Death Be Not Proud

by ShinigamiDad

Dreamweaver

Reaper tugged urgently at Nag’s lead as they trotted out across the garrison’s courtyard, following Luna and Bitch’s trail: “Hurry up, girl! We need to hoof it as quickly as we can before the snow and wind wipe out their trail!”

The dalzi strained at its lead, but picked up its pace, matching Reaper as they passed through the compound’s collapsed wall.

They jogged briskly through the swirling snow, stumbling over buried obstacles, becoming more snow-encrusted by the minute. The westering sun began breaking through tears in the cloud cover, glistening off the ice and snow, throwing knife-like shadows from the surrounding trees and rocky outcroppings.

Reaper halted Nag as they approached the edge of the drop-off that led to the stream Luna had crossed earlier that afternoon. He peered down at the tangle of barren trees and rocks, cut through by the path that Luna had carved out with her fall.

He grinned and gingerly picked his way down toward the stream: “Well, she obviously came this way! Looks like she didn’t fall in, at least.”

He stood on the stream bank and squinted up the other side, noting the dislodged stones and disturbed vegetation.

He stepped out onto the ice, just as Nag attempted to jump across. She failed to clear the stream, and crashed through the weakened surface, causing Reaper to stumble forward and step into the frigid water, which quickly soaked him up to his waist.

Reaper lunged forward out of the stream and fell to his knees on the other bank: “Damn it all to Tartarus, you stupid beast! Why in Celestia’s name did you jump?”

Nag shied away and scrambled up the embankment, stopping at the top to shake the water from its hide.

Reaper stood up, straightened his cloak and breeches, and trudged up the slope until he stood next to Nag. He looked up at the treetops as the sun began to slide behind them.

“Damn, I hope we find them soon. The storm’s tapering off and the clouds are breaking up. It’s going to get bloody cold soon.”

Nag made a low grunting sound, and leaned down to sniff at the various tracks and paw prints around them.

Reaper knelt down alongside Nag: “Yeah, they clearly kept heading straight north. I wonder when…”

He froze when he saw the hartz tracks off to the left: “Oh, shit!”

He stood and looked north then west then north again. He licked his lips and jogged west along the hartz’s trail for three minutes, and stopped in front of a low cave entrance carved into the base of a tall granite outcropping.

He stood still for a moment listening intently, then turned back to the east and ran back to the junction of the three sets of tracks.

He had just turned north when he heard the distant cries of fighting creatures: “I’m coming as fast as I can, Luna!”

He broke into a full run, Nag flanking him, crashing through branches and drifts, stumbling and recovering his footing, lungs burning, listening intently for a voice or a scream or anything.

He heard both: “Shit, Luna! Please don’t get yourself killed! I have no idea what will happen to you if you die on this world, and I’d rather we not find out!”

He tore through a band of underbrush and stopped suddenly, mere yards from the grisly evidence of Luna’s battle with the hartz.

Reaper hastily tied Nag’s lead around a branch and ran to Luna, kneeling beside her. Bitch lifted her head and looked into Reaper’s eyes, before laying her head down again next to Luna.

Reaper grinned: “Looks like the bond goes both ways!”

He leaned down and brushed the wet hair from her face and placed his ear against her lips. He felt her slow breath against the side of his face.

“Oh, thank the Lost Gods!”

He stood up and looked around for Luna’s spear shaft. He noticed it jammed up through the jaw of the hartz, with only about half of it still visible.

His eyebrows jumped: “Wow. Well I guess that explains how it died! Looks like I need a different lever.”

He walked to a nearby fallen tree, broke off a thick branch, some six feet long, and dragged it back to the fallen hartz, retrieving Nag as he walked.

He bent down and looped Nag’s lead beneath Luna’s arms and tied it tight across her chest. He then slid the branch alongside her leg and underneath the hartz’s body.

Reaper slapped Nag on the flank, and strained to lift the bulk of the hartz off Luna’s legs.

“C’mon, dammit! Move, Nag! Pull her free!”

He swatted Nag’s flank again, causing her to grunt and jump forward. As she did, Reaper managed to pry the hartz’s torso up and away just enough for Luna’s legs to slide free. Reaper dropped the branch and collapsed across the hartz.

