying no to Pinkie Pie. After a moment’s thought she rose and put a magical lock on the door. It wouldn’t do for Spike to walk in on her... doing this. She returned to her seat, made herself comfortable, and turned on the screen. The cheery face of Sunny Days appeared, announcing the morning’s weather schedule. Twilight groaned and started flipping through channels. This was going to be a long day.
Twilight spent the rest of the morning in front of the screen, changing news stations every few minutes. She stopped around noon just long enough to get some lunch, reassuring Spike that she was fine but didn’t want to be disturbed. Then, two hours later, a stroke of luck: that is, disaster struck. As Twilight changed the channel for what seemed like the thousandth time, she came across the image of a worried-looking Sensation Shine, a Canterlot news reporter, standing in front of a group of guard-ponies. Unlike Celestia’s royal guard, the city guards were not uniform in colour, and they bore simple iron plate as opposed to the golden armor of their counterparts at the palace. Twilight leaned forward. “The suspect has barricaded himself inside the schoolhouse,” the amber newsmare was saying, doing a good job of disguising the panic in her voice. “Ten foals of varying ages are currently trapped inside with him. The teacher on duty, Whiteboard, has been confirmed dead.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. She opened the Death Note, levitating a quill towards her. Onscreen Sensation Shine tilted her head to the side, listening to a voice off-camera. “This just in,” she continued. “Eyewitnesses have just identified the suspect as Bramble Thorn, former teacher at this school.” A picture of the offending pony appeared in the corner of the screen. Twilight’s response was automatic; quill scratched on paper. “Reportedly, Bramble was forcibly retired earlier this month due to several complaints of misconduct towards students. The foalnapper has issued no demands so far, and has warned the guards not to attempt to enter the building.” Twilight stared at the clock on the wall. Twenty seconds. "We now turn to the current chief of city police, Straw Bolt. Bolt?"
An especially large guard with a shield cutie mark stepped into the frame. The white pegasus stood proudly, but his eyes were tired and his mane dripped with sweat. "Thank you, Shine," he said in a booming voice. "This is a situation that has become all too common throughout Equestria these past few months. Whether due to financial pressures, or..." He trailed off as shouts rang out from the front of the building.
Sensation Shine bolted towards the action, motioning for the camera to follow her. "It looks like... yes! It looks like the foals are leaving the building!" she shouted excitedly. A line of miniature ponies ran between the rows of guards, many of them in tears. "They are unharmed. The guards are now entering the building." Several confusing shots followed, the camera-pony trying to capture everything at once. After some long seconds Sensation Shine was finally able to recapture his attention. "Breaking news," she gushed breathlessly. "Bramble Thorn has collapsed, and is showing no signs of life. The cause of this turn of events is currently unknown. A medical team has been sent for."
Twilight breathed heavily. This shouldn't be happening. No book, no ordinary paper could have that kind of power. But somehow, impossibly, it did. I... I killed somepony. The thought made Twilight sick. She’d been fine with just thinking about it, fantasizing about it, but actually seeing it happen before her eyes was very different. She hung her head in shame. A pony was dead now, two ponies, because of her.
Were heart attacks painful? She’d read about them in a few medical manuals, but she’d never heard of anypony actually having one. In larger mammals like ponies they were supposed to be rare, except in the very old and the very weak. What would the guards think when they discovered the cause of death? Would they somehow be able to trace it back to her?
The screen cut away from the confused guards and landed on the escaped foals. Most were being held by their parents, who were crying tears of joy. A light went on in Twilight's head. She'd done that. Those foals were safe now, because of her. It gave her a warm, happy feeling inside. She hadn't just killed anypony; she'd killed a bad pony, something that a score of guards and Princess Celestia herself couldn't do. And because of it, the world was now a better place.
As she stared at the Death Note, a sense of purpose began to fill her. Justice had been served. She switched off the screen and walked downstairs, hardly noticing Spike as he called hello. In the basement she found what she was looking for. A massive tome practically thicker than it was tall, one that was warm to the touch and flickered whenever its words changed. It was the self-updating police record book, the same one she'd used to read about Moondancer's death in detail. She opened it to the middle. Here were all the dropped cases, the allegedly lost files, the early releases, the threats the Guard was too understaffed to deal with. So many criminals. So much injustice.
Twilight smiled dreamily. "Now," she whispered, "I will be justice."
