Death Be Not Proud

by ShinigamiDad

The Mirror

The three companions appeared at the foot of the scaffold, surprising the two ponies--one pegasus and one unicorn--standing guard at the bottom of the entrance hole.

Twilight turned to the guards: “It’s OK--we’re here with Celestia’s permission. We’re going to check out the mirror in the back chamber of Grey Thorn’s lair.”

The black-clad unicorn and white-clad pegasus looked at each other nervously, then at Luna, who nodded her assent: “I understand your reticence, however we are on the up-and-up…”

“This time,” Reaper interjected, with an embarrassed grin.

Twilight rolled her eyes: “Yes, this time! Would one of you like to escort us to the chamber, or can we go on now?”

The pegasus furrowed her brow, but stepped aside: “I’d just as soon not even be in this damn hole! I sure don’t want to get any closer to that creepy lair!”

Luna nodded: “Very wise of you, Sergeant. None of us have especially fond memories of it, either, but we have business there that cannot wait.” She turned and began to walk into the dimly-lit passage beyond.

Twilight thanked the guards, who trembled slightly and shied away as she stepped toward them. Reaper observed their reactions with a cocked eyebrow, then followed Twilight into the gloom.

Luna stepped through the partially melted back wall of the library space into the large, rough chamber beyond, looking at the dark stains on the floor where she and Twilight had met their ends. She shuddered, and turned towards the alcove containing Grey Thorn’s ancient mirror.

Twilight stepped up beside Luna, as Reaper cantered across the scorched, rubble-strewn floor to speak briefly with the two archaeologists who were cataloging samples along the back wall.

Luna squinted at the various glyphs and runes chiseled into the frame surrounding the cracked and dusty mirror: “I recognize at least four of these from the sand in Reaper’s dream, but I have no idea what they mean.”

Twilight nodded: “I believe these are Shoiman’s Glyphs. They’re referred to in one of the books I brought out--Concerning Pony Longevity, I think--but I haven’t found a definitive source or key for them. I’m afraid it’s probably lost.”

She looked sadly over her shoulder toward the opening back into the blasted, burned-out library beyond.

“I feel your sorrow for the loss of all those books, Twilight,” Luna remarked, “but I suspect we have enough to work this out like a picture puzzle, without actually needing to know the real meaning of any given symbol.”

Reaper stepped up next to Twilight: “So, have you two figured it all out? I mean you’ve had at least two minutes!”

Twilight rolled her eyes: “Hardly, but at least we agree on the four symbols we both recall, and I think I recognize two more.”

Reaper stepped closer to the mirror and peered intently at its ash-grey frame: “So which ones? The ones at twelve o’clock, three, five and eight o’clock--more or less?”

Luna and Twilight nodded in tandem, as Twilight added: “And I think I recall the ones clustered on either side of the top glyph.”

Reaper stared for a moment at the indicated symbols: “Maybe. Is there anyway to recapture some of the dream?”

Luna tapped her chin: “Perhaps if we were to touch horns, we might spark a shared memory.”

She leaned in toward Twilight, and was joined by Reaper from the other side. Their three horn tips touched.

Pandemonium broke loose instantly as the sword on Twilight’s hip flared like a bright crimson torch, and both Luna and Twilight went rigid, their eyes thrown wide and sightless, flickering with otherworldly flames.

Twilight’s 死 cutie mark glowed a brilliant gold, and a blast of energy radiated from the two alicorns, staggering Reaper, who began blindly staggering backwards as he felt his life energy being pulled rapidly from him. He stumbled into the mirror, blacked-out, and fell through.

---

Luna came to first, coughing and sputtering on the dust-covered floor before the mirror. She lifted her head and peered about blearily, noting Twilight slumped off to one side, propped against a rocky outcropping, breathing heavily, a thin, cold mist rising from her coat.

“Twilight!” She whispered hoarsely. She cleared her throat and sat up unsteadily. “Twilight! Wake up, please! Are you hurt?”

Twilight’s eyes fluttered, then opened, but refused to focus: “I think I’m OK...What happened?”