He rolled onto his back and stared at the sky for a moment: “Well, that was fun! Now to figure out how to get us all back to this beast’s cave before you and I freeze to death!”

Reaper stood and took up Bitch’s lead: “You’re going to help this time…”

He gently scooped Luna into his arms and draped her limp body across Bitch’s back, securing her with the dalzi’s lead. He then grabbed Nag’s lead, threaded it through Bitch’s and tugged firmly.

“Let’s go, you two. I don’t have much left in me, and I really don’t want to die out here in this stupid forest!”

Reaper and the two dalzi slowly made their way back down the trail to the south, finally turning west, and ending in front of the cave Reaper had discovered earlier.

He tied off Nag’s lead, drew his sword, and stepped cautiously through the dark opening. He stood quietly for a minute, listening for breathing, and hearing none, returned to the tethered dalzi.

He gently lowered Luna off Bitch’s back, and propped her against a log. He then opened his pack, drew out his flint and steel, and gathered a collection of branches and kindling, depositing them just inside the cave’s entrance.

The hartz had accumulated a dense mat of twigs, leaves and grass over the years, and Reaper was able to strike a spark into a handful of this material, building a usable fire within a few minutes.

He rubbed his face and the back of his neck wearily, and fought to keep from trembling with cold: “Just a few more minutes. Can’t stop now!”

The fire illuminated the inside of the cave well enough for Reaper to see a series of cracks and fissures in the ceiling, with roots dangling through. The smoke from his fire was making its way into these crevices, which allowed him to build up the fire a bit without risk of suffocation.

He tossed the blanket out onto a section of the hartz’s bedding, staked the two dalzi just outside the cave entrance, next to a sheltering overhang, and gently carried Luna into the cave.

He stripped her sodden, blood-smeared clothing off and was taken aback when he saw the bruising on her face and the gashes across her shoulder blades: “Shit! I have to get this cleaned-up!”

He wrapped her loosely in the blanket and warmed a pan of water while rummaging through his pack looking for a jar of antiseptic unguent. He took the pan, towel, an extra shirt, and ointment over to Luna.

He pulled back the blanket and lightly bathed her wounds, smeared them with the ointment, and bound strips of torn shirt around her back and chest. She stirred slightly at his touch.

He stood and finally peeled off his own water-logged clothes, spreading all the various garments out alongside the fire. He crouched next to the fire for a minute, allowing its radiant heat to dry his skin somewhat. Then he returned to Luna and the blanket.

He slid in behind her, being careful not touch her bandages, draped an arm over her torso, and pressed his legs against hers.

“I just hope between that fire, and this blanket, we have enough heat to get us through the night!”

Luna’s eyes fluttered half open, and tried to focus on the dim, grey, flickering surroundings: “Am...am I dead?”

Reaper reached toward her face and brushed the hair away from her eyes: “Thank the Cosmos--you’re conscious!”

“So, not dead?”

“No, though I have no idea why not! One does not fight a hartz in knee-deep snow wielding a broken spear and live to tell the tale!”

“Bitch?”

“She’s fine. Actually carried you here. We’re in the den of that hartz you killed.”

“Water.”

Reaper rolled over and lifted away the edge of the blanket and retrieved his pack. He pulled out the flask and leaned over Luna, tipping the neck against her lips.

“Better?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“Cold.”

He capped the flask, set it aside and pressed in against her lower back and legs, pulling the blanket tight.

She shivered and pressed against him in return: “Better.”

Reaper draped his arm carefully across her shoulder again: “I’m glad you’re, well not exactly OK, but alive and intact at any rate.”

“Afraid Celestia would kill you?”

He chuckled: “That too! Now we both need some rest. The clothes should be dry by morning, and we’ll see how those wounds look then.”

“Thank you.”

Reaper smiled and settled in, letting the warmth from the blanket and Luna’s bare skin soothe his frayed nerves. He heard her breathing deepen into a steady rhythm, and could feel the pulse in her arm against his fingertips.

