Chapter Five
With a sigh, Fall began to make his way towards Twilight’s castle, ignoring the cries of the Ladies of Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty and Laughter behind him. He only had a short amount of time before Twilight did something he would regret like calling her former mentor and kicking that hornet’s nest wide open.
“Ah said stopthere partner!” Applejack hollered at him as she tried to keep up with his pace; he was impressed by her determination, but knew she was doomed to failure: only another Death, or perhaps a Space, could keep up with a Death; he had heard of one time that some speedster had run to the end of their universe; the Reaper in charge of speedsters had followed him, only to run into the edge of time and, due to the lack of a universe after that point, had ceased to be, thus freeing their Power to pass on to another while the speedster they’d followed had run safely back to their own time period.
Pushing her words out of his mind and pushed the lasso that had wrapped around his barrel off of him with a trick he’d learned in the past, he made his way straight into the Lady of Magic’s front door only for him to be swept off of his hooves and bundled up.
Shaking his head in this momentary dislocation, he heard some mare shout at him, “I got you, you unholy dark magic creature. Just wait-”
“Oh for the love of the Creators,” he grumbled as he slipped the bounds of the net, landing on his hooves. “Just relax Twi-”
Before he could finish his attempt to calm her down, the door slammed open with the rest of the sub-Powers of Harmony storming into the room, causing him to make himself intangible by instinct to avoid being hit by the door.
All of their attempts to warn Twilight dropped as they saw him solidify himself. Groaning internally at this headache, he put them as a secondary concern as calming Twilight down was more impor-
“H-how did you escape?” she stammered, backing up in fear. “That spell was designed to hold even an Umbrum like Sombra!”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I am not particularly normal,” he snapped back before he forced himself to sooth his tone. “I know you can see my real self,” he paused to flash his normal form to everypony in the room so her friends could see what Twilight saw and he wouldn’t need to explain himself twice. “I am Fall Harvest, the Reaper of Alicorns but no, I am not here for your soul, Twilight Sparkle. I was just passing through Ponyville and I was trying,” he turned his attention to the quivering mares behind him. “To leave your town without scaring you.” He then lowered himself down to face Twilight in the eye and gave her a comforting smile, using a bit of his own powers along with his long history at calming down scared ponies that were facing the end of lives. “You’ve got a long life to live before we meet again professionally, Twilight Sparkle.”
She stared into his eyes, and using his powers that allowed him to stretch out a moment when a soul needed some time to compose themselves before moving on, Twilight was able to see he was telling the truth.
“Good,” he said, a smile already growing on his face. “Now ladies, if you will give me the chance, I can explain all-”
“I’ll save you Twilight!” a young squeaky voice called out as a purple and green blur raced towards him.
Reacting faster than he could, Twilight had picked up Spike and held him in place, removing the makeshift helmet made of a pot and the sword he’d been holding in one claw.
“Spike, there is no need to panic; Fall Harvest is not here to hurt m- wait, where did you get this sword‽” The alicorn held the blade high in the air with clear shock and horror on her face.
“The Crystal Empire,” Spike said, sounding completely nonchalant about it. “But if he isn’t really a threat, I guess I shouldn’t have sent off that letter to Celestia then.”
“You did what‽” Fall shouted as he extended his senses outwards and felt around the sun. Sure enough, there was sudden stillness in the firey body of deadly plasma before it exploded with metaphorical rage; moments later the true source of it left Canterlot and began to make its way to Ponyville. With only seconds to prepare himself for what was about to happen, Fall Harvest just muttered one word to himself as he pushed the Powers behind him and away from the door...
“Shit.”
In a few seconds that only a Power or an adjunct to a Power like him could be aware of, the immediate area outside of Twilight’s house became incredulously hot before the teleportation spell was finished with the door slamming open then. Standing fornt of them was a furious looking Celestia with fire flowing off and around her body, the golden royal vestments that had numerous protection spells built inside of them melting as she trotted straight into his face with a hoof pointed directly at his chin.