---
Back in the present, Twilight gently closed the police record book. "That's enough for today," she said to nopony in particular, stretching her stiff limbs. It was a shame that Pinkie Pie and Rarity didn't support her, but that was okay for now. She didn't expect everypony to understand right away. She wasn't sure where the name Kira had come from. Somepony had screamed it from the background of one of the early news reports, presumably stumbling over 'killer', and the name stuck. The mysterious, invisible entity that brings justice to a corrupt society: Kira, the god of death. Somehow, she liked it.
As she did every night, Twilight flipped back to the very first page of the Death Note. Despite her confidence in her convictions Rarity's words had stung, and seeing Pinkie Pie so upset over Pineapple's death made her uncomfortable. But whenever she started to waver in her belief, if she felt at any point that she might not be doing the right thing, she always turned back to where she began. In the very top corner of the first page, she'd written one extra name. This one wasn't meant to kill; it was for someone already gone. A little dedication, to remind her of what she was fighting for.
For Moondancer.
Twilight yawned and put the Death Note back in its secret compartment. The police records followed, along with a shrinking spell to keep it at a more manageable size. She locked up and went downstairs.
Hidden in the shadows, a dark shape folded up its wings and smiled. Finally. He’d been starting to think he wouldn’t be able to find her.
---
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned the power that controversy can have over friendship. Even if two ponies are the best of friends, a disagreement over an important issue can cause a conflict neither of them can ever really get out of. When somepony’s opinion is different from yours, it’s important to listen to their side of the story instead of trying to force your point of view on them. And for the sake of your friends, sometimes the best opinion to have is no opinion at all.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
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why is that once i started to read this i wanted to listen to chop suey?
getting a little self-righteous there eh twilight.
You have me hooked, good sir. It certainly helps that Death Note is my second favourite anime, but you wrote everything very well. Time for chapter the second!
This is very well captured dear sir. I am a huge fan of Death Note and you have it nailed. I will both track and fav this, and read on. I hope you have the L from the show, cause then I would love you forever. And what's better is I listened to the music from the show as I read which made it 100 times more awesome. Congratulations, you have won the game. *Evil Light laugh*
This story sounds scary.... ain't no murders/thefts/whatever in Equestria!
Oh Celestia, Twilight shall die? I don't know what to think if that's true.
I just found this in the recently updated, and I'm intruiged. I was going to make something original and mix deathnote and MLP together, but it seems I have been beaten. Time to think of another original story...
I love DN, and I just hope you aren't going to give this as weak of an ending as the real DN. That was just rushed or something. The people could have given us time to like the new enemy of Light's (Not going to name them, as it is a spoiler) but instead I only wound up liking one of them.
d.n mlp ......................nice derpy approves
I, for one, LOVE!!!! the name of the T.V. system "Crystal Vision" that just sounds EPIC. but other than that im loving this story. Ive been a fan of Death Note so having this crossover of a fanfic is going to be a very fun read.
i like it, and its sooo long
, i love the well written intro to "crystal vision". this obviously has much work put into it, well done
if only i found this earlier!
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Well, Twilight IS supposed to be Light. Don't get much more self righteous than declaring yourself the god of a new world, and I'm assuming Twilight isn't too far off from that.
Oh shit son, Twilight is gonna die, if mastermind Light Yagumi died, then what does constantly failing Twilight have a chance?
Just started reading this fanfic today- I finished watching Death Note the other week and loved it- this is a brilliant MLP version. I shall continue working my way through the current chapters over the next few weeks- I hope Twilight doesn't go the same way as Light did in the end...
this...is....AWESOME.
I was also planning on writing a MLP/Deathnote crossover fic,and I believe this was very well executed! fabulous work!
(I'll still write my own version,but it will also involve some of my own OCs and it probably won't match up to this one...)
'hub'
can't believe you worked that in there
This is... excellent. I just a few hours ago first tried getting into some fics here, and this is easily the most well-written. Characters are very in-character, the dialogue is believable (especially with Pinkie)... I can totally believe that this could happen with the characters as they really are in FiM. Jolly good show, lol, I'll be following this.
And I very much like that Twilight is still quite same and herself, and understanding of friendship. For now, anyway. I don't know if this is going to go just as the anime/manga does, but whether Twilight goes off the deep end like Light or manages to maintain her true identity, I'm going to enjoy this.
