> Fallen Angels
>  by Lt_Voss
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - Erebus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I woke with a pain in my head. It felt as if someone were taking a jackhammer to it. Groaning, I sat up and surveyed my surroundings. There wasn't much to look at. To my left was a river, flowing through the dismal darkness. Across the river I could see something glowing that appeared rectangular in shape. To my right was an open field, fires burning in odd places, giving the place a hellish look. I shuddered involuntarily.

"Dear. Dreadful place, isn't it? Hm." I turned to see Bill rising, dusting himself off as he did so. His blindfold was nowhere to be seen, so his featureless eyes reflected the light coming from both the fires and the glow. "Not my choice of residence, but I guess it can be gotten used to."

I was about to say something before I was interrupted by an ominous and dark voice that seemed to resound and reverb throughout the room. It sounded roughly female. "Perhaps. But I'm afraid you two shall not remain here long." Our gazes swung quickly over to a figure standing between us and the river. 'Gods,' I thought. 'If she isn't the definition of sinister beauty, I don't know what is.' Tell me about it, Bill responded.

This figure appeared dressed in a white gown, with curves that positively identified the figure as a woman. It wasn't that her... breasts were particularly large, but the gown didn't really cover much above the waist, which caused me to blush and hide my face. "Greetings, my children. How wonderful of you to visit."

Bill and I exchanged glances. Bill knew of my beliefs, and so therefore knew where I was and why. Bill began with, "You must be-"

But the woman interrupted him. "Yes. I am Styx. If my name, and our location, do not explain why you are here, then perhaps it is best that you simply go across the field." Neither Bill nor I got up; we both understood the gravity of the situation. "Good. You are here because you are dead, obviously. You have been buried, which is why you are here now." The two men were silent. They knew this already. "Do either of you know why I am here?"

I spoke. "Frankly, milady, I do not."

Styx laughed. "Well, then. You may or may not be happy to note that I am here because I have a proposition for the two of you."

I furrowed my eyebrows while Bill continued to glare without menace at Styx. "What kind of proposition?" Bill asked.

"You see," Styx began, stepping towards us. "This place, and the place across the field, are not the best secured. Theoretically, you two could go through that gate across the river and to the other side with ease. Do you understand so far?"

I asked, "You mean the dead escape to... where ever that gate goes to."

"Yes," Styx nodded. "They escape back to the land of the living." Bill and I exchanged looks of surprise. We could go back?! "No," Styx continued, as if reading our thoughts, which, I decided, probably wasn't impossible. "The dead cannot go back to living. They go back to the land of the living as wraiths. Spectres, ghouls, ghasts. All the nastier creatures come from here."

I raised my hand to speak. "Uh, if it's possible for the dead to escape on this end, does that mean that those on the, uh, other end can get out as well?"

Styx smirked, which, oddly enough, made her look more beautiful. "Yes, though they need not escape. Because of where they are, they are granted free reign. Theoretically they may come and go as they please, though most prefer to stay within the walls of their... sanctuary." I "ah'ed" and nodded. Styx forged on. "Back to the matter at hand, though. As I said before, the dead, those with less than beneficial intentions, like to escape back to the living, perhaps to go back to their lives, or to do mischief with their new found abilities. Either way, they leave this realm. And they need to come back."

"That reminds me," Bill broke in. "Are we here intentionally? Or was this a mistake? I'd prefer to know... well, why we two are here, here."

Styx frowned ever so slightly. "If it were up to me," she said. "You would not be here. You would be, ah, upstairs, as the case may be. Top floor, penthouse." She shook her head. "But it is not up to me. And I must follow my orders." Bill visibly sagged.

I then put to her, "Well, so you've mentioned that these escaped dead need to be brought back here. Does this tie in to your proposition in any way?"

Styx chuckled. "It is the proposition." Her expression turned grim. Obviously, she didn't like what she was about to say any more than Bill or I wanted to hear it. "My proposal to you is: you may go across the fields. Spend the rest of eternity there." Bill and I gulped. "Or you may go through that gate. Hunt down the dead. Bring them back here."

"What are the terms?" Bill asked immediately.

"You will not be able to interact with most of the living, though you may interact with inanimate objects. Animals and children will also be able to see you. You will not be alone. There are other reapers, several hundred, actually, that may aid you in your hunts. Other spirits, those who have not moved on, while untrustworthy, may also help you. You will not need sleep, and thus I expect you to work at least eighteen hours per standard human day."