“YOU!” she growled at him, her pink eyes barely visible in the narrow slits she had forced them into.
“Me,” he quipped without thinking, taking a few steps backwards as she continued to move forwards.
“YOU!” she repeated herself even louder, grinding her teeth as she was no doubt trying to decide what to do with him.
“Still me,” he chirped without thinking again, which only enraged her further.
“YOU!” she spat at him, with the liquid fire singing his chest before he put it out.
“Yes, we’ve established it’s me Celestia, now let’s-”
“How dare you show your face to me after what you did!” she snapped, shoving her hoof into his chest, causing him to grunt.
“I didn’t, you came to me, Celest-”
“Shut it!” she barked at him, jabbing again with enough force that if he was a mortal, he would have a deep muscle bruise right now. “I don’t know what your plans are for Twilight but I refuse to let you have her!”
“I’m not here for her soul, Celestia, I-”
“Shut it; I don’t care for whatever lie you are going to make up right now Fall!” she spat at him, straining her neck to stare at him directly in the eyes.
“That hurts Celestia,” he said with a frown. “You know me-”
CRACK
“I said shut your Creators-blasted mouth, Fall!” she screamed at him while Fall was working with a nearly completely caved in skull after she slapped him.
“Okay, I was wrong; that hurts, Celestia,” he said as he reformed the bones in his skull and fixed the flesh on his face. “And as I was saying, I was sent here on vacation by Helheim; I was trying to get out of-”
“I said I don’t care about your damn lies, Fall, so you better get out of my kingdom before I-”
“Before you what, little pony?” a voice asked darkly, causing everypony in the room to gasp as a towering figure appeared. “Fall Harvest is one of a coloured past to which I accept draws criticism, but what I do not accept is those who dare to claim to know Death’s motives.”
Nine pairs of eyes were immediately drawn to the figure standing in their midst with Celestia immediately stepping backwards, to the shock of six ponies and one dragon. “Lady Helheim.” she said through clenched teeth, showing deference to the other being.
“Celestia.” Helheim continued to hold her glare at the alicorn. “Am I to take your attack against my adjunct as an attack against myself?”
Celestia’s nostrils flared, despite her shaking her head in negative. “No, Lady Helhei-”
“For I am curious to if you believe that the Day can defeat Death,” Helheim moved to push her head into Celestia’s with the alicorn shaking her head as she stepped backwards even more.
“No my Lady, I do not,” Celestia said, though clearly having to say it was a bitter pill for her to swallow.
“Good,” Helheim said before disappearing as quickly as she came, although Fall Harvest, and no doubt Celestia, could tell she was still present.
Fall let out a sigh; this was not how he wanted this meeting to go. Nothing is more embarrassing than to have what equates to your mom stepping in to save your ass.
I am not sure how I feel about your analogy, Fall Harvest
Ignoring Helheim’s humming and harring over his words, he took tentative steps towards Celestia. “Celestia, I-”
“Be quiet, Fall Harvest,” she hissed. “After everything that you’ve done against me, my family and those I love, after everything you’ve done, give me that, at the very least.” Biting his lip with his ears falling against his head, his silence was enough to appease her with the alicorn turning her head and beginning to make her way out of the castle. “I am going to talk to the mayor and explain…” Celestia turned her attention to the smouldering entranceway before snapping her eyes back at him. She then looked at Twilight and her friends. “I will see you later,” she told them, flashing them a smile before leaving the castle.
“Uh…”
At that, Fall turned to see Applejack holding up a hoof. “Can we get an explanation here?” she asked. “What the hay was Celestia and that weird smoke lady talkin’ about? Who was she? And what in tarnation did you do to make the Princess so angry?”
“That’s perso-”
Helheim placed a limb on his shoulder, a hoof by the feel of it, and smiled softly. “That, young Applejack, is a very, very long story,” she said, causing the mortals to jump at her sudden reappearance. “And it is one I believe Fall should tell.”