THE GOD OF THE NEW WORLD! ALICORN PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!
Well darn someone beat me to this....I wanted to do this
My Little Pony and Death Note?
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/165/461/My%20body%20is%20ready.jpg
I'm...hooked. o.o
I like the way you wrote this.
:3
Why did I wait so long to read this? This is awesome! Twilight makes the best Light!
AH! TwiLIGHT! I get it! Huh, funny.
But anyways, I'm now going onto the second chapter. You have me hooked.
Also, evil self-righteous Twilight is best Twilight.
This is really,really great. I haven't seen Death Note, although I know what it's about and the what the characters are. I think I'll watch it soon.
So. I don't kno what to say right now. I like Death Note, but at the same time this story just totally, no it doesnt just clash, it rips apart and brutally murders my entire head-canon of Equestria. I really do not think Twilight would be so cruel, and shouldn't this be alternate universe tagged also?
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Who's the mare in the bottom left?
You, sir, have my undivided attention, and you got me hooked onto this! I read this first chapter, and I absolutely LOVE it!
just incase nobody knows what kira is its a Japanese word coming from the English word killer and I can see the similarity's with light and twilight they want a free world one without crime and just a good friendly world free of murder death robbery everything and shinigami is a Japanese legend the death note is carried by a shinigami and if the shinigami drops it (anyone who watched death note should know this) and a human picks it up before the shinigami can pick it up the human is now the master of both the death note and shinigami also a shingami can give up its eyes (the eyes will give the name and death date of anyone your looking at) for half of your life cycle and the shinigami fallows you around the shinigami can only be seen if a page of the death note is touched by anyone else for instance say you have a death note and your friend touches a page or the cover he will see your shinigami
I get the reference! Light Yagami = Twilight Sparkle!
I FINALLY GOT TO READING THOSE CRAZY BOOKS!
2794175 I think that's Berry Punch.
Twilight is more suspicious than light by a lot.
Ok, I just have to say this...everytime I started to read Twilight's dailouge, I was not hearing Tara Strong, but I was hearing the voice actor for light instead,
This is only the first chapter, but it's already so goddamn awesome.
I applaud.
666 likes...
Excellent.
As a fan of the anime, this is exceptional.
And Thus It Begins
God, please let there be no mika in this. Unless she's subsituted as pinkie pie, then thats ok.
I'm loving this so much.
I loved the Death Note anime. Twilight Sparkle is the best option for Light Yagami, both of them are very intelligent, hardworking, and have strong ideals about how the world should be.
It would admittedly be kind of funny to see Pinkie Pie with a Death Note or Fluttershy though..
I'm rather satisfied that Twilight is given a more concrete motivation to use the Death Note, other than a sense of righteous judgment, in Moondancer. Granted, a sense of passing righteous judgment as Light's sole motivation provided an interesting commentary on morality and judgment.
*Reads Pinkie's puppet show*
Hmmm. This reminds me of something.
Oh yeah..."Fight! Fight! Fight! Kiss, kiss, kiss..."
3733471 Pinkie accidently uses it as a party planner, writing the names of the ponies who she's planning to throw a party for.
muahaha. I am teh evil.
Ah yes death note one of my favourite animes right next to full metal alchemist
. Ps Please don't end this story as the original death note
.
Interesting idea, and she actually has a far better reason for doing it than Light had in the original.
Stray thought: Batman finds the Deathnote... shudders and runs to join the boy-scouts.
I'm just really loving this story...Twilight is the perfect candidate for Light Yagami...I started this series a while ago and i just started to read the manga and I'm really looking forward to see how this story will turn out.
Which is good, because It sounds like Kira is more like what I expected out of Cheese Sandwich before I learned that he was being played by "Weird Al" Yankovic - A pony Punisher. Mainly because of how the voice sounded the first time I heard him speak.
Just like the pesky bee
*insert shitty bee movie meme*
Shame I didn't read this story sooner.
8603017
Oh come on. You do you really have to BEE that way?
8603017
when you said "pesky bee" I automatically thought about "dont hug me I'm scared"
Am I the only one surprised that this was all in just one chapter, I mean after keeping on scrolling down it felt like I was going into other chapters, but when I got to the bottom there was no button to go to the previous chapter.
I'm lovin 'it ❤