"So, you've said we can't interact with the living. Any other hindrances we need to know about?" Bill asked, looking out for his creator.

"Well," Styx replied nervously, which caused me quite a bit of worry. "Because of your volatile state, you may both die. Permanently. I'm not saying you'd be brought upstairs or even down here. I mean you will be completely dead. Your memory will be wiped off the universe. No one will even remember you existed."

The two of us gulped. We glanced in horror at each other. This was the future that awaited us? "Will we forget about each other if the other dies?" I asked, literally quaking in terror of the thought of permanently losing Bill. "I mean, Bill wouldn't be around if it weren't for me. That has to count for something, right?"

Styx sighed in what was obviously sadness. "Yes, you will forget him. But," she continued, in an effort to cheer me up even a bit, I guessed. "You will be reminded of him. If you meet someone or something with a personality similar to his, your heart will ache, and a pain long buried will reawaken. You will not know why, but it will happen all the same."

"Do you know if Bill will die with me? As he did in life?"

"No. I do not. I can only assume that since both of you are, by all rights, dead already, the rules no longer apply."

I stared at the ground beneath me in thought. 'So.' Yeah? 'This is it. We've got only one real choice, don't we?' I don't know. Eternal hell seems an okay thing for me. At least people would remember us. 'Yeah.' Will nodded. 'But I fear that we wouldn't be allowed.'

"You are correct," Styx said, reading our minds again. "Not by my choice. He On High has made it clear to me that you are to 'choose' the proposition I have relayed to you, no matter the cost." Styx shook her head. "Trust me, if it were up to me, you two would be living it well in the Elysium Fields. With what you've done for the universe..." she sniffed. "I don't care that you murdered a pony in cold blooded revenge. I can understand that." When she looked back at us before her, we noticed her eyes were teary and when she spoke next, her voice was shaky. "I wouldn't wish this treatment on you two."

"Why us?" I couldn't help but ask desperately. "Why were we chosen for this?"

Styx sniffed again, and, against her better efforts, a tear fell from her eye. "Most of the time, He On High has me choose several to dot worlds with, to keep up our... 'forces,' I guess you'd call them. More rarely, though, he has me personally choose a few to go back. Because," she added shakily, almost as if she were regretting to admit this. "He doesn't like it when I get attached to anyone."

"So," Bill asked. "Are we part of the former case? Because..." he trailed off.

"Forgive me for saying so," Styx replied sadly. "But... well, I've... always kind of... had a crush... on, well, you, Will."

I looked taken aback by this. I had no doubt Bill was as well. "What?" I asked incredulously.

"It's true, and I am sorry. I know you are... were married, but... I couldn't help myself. You were always so tough..." she trailed off for a moment. "And handsome," she added much softer.

"Why would He make you do this if you've gotten attached to someone?" Bill asked, trying to bring the topic away from Styx's apparent liking towards me.

"Well... He hopes, not with hatred or hostility, that they will die at work, causing any and all memory of them to pass away, never to be remembered again. He hopes that they will die so I no longer show them affection." She sobbed. "I don't know how many he's made me do this to. Everyone I've showed affection for and was forced to place them as a reaper has died. I'd remember them if they hadn't." She fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands as she did so.

Since Bill and I were sort of still recovering from the shock of the sudden mood change, we really did nothing to comfort Styx. Not that she needed comforting. About five seconds of crying, she regained her composure. Standing tall, she smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress. "I'm sorry, for breaking down like that." She wiped at her eyes. "I guess I'd better send you on through." Hesitantly, Bill and I stepped forward towards the river. Styx chuckled sadly. "Well, come on, don't be shy. Charon doesn't bite."

And indeed, Charon was there, waiting on his boat to ferry the two of us across. Wearing a long robe with a deep cowled hood, Charon's true form was mysteriously hidden. The only thing we could be certain of was that Charon's eyes glowed bright yellow beneath the shadow of his hood. As Bill and I neared the boat, Styx called for us to hold up. "Wait," she said, running up to us. "I forgot to take your tickets."

Bill and I looked at each other in surprise. She'd never mentioned anything about tickets. "They're in your left breast pockets." We got them out, and handed them to Styx. Then, she withdrew a ticket puncher and punched our tickets. Seeing our bewildered gazes, she laughed, saying, "Listen. We may be old, but we can modernise too, you know."

With Styx waving goodbye, we boarded Charon's small ferry. We handed him our tickets, which he promptly threw in the river. He began paddling across the river. Not a word emanated from him, and the silence between the three of us dead people... well, two dead and a minor God... was uncomfortable to the two of us peons. Thankfully, the river was not too wide, so the silence only lasted a minute or so.

