Fallen Angels

by Lt_Voss

Chapter 3 - Principium

So there we were, Bill and I, sitting inside some strange pony's house, alone in our thoughts. Our wonderful new Reaping job was going exceptionally slow, though I suppose that should be a good thing. Being the hard-working man I used to be, I was rather surprised that I would be glad to have a slow job. 'Then again,' I reasoned with myself. 'It isn't exactly like I particularly enjoy this profession.' Not like we have a choice, though, Bill jumped in.

I looked over at my Oracle. He was sitting cross-legged on the rug in the middle of the floor, his eyes were closed, and his breathing was deep and rhythmic. Around his head was a statue of a pony rearing up, continuously floating in a perfect circle around his head. Bill was making it do things too. One moment the statue would be right-side up, the next it'd be upside down, and then the next it would be spinning as well as revolving. I realized after a few seconds of watching this that Bill was practising his control over magic.

'You too far gone to talk about this... predicament of ours?' No. What do you wanna know? 'Well, for starters, how do we know where wraiths are lurking? Do we just have to search for them, or are we notified of one's location?' I assume we just wander around and look for them. If that is the case, I hope we're not the only Reapers here in Equestria, or we'd be, for all intents and purposes, screwed. 'Only one way to find out, right?' Bill shook his head. I don't think so.

Before he could continue, the pony on the bed, Silver Star, stirred. At first it sounded as if she were just turning in her sleep, but then she yawned and ever so slowly sat up in the bed. "Was it a dream? Yesterday?" She seemed to be asking these questions to no one in particular. "There were voices... it must have been a weird dream..."

Me and my big mouth, I know. "It wasn't," I said aloud. "I'm still here."

Her figure visibly tensed, as if she truly believed that the events of yesterday were purely in her imagination. Then again, I couldn't fault her for that. After all, no sane person would automatically revere voices speaking in their heads and such. "You said you were the wind, but we're inside. Who are you, really? And why are you talking to me? Or am I just imagining this?"

I sighed, which Silver Star seemed not to hear. "To be truthful, I told you I was the wind in the hopes you'd calm down. If you remember, you were quite frightened last night." Silver nodded. "In reality, I am the spirit of a Paracorn by the name of Will-"

"Oh my gosh!" Silver interrupted me. "You mean... you're him?! Princess Luna's son?! Oh gosh, I've heard so much about you!"

Despite the brash yet well intentioned disruption, I continued on as if nothing had been said. "The spirit of a Paracorn by the name of Will. I've been... called on," I put it lightly, for I did not want to truly place fear in Silver's mind. "To come back here to get rid of all the bad spirits that hurt people... er, ponies."

"Is that what you did to me last night?" She asked innocently, but I guess Bill never really matured, for he decided that was incredibly funny. His laughter was registered by Silver Star, and she asked in a slightly mad but more embarrassed tone, "Are you laughing at me?"

I answered her before Bill and his... youthful mind could respond and completely destabilise the poor mare. "No, that's just a... friend of mine that thinks many things are funny. Don't mind him. But, in answer to your question, yes. Last night, my friend Bill-"

"Gosh! You mean both Will and Bill are in my house!" Silver made a noise I would not have attributed to a mare of her young yet grown age that vaguely resembled an elongated squee that a teenaged human girl would make after receiving the news that her favorite boy band or something was having a concert in her town.

"Yes, yes, yes," I replied in an annoyed tone. "Anyways, Bill and I were with you last night, and we got rid of a bad spirit that was controlling you. The spirit's name, I'm guessing," I said, and I really was guessing, even though I was almost certain that this was true. "Was Trixie, and through you the spirit had created the persona of "The Great and Powerful Trixie."

Bill spoke before I could continue my long, boring, and informative narration of the events of last night. At first, I feared he was going to say something out of line, but I suppose I should have more faith in the Oracle who can hold his own in many a situation. "I knew of that persona. 'The Great and Powerful Trixie,' as she styled herself, was a traveling stage magician bent on bending every pony in Equestria to her will through cheap magic tricks that held up at best against the magic of a fly."

Silver Star's brow furrowed. "I was a stage magician? But, for as long as I can remember, I was a researcher in Canterlot!"

Bill shrugged, despite Silver not being able to see him do that. "My guess is that this 'Trixie' spirit corrupted your mind and memories to make you truly believe in what she was saying. Frankly, I don't know how she communicated her thoughts to you in the first place, seeing as how the living aren't supposed to be able to see or hear the dead. Trixie must have placed some kind of spell or curse on you for you to be able to hear her."

"Is that why I can hear you?" Silver asked, trying her best to understand just what exactly had been taking place in her own body and mind without her knowledge.

I shrugged and answered this time. "We can only assume that is the case." A knock came at the door. For a moment, no one moved. I looked at Silver. "Does anyone know you live here?" She shook her head, worry and fear creeping quickly over her face. "Hide." She did so, taking shelter under the bed. "Bill," I said, turning to him. "Time to test the question we had last night."