“It appears we discovered yet another unintended consequence of Reaper’s power having been used to resurrect us,” Luna said, rising uncertainly on wobbly legs.

Twilight pushed away heavily from the wall, and slumped forward for a moment, before righting herself, and staggering upright: “I’m getting real tired of these discoveries!”

Luna looked across the chamber toward the back wall, and noted with alarm the two archaeologists, collapsed on the floor: “I think others may well share your dislike--at a minimum!”

Twilight furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to speak, when she, too, caught sight of the stricken ponies, and began unsteadily, but quickly trotting across the chamber.

“Oh, sweet Celestia, no!” she cried out as she came upon their still bodies, “I killed them!”

Luna stumbled next to Twilight, and leaned in close to one of the researchers, a middle-aged, cyan blue earth pony named Star Bloom. She tipped her head sideways and laid her ear against his chest.

“He lives,” she said at last, “though he is in a deep, dreamless swoon. If he does not roust of his own accord within an hour, I may need to see if I can reach him through his sleeping mind.”

Twilight wiped away a tear, and nodded toward Star Bloom’s companion, a young unicorn intern named Joy: “What about her?”

Luna moved to Joy’s side and repeated the gestures she had used with Star Bloom: “She is younger and more vital. She should awaken shortly.”

Twilight sat down, and let out a sigh of relief: “Oh, thank Celestia they’re OK!”

Luna nodded: “So it appears, though to be honest, as the Harbinger, could you not already tell they were not dead?”

Twilight blinked slowly, then blushed: “Oh. Of course.”

Luna smiled softly: “It is alright, Twilight--as Reaper might say, it was a “rookie mistake.””

Twilight chuckled, then frowned: “Speaking of, where is Reaper?”

Luna’s eyebrows jumped: “That is an excellent question! He was clearly standing with us when we touched horns. He must have been stunned, as these two were, or driven back by...oh, no!”

She turned in alarm and ran toward the mirror alcove, her wings spreading slightly. She skidded to a stop in front of the mirror just as Twilight teleported to meet her.

“You don’t think he fell through, do you?” Twilight cried, bending down to look for marks or clues on the floor below the mirror.

Luna tipped in close to the frame and noted a tuft of grey-and-brown hairs snagged in a crack: “I do not think there’s any question about it--he must have gone through!

Twilight shuddered and slumped down to the floor, staring up at the dull, dust-streaked surface of the mirror: “What are we supposed to do now? We needed his blood in order to test our theory about controlling or focusing this thing!”

Luna nodded: “True, though as Reaper noted, he has been through this particular portal before, and returned intact from his time in the–what did he call it?–Nexus.”

“Sure,” Twilight replied, “but he was with Grey Thorn, who clearly knew how to work this artifact. We have no idea, and I doubt he does either!”

Luna bit her lip: “If he yet lives. He was much closer than the researchers yonder. What if…”

“No!” Twilight blurted out, “Don’t even think that! He has to still be alive! He has to! I can’t spend the rest of eternity with this damnable power!” She began to weep.

Luna sat down next to the distraught young alicorn, and wrapped a wing around her shoulder: “We will figure it out, Twilight! And Reaper is made of tougher stuff than most ponies. I feel he is still alive, somewhere!”

Twilight sniffled: “But where?”

---

Reaper slowly regained consciousness, and took stock of his breathing, his heartbeat, his general sense of physicality. He took a deep breath (at least it felt like a deep breath) and willed his eyes to open.

They opened little by little, revealing him to be lying on his side on an endless, featureless grey plain.

“Well, this seems familiar,” he said. “I just never figured I’d be seeing it from this side of the equation. I wonder when Twilight’s going to show?”

He closed his eyes tightly to stave off a wave of vertigo as he tried to sit up. He willed them open again as he felt himself orient vertically, as best as he could tell.

He looked up and around him, and finally focused unblinkingly on the countless iridescent orbs arrayed above him.

“Oh, fuck.”

Comments

[Cerulean Voice]

"Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, thou art not so."

[Twilight978]

This has been an amazing read so far! I just bwarly finished off reading everything and I can't say there's been a boring part to it.

[ShinigamiDad]

Thanks! That's very kind of you! :)