As the ferry neared the far side of the river, the portal came into focus. It was a swirling mass of pastel colours, slowly mixing with each other as they moved in an almost liquid state. The ferry stopped by the shore. Unsure of what to do next, for fear of somehow insulting Charon, Bill and I stood still. It wasn't until Charon slowly lifted a thin, and rather horrifyingly skeletal, hand with one finger pointed at the portal. We took no more time in acting, and immediately hopped off the boat. We stood at the lip of the gateway, nervously and mentally preparing ourselves for the plunge into uncertainty when we heard a raspy, ghostly voice behind us.

~One final farewell.~ We turned around to find that Charon had moved his right arm over his chest, fist over his heart in a warrior's salute. ~I do not expect we shall ever see one another again.~ Charon pronounced his words as they were spelt, saying "uh-gain." ~Farewell. And good luck.~ Bill and I both saluted hesitantly in a similar fashion, each of us saying our own uncomfortable goodbye to the mysterious figure. With that, Charon began paddling his boat back to the hellish side of the river.

The partings complete, Bill and I took a short huff of breath and, together as one, stepped through the portal.
> Chapter 2 - Bastion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Bill and I walked relatively aimlessly through the forest. We knew which forest we were in, despite not knowing exactly where we were. "Gods," I muttered under my breath. "Why does it always have to be the freaking Everfree?"

"Well, then, it wouldn't be so exciting," Bill said, putting on an affectation of liveliness and of being chipper. With no other option but to go "forward," we had pretty much accepted that we were little more than lost. We hoped that we were going in somewhat the right direction of Ponyville, only having the sun's position, discovered by a quick climb up one of the trees, to guide our direction. Bill and I only knew that we were heading east. Past that, we did not know whether we were too far north or south.

Bill and I had just about given up hope of finding anywhere other than the forest when we, at the same time, saw ahead a light. Instinctively we headed toward this light, desperately wishing for it to be the way out that we sought. When, after a while of walking towards this beacon, it did not appear to get any closer, the two of us stupidly broke out into a run. Our wild sprint lasted for what seemed like centuries. Finally, we reached the source of the light. It was a cottage, hidden within the woods.

I glanced at Bill warily. This didn't look like Zecora's hut to either of us, as it obviously wasn't, and we were wary of its inhabitants. "Think we can walk through walls?"

Bill shrugged. "I don't think that works outside the movies, but it can't hurt to try, right?"

Our wonders were nullified when we heard something approaching from the left. Instinctively we dove into the bushes, not used to, or perhaps forgot that, no living being should be able to see us. Peering from between the branches, we perked our ears towards the direction that the disturber was coming from. Soon, we started hearing mumblings from the creature. "Trixie is great and powerful!" This "Trixie" was female, definitely. "She will succeed in her task!"

I, ever so slowly, turned his face to Bill's and whispered, "Who's she talking to?"

Before Bill could answer, a blue pony with a silver mane jumped through the bushes. "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

"She can hear us?" I asked Bill incredulously. "I thought the living couldn't hear us!"

Bill whispered strongly, "She's got help." Without further warning, he shot forward like a bullet, spun in place, and swung a kick towards the pony. Since he was a wraith and therefore incorporeal, his kick would pass through the pony.

But it would not go through another wraith. With a light thud, a black mass flew from the pony, who I assumed was Trixie. With a much deeper thud, the mass hit the forest floor several feet away. I got up then and ran over to the writhing black mass that I believed to be an evil, or Tartarus-damned wraith. Acting quickly, I jumped on it, hoping to hold it down as I pummeled it, unsure of how exactly to send a wraith back to Tartarus, or even Erebus if Styx had the power to take care of it.

The wraith screamed incessantly and constantly hurled insults at me, usually concerning my heritage or the presence, or supposed lack thereof, of mating instruments. The voice that I could only attribute to the wraith was, as was the pony, definitively female. "Trixie will kill you all," the wraith howled as Bill checked the status of the pony. "TRIXIE WILL MAKE SURE YOU WILL PAY FOR IMPRISONING HER LIKE THIS!" I flinched at the volume, and the became confused. Who really was Trixie? Unfortunately, my confusion was all the wraith needed to retry her efforts to escape my hold.

Bill came to my aid soon enough, and apparently he knew exactly what to do. Using some magic, and to be honest, had I known I could still have magic, I would have taken care of the wraith myself, Bill created a large and very deadly knife from the air around him. "What are you going to do to Trixie?" The wraith asked, terror in her voice.