Nodding, he got up from his meditation, the statue falling to the floor. He walked to the wall next to the door and placed his right hand on it. Closing his eyes, I heard with my mind him willing himself to go through the wall. At first, nothing happened. Bill stood there looking like a fool, if only to me, since, even if Silver Star were out in the open and not hiding, she could only hear spirits, not see them. Then, after a few seconds, Bill simply... slid through. His feet didn't move, not a part of his body shifted place. He just... shifted. As if he were on a conveyor belt that moved fairly fast.

Past that, I heard nothing from Bill for the next minute or two. I mean, I heard some hushed voices coming from behind the walls, and I heard once the crinkling of paper, but from then on I heard nothing from outside. In earnest, I was irrationally fearing for Bill's safety, but I couldn't help it. Since learning the news that the dead will be erased should they... "die" a second time, my worry for Bill's well being suddenly took a turn for the more heightened.

Fortunately though, my fears were null when Bill... "phased" back through the wall, this time carrying a piece of paper in his hand. 'That must have been the crinkling I heard,' I thought, ever being the pointer of the obvious. Yes, replied, though, while speaking in thoughts, I could hear the smile in his voice. And it seems we now know how we go about this new reaping job we've got. He handed me the paper. As an afterthought, I called out, "It's okay now, Silver, you may come out now."

I shifted my attention back to the paper now in my hands. Reading it carefully, I discerned its purpose. It was a job letter, much like those professional hitmen receive, or those that find their way to private contractors. It detailed who it was for, Bill and I, obviously, what the job was, to eliminate a wraith, and where the job was going to take place, in Ponyville, which gladdened my heart to no end. Oddly enough there was a spot labeled "Payment," which, rather cold-heartedly, simply stated, "Possible Chance of Permanent Death." I frowned at this, finding the gods' humour to be much to vilifying.

Nevertheless, it was my eternal job, and it was that last thing I would ever be do. I folded the paper up, and stored in my left breast pocket. I huffed, more out of nervousness than actual preparedness. I was almost one hundred percent certain Bill and I defeated that first wraith, Trixie, through sheer shock and surprise. I had no doubt our... future endeavours would prove to be much more difficult. And, oddly, I thought that news would spread that two new reapers had taken residence in the area. I had no fear of losing my job. For some reason I began thinking of my situation as a constant war between reapers and wraiths.

"Silver," I said aloud, hoping to grad the light blue pony's attention.

"Yes, Will?" She replied in a very innocent and, dare I say it, cute voice.\

"Do you know the way to Ponyville from here?" I asked as casually as I could. I'm almost certain I remember a story about Silver, then under the control and domination of Trixie, taking her show to Ponyville only to be chased out by being humiliated by the same ponies she was trying to outclass. I knew I was, quite possibly, going to put this pony under more unneeded stress, but I couldn't find my way to Ponyville from this cottage if my life depended on it... which was relieving, since my life was over anyway.

"Yes, but... why do you want to go there? There are so many... mean ponies there." Her voice transformed from its peppy and cheerful tone to a demoralised tone, her demeanor suddenly dropping to levels of sadness I wouldn't wish on anyone.

I tried to bring her spirits up in the only way I knew was factual but still probably wouldn't work based on my knowledge of Ponyville's proclaimed "kindness towards all" yet its very tactful ability to hold fear and angry grudges against complete strangers. Hypocrisy at its finest, but my duty was to protect it, so go there I must. "That was when you were in the control of the bad spirit. I'm sure if you went there now and explained the whole situation, maybe not mentioning Trixie per sé, but still saying that you were under control of some dark magic. Maybe you could explain what you did before the whole incident; being a researcher at Canterlot must have a good standing in Ponyville, right?"

She shrugged. "I guess so. I could show you the way, but I won't guarantee that I'll stay in Ponyville."

I sighed in semi-relief. "That's really all I'm asking you, Silver Star. If you want to come back here, or go to wherever home is, after you show me the way, go right ahead. I won't force you to do anything. I'm not Trixie; I'm not going to hold you against your will."

"Thank you, Will. You're every bit as nice as the stories I've heard of you said you were." She stood up, and proceeded to the door of the hut. "So," she said slightly hesitantly, as if asking the question that was on her mind might earn her a one-way ticket to Tartarus, or whatever pony "hell," if such a place existed, was. "In that respect, I wish I could have known you alive, when I could have actually have physically seen you."

I shook my head. "Unless you know what a human is, and Paracorn on top of that, you would not have found me the least bit satisfying to look at. In fact, I'm pretty to those who were uninformed of my appearance, I must've looked like some kind of monster out of the Everfree."

Mentioning the forest's name sent a chill down Silver's spine, but she withheld her no doubt frightened comments, ever the loyal pony ready to lead a couple of dead people she could not see and could only hear, and even that was iffy since she could just be imagining it, to the one village in Equestria that, at least until I saw it for my own eyes whether it has calmed down or not, absolutely hated Silver's guts, even if she was not at fault for the whole spiel.

I've had worse times when I was alive. This was a cakewalk compared to some of those.

Comments

[Lucky Seven]

I've been trying to figure out where I've heard your name before, and now I know. QUAKE IV FTW!

[Lt_Voss]

1323775

Don't really play that much anymore, but Lt. Voss, for some reason, just stuck with me as my username/ID name for pretty much every site and game I visit/play, respectively.