Do Not Go Gentle

by ShinigamiDad

Death In Slow-Motion

Luna sat down near the side table and ate some bread, as Reaper paced, and Twilight arranged her notes. The sun hung low in the west windows, and shadows deepened in the chamber’s recesses.

At last Reaper stopped and turned to Twilight: “A few minutes ago you said “what are we looking for,” yes?”

She looked up and nodded hesitantly: “I was just frustrated and scared, and…”

Reaper cut her off: “No--that’s actually the right question. We keep trying to prove a negative, here. We keep looking for evidence of a thing that almost by definition doesn’t exist.”

He rubbed his temples and walked to the sunset-streaked window.

“Alright,” Reaper began, “we’re pretty sure Nightmare Moon was responsible for at least one dream death, and likely more, but,” he turned back toward a shaken Twilight, “do they all look like Sea Foam’s end, or do some of them play out more like a typical death?”

Twilight began to object: “But couldn’t it have just been that one? She really can’t have been responsible for…”

Luna cut her off sternly: “No, Twilight, I’m afraid Reaper must be right. I surely was responsible for at least a few more deaths due to fear.”

Reaper nodded to Luna. “We need to find one of those, since I would have been there at the last moment to do my duty. And though I’m sure everything was very dark, if a pony died and I was present, nothing would have been hidden from me.”

Luna closed her eyes and breathed deeply: “I will ponder this for a moment…”

Reaper walked back across the room and sat down in his accustomed spot.

Twilight looked back and forth between Luna and Reaper, and asked, “what are you hoping to see?”

“We need to look for the differences between Nightmare Moon’s darkness, and this “thing”--how do they manifest?” Reaper replied, “Is the “thing” masking itself in Nightmare Moon’s own shadows?”

Luna opened her eyes and brushed away a tear: “Do you recall an old unicorn stallion about 150 years ago named Heavy Gauge?”

Reaper furrowed his brow and focused on the floor: “Now it’s my turn to ponder--hold on.” He bobbed his head up and down rhythmically as though counting.

“There he is,” Reaper said at last, “a big, ol’ fella. Yeah, I remember him.”

Reaper stood up and walked to Luna: “So, how do we want to start with this? We’re going to see the same scene twice, but through different lenses, as it were.”

Luna nodded, and glanced at Twilight: “And it will be up to you to chart the subtle differences between our tellings.”

Twilight nodded back, then said, “But is there a way to see them both at the same time? To see Reaper’s perspective from inside your images, Luna?”

Luna looked at Reaper and shrugged. He raised an eyebrow: “I guess it would be, essentially, a complete replay of the actual event itself, cloaked in the dream, like a costume. Smart!”

Twilight started to smile.

“However,” Reaper interjected as Twilight’s smile faded, “there’s one problem…”

A look of sudden comprehension dawned on Luna’s face as she took up the thread: “We will both be focused on our own perspective.”

Now Luna turned to Twilight: “If you were to accompany us, you would be able to witness the scene from a true third-pony perspective.”

Reaper nodded: “It’s not really all that different from my offloading of memories into your mind, but it would be more efficient, and ensure that I’m not introducing a bias.”

Twilight trembled: “G-go with you two? Into the dreamscape to witness a death?”

Luna looked at Twilight sympathetically and spoke softly: “No harm can come to you; we will be there, and this is truly no different than Reaper giving you his memories.”

Twilight shuffled her hooves and spoke to the floor: “I can’t run away here--he locks me in-place with his eyes…”

Reaper smiled grimly: “That’s true, Princess, but I can see why Luna and Celestia have put their faith in you multiple times. I think you’ll stand your ground.” Luna nodded.

Twilight smiled gamely: “Should I stand on a towel?”

---

The three ponies materialized in the dreamscape ruins of the Sisters’ castle, and looked around to get their bearings.

Luna intensified the light from her horn and pointed at the banner, hanging limply from its cracked archway.

“This way,” she said, walking forward, rising into the air as if on an invisible ramp.

Images flickered over the surface of the banner, freezing as Luna’s horn touched it.

“There is Heavy Gauge, in his final dream. Please step through,” Luna said, standing aside with a grim expression.

Twilight tentatively stepped through first, followed by Reaper, then Luna.

All three appeared in the midst of a dark, dimly-lit forest. They could hear a pursuit approaching.

Luna introduced the scene: “You will see him emerge in a moment, followed by three timber wolves. It is an old dream of his, revisited since childhood. He always awakens just before being torn apart. He is always young and healthy and able to elude them ‘til the final moment.”

Reaper nodded in concurrence: “But not this time, if I recall....here he comes! Watch closely as this happens, Twilight. Luna will try to hold the perspective in focus while I slow time to a near-stop. This is similar to the visions I have given you, but will be more vibrant and life-like.”

Twilight swallowed hard and let her ears droop: “More life-like…?”

“And here they are!” Luna cried, her eyes glinting in the pale moonlight.