Fall Harvest winced. “Do I have to?” he asked. “You’ve told me that someone’s story is a story that should be kept personal until it needs to be shared.”
“Would you rather leave young Twilight and her friends to figure it out on their own?” Helheim replied, gesturing to them. “I expect anything they can imagine would undoubtedly be far worse than the truth and who is to say that their musings would remain in this building.”
Fall remembered the look on Celestia’s face and winced again at the thought of having rumours of their past spreading out across the country and how angered Celestia would be by them. “Point taken.”
“And you will tell them the honest truth,” Helheim said sharply, suddenly in his face. “No… embellishments to make yourself look better.”
“Of course, my Lady,” Fall Harvest said, bowing to his mistress before looking at the mortals still staring at them with Twilight stepping forwards.
After a moment, Twilight coughed into her hoof. “Um… how long is this going to be?”
“Long,” Fall replied. “Very, very long. As in, it goes well back over a thousand years, to before Equestria was even founded.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up; no doubt she was intrigued by the idea of learning about history from that far back. “In that case, why don’t you all go to the library and get comfortable? Spike and I’ll get some snacks! And… put these away.” With that, she trotted off, still carrying the sword and pot she had taken from Spike, who hurried along after her.
Applejack looked at the others. “You heard the mare, let’s go.” Shutting the castle’s door, she watched as Rainbow Dash led Fall toward the library, the others right behind them, then looked at the floor. “I’ve a feeling this is going to be one humdinger of a story,” she said quietly.
“It certainly will be,” Helheim said from beside her. “You and the others are about to learn far more about the inner workings of the universe, and your princess’s history, than you ever expected.”
Applejack stared at the being next to her, wide-eyed, before she shook her head and followed her friends to the library.
It took about ten minutes for everypony to set up the food and get settled in, and all eyes were on Fall Harvest as he sat at the head of the group, looking as if he wished to be anywhere else.
“What I am about to tell you,” he began distractedly, tapping his hoof against the floor; “Is extremely personal to me and more importantly, to Celestia. I might not care how ponies think about me, but even think to use this against her and we will have a long talk.” For a moment, his smile fell to show his anger which caused the mortals, including a recently arrived Starlight Glimmer, to flinch. The weight of Helheim’s look made him lick his lips and go back to the topic at hoof. Sighing, he brushed his mane and looked at the group. “It will also change the way you think about the universe and its nature. It will certainly change the way you see me, Celestia and yourselves.”
Twilight leaned forward, looking excited.
“My story begins when I was born close to about two thousand years ago, in the kingdom of the alicorns.”
Rarity sat back, eyes wide. “My word,” she said faintly. “When you said you were old enough to be my father… you weren’t joking.”
“If anything, that was an understatement,” Fall replied. “Of course, I was trying to keep my true nature a secret before; why do you think I was in such a hurry to get out of Ponyville before Princess Twilight, the one pony who both lives in this town and could recognize me for what I am, saw me and blew my cover? And for good reason,” he added. “I knew how Celestia would react if she found out I was here, I really wanted to avoid that and any collateral damage that might result.”
Twilight looked rather abashed at his words.
“You are stalling,” Helheim said from beside him.
“I was answering her comment,” Fall shot back. “But my history with Celestia begins a while after that, the day I died in fact.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.016 seconds
Total duration
1,042 users online
2,181,746 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Now this is going to be interesting.
Okay, so he might have done something just a tad worse than standing her up on their date night
8667183
Eeyup.
Wait I'm confused. Why was he running to twilights castle? I know that she had seen his true for an teleported away, but why go after her? Why not just leave ponyville? Also, dang! He was not exaggerating about how mad Celestia would be. Spike is the best! When did he get a sword from the Crystal Empire? And how did Twilight not know about it?
Like all good stories do
DAMN IT MURPHY!!!!!!!! you just had to go and stick you nose in where it does not belong