He furrowed his brow and tried to fall asleep, but exhausted as he was, he couldn’t help feeling his own pulse rise in response to hers. He felt his loins stir, and he began to stiffen. Luna shifted her hips, as though in response, and Reaper choked back a gasp. He fought the urge to rub against her, and rolled over so that his back was against hers, and fell into a fitful sleep.

---

Some time later Reaper became aware that he was spooned against Luna’s back again, his arm draped over her, his open hand resting on her breast. He trembled, and slowly, almost imperceptibly, began to caress.

She stirred slightly, and he felt her nipple stiffen, prompting his own stiffening, which he began to rub slowly against her backside.

Reaper’s breathing became increasingly rapid and shallow as Luna pressed her hips back, increasing the friction, rocking in time with his motion, bringing a hand up to her breast and digging her nails into the back of Reaper’s hand. He gasped and pushed his loins hard against Luna’s ass.

In response she suddenly arched away, reached behind her back with her free hand and wrapped her fingers tightly around Reaper’s rigid member.

He let out a low moan and buried his face in her hair as she deftly delivered a few firm strokes. That was all it took for Reaper to shudder and bite back a cry as he splattered the curve of her lower back.

Luna let out a happy laugh, and rolled over to face Reaper. He felt her shift, and opened his eyes…

---

...and awoke suddenly with a gasp.

He lifted the edge of the blanket to expose a glistening stain, and looked back over his shoulder at Luna’s sleeping form.

“What in Tartarus…?”

He reached out beyond the warmth of the blanket to the pile of torn shirt and towel, and lifted the towel free, pulling it back under the blanket, using it to blot up his emission. He tucked it between his legs and rolled back toward Luna.

He reached a hand over her shoulder and gently tapped her cheek: “Luna. Luna, wake up.”

Her breathing stopped for a moment, then she took a deep, shuddering breath: “Wha-what it is? Are we in danger?”

“No. But something very odd just happened. Were you in my dream?”

Luna lay still and silent for several moments. Reaper thought she had fallen back asleep when she rolled slightly and looked over her shoulder.

“Yes,” she replied, looking into his eyes.

“How is that possible? You have no dominion over sleep or dreams here--at least you shouldn’t!”

Luna nodded and painfully rolled over to face Reaper: “I suspect it was possible in this case because we are in such close proximity, and share a connection.”

“So not the entire dreamscape, just one little piece?”

“Well, two pieces, technically. It was my dream as well.”

“Why?”

“I felt your urgency, and share a measure of it myself. And I wanted to see if I have other influence in this world.”

“Other?”

“I will describe the battle with the hartz later. I am too drained to do so now.”

“Luna, you know we can’t experience each other that way.”

“Not even in dreams?”

“Dreams are as real to you as waking life is to the rest of us!”

Luna bit her lip: “That is true.”

“It is my sincere hope that we can complete this mission and extract me from this entangling flesh--be it pony or Kurlish! Then you can go back to your dreamscape, and I can avoid dreams altogether!”

Luna closed her eyes and nodded: “I understand. Still, this may have proved useful.”

“Why--did we need another towel full of my spunk?”

Luna smiled: “No, but my ability to enter dreams may extend further than we know. Would you object to me entering your dream again?”

Reaper glanced down at the cloth stuffed between his legs: “I’m not sure what more you could do at this point, so go ahead.”

He closed his eyes and fell almost at once into a deep sleep.

---

Reaper stirred again some time later, and was aware he was now sitting in a chair in a dimly-lit room or chamber.

“Now what?”

He reached for a lamp on an adjacent table, and it immediately lit, illuminating the space. It appeared to be Starswirl’s secret library that he and Luna and Twilight had discovered beneath the old wizard’s known private study.

He stood up and looked around. The shelves were filled this time, though the writing did not seem familiar at first.

“Hiz’teg: Ruki 1...what?”

The words swam before his eyes for a moment: Vocabulary: Volume 1.

He spun around at the sound of someone re-shelving a book behind him. Luna stood there, draped in a simple indigo robe.

She lifted Vocabulary: Volume 2 off the shelf: “This place is your memory of all things Kurlish.”

“Why are we here? Why would I dream of this?”

“Normally, you would not. But you know I can guide dreams, mining them for deep meaning and symbols. Language is the ultimate, most foundational symbol.”