A young, hale dark-blue unicorn burst through the brush, scattering branches and leaves. His sides heaved from exertion, and sweat flew from his flanks.

Hard on his heels three snarling timber wolves shot through the gap he had made, and nipped at his heels.

“Sweet Celestia, not again!” he panted, dodging and throwing up dirt in his wake. He leaped powerfully over a fallen log, and made a break toward open ground.

Luna gritted her teeth and whispered, “now.”

Reaper stepped forward a pace and tossed his head back, his horn glowing a faint violet. The world seemed to slow to a snail’s pace as a dark band of energy rippled across Heavy Gauge’s body, aging it in an instant to that of a lame old stallion of many decades.

His now-cloudy eyes went wide with terror as his limbs gave out, one front leg snapping like a dry twig, one hip dislocating with a sickening pop.

He crashed forward in a heap as the hunters swarmed him in slow motion.

The scene suddenly shifted, rotated and zoomed as Luna brought the three viewers in closer to the action.

One of the wolves appeared to shift and transform, as a rough horn sprang from its forehead, and branch-like wings cracked forth from its back.

As the other wolves bit into the stricken unicorn’s flank and neck, the area around the lead wolf appear to sharpen, and break free from the time constraint which was slowing the rest of the scene.

“You’re not getting away this time you feeble old bag of bones!” the wolf snarled, its tones shifting with every syllable until it became Nightmare Moon’s voice.

“You’ve been running for years, but now you’re too tired and broken-down, and I weary of chasing you further!” she cried, as a strangled scream bubbled from Heavy Gauge’s shredded throat, spraying Nightmare Moon-wolf’s face with blood.

The wolf grinned wickedly and licked the blood from its chops, relishing the unicorn’s impending end.

Reaper looked back over his shoulder and called to Luna: “Come in closer!”

The world appeared to iris in, focusing on Heavy’s upper torso and face.

Reaper tipped his head slightly to the right, and allowed the scene to continue.

“See everything, Twilight!” He shouted, “I’m letting time crawl by, but neither Luna nor I can maintain this vision in this form much longer!”

Twilight’s eyes widened in horror as Nightmare Moon-wolf buried her muzzle into the twitching unicorn’s ripped abdomen, pulling out lengths of intestine, splattering the grass with blood.

The darkness surrounding Heavy Gauge’s body deepened as his thrashing diminished, his eyes glazed over, and his bowels emptied with a bloody gush.

Nightmare Moon now stood above the riven body in her full form, howling like a timber wolf, blood streaming down her face, streaking her breastplate, as a dark mist swirled around her, dissolving everything else like a hot wind.

The scene froze as Reaper stepped fully into the scene and examined the faint ripples above Heavy’s body. Luna hung her head as glittering tears dripped at her feet.

Twilight trembled uncontrollably and begged Reaper: “In Celestia’s name!! Let it end!!”

He scanned the area one last time and nodded to Luna.

The scene blinked out, leaving only the old unicorn’s twisted, disemboweled body, reeking of hot blood and shit, twitching out its death spasms, lying on a vast, empty slate-gray plain. It was the only object left in the entire universe as far as Twilight could tell, and it filled her senses entirely.

Twilight staggered sideways and heaved violently, choking and weeping, dropping drunkenly to her knees.

“That’s enough, Reaper!” Luna said sharply, raising a wing, shielding Twilight from the gory scene.

Reaper shook his head and blinked: “Sorry! I was distracted. Let’s end this…”

Suddenly they were standing in small bedroom in a cottage, with Heavy Gauge’s withered body splayed out on the bed, eyes sightless and straining from their sockets, a trickle of blood leaking from his nose. A faint phantom of past-Reaper hovered on the other side of the bed, barely visible.

Luna glared at the Reaper standing next to her: “Do we really require Twilight to be here any longer?”

Reaper took a deep breath and rolled his neck and shoulders in a circle.

“None of us need to be here any longer. If the three of us didn’t see what needed to be seen, I don’t know what more to do,” he stated. “Let’s get her back.”

The scene faded out, replaced by Luna’s chambers. Luna gently settled Twilight’s senseless body onto a low, padded couch and wiped the vomit away from her mouth and breast.

Reaper looked at both alicorns for a moment, then walked toward the side table.

“I need a drink…”

Comments

[Commander Darklight]

poor twilight this is going to fuck her royaly

[Kadigan]

... ya think? ;]

It reminds me of this story where Twi wanted to know how Discord sees the world. After warning her, multiple times, that what she would see could not be un-seen, he finally relented. He showed her chaos in all its glory... and she got what she wanted - she acquired chaotic magic.

At the low-low cost of her sanity*.

* Though, that's still open to debate, isn't it? Her thinking and understanding shifted to more fully represent reality itself. Others may now think her insane, but is she really? Sanity is, after all, shared understanding of the world, and it can't be had if your understanding is... different.