“Alright, so what do you hope to find here? We already know why I’m back on Kur. What more can you discover in my memories?”

“I am not here for answers--I am here for education.”

She shelved Vocabulary: Volume 2 and picked up Volume 3, casually flipping through the pages, before setting it aside, and running her fingertips lightly across a shelf-full of books bearing titles related to weapons, history and geography.

As she dragged her fingers along, a blue glow trailed behind her hand, and she stopped walking, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Reaper looked at the now-sparkling shelves and furrowed his brow: “Where are we really? Have you constructed this like a mini-dreamscape, or is this inside my head?”

“Unclear.”

Reaper arched an eyebrow: “Unclear?”

“Yes. We are not in Equestria, so I am unable to truly center myself and establish my bearings. I feel a distant connection to the real place this dream represents, but I cannot pull it into focus. It is almost like a dream within a dream.”

Reaper stroked his beard tentatively: “My recollection of nested dreams is not altogether positive.”

Luna reached up and brushed her hand along a high shelf labeled “Riot'za.” The books’ spines glittered violet for a moment, and she shuddered.

She turned back to Reaper: “I agree. This is a risky endeavor, to attempt to connect to a place beyond our ken, through a single dream. It carries the danger of entrapment.”

“Entrapment? You mean like what Grey Thorn attempted with you and Twilight?”

“No, those were merely very intense, deep dream states. They were still grounded in the dreamscape as we understand it. It merely took extra effort to break out.”

Reaper nodded: “So how is this different?”

“There exists here the possibility of becoming un-tethered from any sort of reality, and drifting off in an isolated dreamscape of one.”

“But not with you here, I trust.”

“No. I may not be able to entirely control the seas on which we sail at this point, but I can still steer the ship.”

“So are we done here, then, or is there another destination?”

Luna smiled: “How perceptive of you!”

“Well, I have been hanging around in the shadows for centuries. I can usually spot an ulterior motive, given enough time.”

Luna sat down and took a deep breath: “I am going to attempt to connect to Twilight, using the power we three share, which appears to transcend normal boundaries.”

“Like when I was stuck in the Nexus and we shared Twilight’s dream.”

“Correct. I wish to see if we can establish that connection again.”

“So what do I need to do?”

Luna reached out and touched Reaper’s forehead: “Sleep.”

---

Twilight set up on her couch in Luna’s chambers and rubbed her temples. Her eyelids would barely open, and she struggled with a sudden wave of vertigo.

“Wha-what is going on?”

She pointed her horn at a side table lamp and nodded. The lamp lit, spilling a pool of pale golden light across the floor and couch.

“I gotta get some tea, or something. I should not still be this tired!”

She rose briefly from the couch, but immediately stumbled back and flopped sideways across its dark, crushed velvet surface.

After several deep breaths, she forced herself back up, and opened her eyes. The lamp now threw off a cold white light, which fell across the lap and legs of a shrouded figure, seated in a nearby chair.

Twilight squinted: “Who are you?”

The legs moved as the figure stood, causing a silver dress to slide down below its knees, like a shimmering cascade of mercury. The figure took a step backwards and vanished into the shadows.

Luna suddenly stepped forward from the dark, several feet to the right of the mysterious figure.

Twilight’s eyebrows jumped: “Oh, Luna! How’d you get back?”

Luna looked over her shoulder at the indigo wings on her back: “Interesting. I am a pony again.”

“Why wouldn’t you be? I assume that mirror works the same in both directions, so you’d come back to Equestria the way you left, yes?”

“Except we have not returned. This is a dream, Twilight. I am attempting to connect with you through our shared power. I seem to have succeeded…”

She looked at the now-empty chair to her left: “Although I do not see Reaper, which is odd, since I am utilizing his dream as the conduit.”

Twilight furrowed her brow and pointed to the chair: “Huh. There was something there just a moment ago, right before you stepped in.”

“Well it wasn’t me.”

Twilight spun around, and Luna turned to face the couch where Twilight had been sleeping. Reaper now sat there, naked save for a tattered white cloak, bearing no mark of any kind.

He looked at his fingers and wriggled his toes: “Well, one of us didn’t come back as a pony, at any rate.”

Luna nodded: “That makes sense. You are still grounded on Kur. This is your dream of Equestria, using Twilight as an anchor point. Thus I am again an alicorn, since this is how you know me in this world.”

Reaper pointed at Twilight: “So is she real? Are all three of us actually in a shared dream state?”

Luna tipped her head slightly as she regarded the purple alicorn across from her: “I am not entirely sure.”

Twilight glared: “Hey! I’m real! I think…”

Reaper chuckled: “I know the feeling, kiddo. This layered dream thing makes me even question myself, and it’s my dream!”

“Maybe it is Luna’s dream.”

Luna peered into the impenetrable shadows: “Who said that?”

“Maybe the thing that was in the chair?” Twilight offered.

Luna and Twilight both illuminated their horns in an attempt to penetrate the darkness that surrounded them all.

The shadows retreated a bit, and a tall, dark-skinned figure in a long, silvery shift stepped forward.

Luna’s nostrils flared as she took a step back: “No! This cannot be!”

The figure smiled and set down in the chair: “Why not? You yourself noted that these are treacherous, unknown waters. Why should you not expect eddies and ripples of your own dreams to rise to the surface?”

Twilight looked back and forth between Luna and the figure: “What does she mean, ‘your own dreams?’ Who is she?”

The figure replied before Luna could speak: “Just as Reaper is grounded on Kur, so too am I.”

“So you’re also Luna?”

“That is not an easy question to answer.”

Twilight looked at Luna with a pained expression: “Help!”

Again the figure spoke peremptorily: “She cannot. It is taking all her control just to keep the three of us connected in this very unstable little dreamscape.”

Twilight smirked: “Four! Or can’t you count?”

The figure smiled indulgently: “Again, this is not an easy thing to discern.”

She stood and turned to Luna: “How many of us are there here, would you say?”

Luna furrowed her brow and looked at Reaper. He was sprawled against the couch’s back, eyes half-closed, head tipped back.

“Reaper, please awaken. This dream is starting to fracture. I am not entirely sure if I succeeded in contacting Twilight or not!”

Twilight rolled her eyes: “Again--right here!”

Reaper stirred slightly, his eyes unfocused: “Tired. You’re warm. I just want...want…”

Twilight looked between Luna and Reaper: “What does he want?”

The figure smiled wickedly: “Why, the same thing he’s wanted since gaining his flesh!”

Luna closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead as the figure walked up to Reaper and pulled his tattered cloak aside.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide, then she turned away, blushing as the figure lifted her dress and straddled Reaper’s lap.

She reached a hand between her legs and lowered herself down with a sigh: “What was it you said? ‘Spread yourself with your fingers and squat?’ Excellent advice!”

Reaper let out a long groan and closed his eyes.

Luna took a halting step forward: “Yet again I am incapable of controlling elements within your dream, Reaper! You must master yourself!”

The figure’s dress rippled and glittered in the lamp’s white light as she rocked forward and back, head held high, hair swinging in time with her thrusts.

She looked over her shoulder at Luna: “He does not know what he wants, but I do!”

Luna bit her lip: “Untrue! He desperately wants to find the way back here, whole and restored as our Harbinger!”

She pointed at the figure: “This will only serve to entrap him further in a body he cannot keep--that neither of us can keep!”

The figure stopped and closed her eyes: “I do not wish to lose this body.”

“We cannot keep it.”

The figure leaned down and kissed Reaper deeply on the mouth as she squeezed herself tight around him, grinding her hips forward one last time.

She closed her eyes and lay her head on Reaper’s chest as he groaned loudly and shuddered.

“We shall see.”

---

Reaper awoke with a start, and fought to steady his breathing and the trembling in his legs. After a few moments he raised an eyebrow and reached down between his legs.

He sighed: “I really need another towel…”

Beside him Luna slowly returned to consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, then she squeezed them shut as a tear ran down the side of her face.

---

Twilight sat bolt upright on her couch with a shout that echoed throughout Luna’s dark chambers: “What?!”

She then slumped back onto the couch and fell into a fitful, restless, dreamless slumber.