With the knife, Bill knelt down beside the now paralysed-with-fear wraith. "Get that knife away from Trixie!" The wraith's pleas fell on deaf ears. Bill, gruesomely solemn, used the knife to decapitate the wraith and then set the head ablaze. After that purely disgusting task was complete, and after I had suppressed my urges to vomit all over, he began lighting the rest of the wraith's now... lifeless? Death-less? Bill began torching the rest of the wraith's corpse. 

Overall, if this is what it took to send wraiths back to Tartarus, I was going to have an oh-so-wonderful time of it. I could barely hold my incorporeal stomach at the sight of the truncated corpse, and the stench of rotting flesh helped not. Apparently, though, the pony had no problem. She was sitting on her rear end, staring at the ground, shock in her eyes. "What am I doing here?" She asked the dirt.

Without thinking, I replied, "You're sitting in front of your home."

"I'd better get inside then, right? It's getting dark," she responded. Perfectly normal, it wasn't as if she could hear me... wait, what?

"You can hear me?" I asked experimentally.

"Who said that?" The pony asked, fear in her voice now.

"Er," I tried, smartly, trying to redirect and-or answer the pony at the same time. "It's... me, the... wind?"

The pony whimpered. "Even the wind can talk? This place is scarier than mom said it was..." A sniffle emanated from the pony, and her eyes watered. "I wanna go home! Why am I even out here?!"

I don't know what it was with me. Bill himself thought-spoke to me and told me he would slap me upside the head later, but for some reason I just did it. I hated to see a girl cry, even if that girl was a pony that was apparently possessed by an evil spirit. "There, there," I tried to soothe the pony. "This place is scary, I'll admit, but I'm not going to hurt you. I don't even think I can hurt you."

The pony sniffled again. "You won't?" She asked, in a very cute yet sad voice.

"No," I replied, firmly. "Here, how about we go inside, and we can warm up and get some light." Slowly, the pony got up and wobbled her way to the cottage, sniffling all the way. "So," I asked as casually as I could to brighten the mood. "What's your name?"

"Silver Star."

Despite this pony's recent affiliation with the undead, which I believed either was not her fault or she had unknowingly accepted its influence, I believed this pony to be a very kind, if misguided, mare. "Silver Star," I repeated, making it sound very... nice. "It's a wonderful name." The pony had already curled up in the bed that sat in the far corner of the cottage and began snoring lightly when I had begun commenting on her name, so my compliment had fallen on deaf ears. Except for Bill's, of course.

I plonked myself down into a chair, which was very ornate, so I had almost no doubt either the mare was from a rich family or the wraith had aided her theft of money or furniture. Sighing heavily, I leaned back in the chair. "What in the name of Hades," I spoke in an exasperated sigh. "Have we gotten ourselves into?"
> 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.
> Chapter 4 - Two Wraiths walk into a Library...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So there we found ourselves. Bill and I, your friendly neighborhood ghost hunters. In life, we probably would have been called crazies. Frankly, I didn't know if that would be untrue. After all, for the longest time I thought Bill was simply an annoying and arrogant voice in my head. I heard that. That fact that I was now a wraith hunting other wraiths... while I knew this could have likely happened -- well, I know dying could have happened, at least -- it was still unnerving. I didn't much care for the conscription of Bill and myself -- Who would? -- and in doing so the gods pretty much sealed the deal of my annoyance towards them.

Regardless of my... "opinions" on the matter, I still had to do it no matter what, so I figured I had better make the best of it. Still, going on as the unsung hero didn't much hearken to my liking. You have the biggest ego I've seen on anyone. Even Henderson wasn't as bad. 'Really?!' I asked, incredulous. To think that Bill could possibly believe that that maniac had a smaller ego than me... I knew Bill was joking, of course. No. I sighed. But you're cutting it pretty close. For that, I simply had to slap him.

"Okay," Silver Star announced, breaking me out of my reverie. "We're nearly there. I..." she hesitated as if she were mulling over this one point. "I didn't want to do this before, actually go into Ponyville. But... you've been so nice... I can at least see you to a pony who I'm sure will receive you well." Her tone grew an abrasive and apprehensive tone, almost as if she truly didn't want to take me to this pony, but felt she had to out of honour.

"Silver," I replied. "You don't have to do anything for me, you know. You've already done enough giving me someone alive to talk to. Someone alive I could actually have a conversation with, that is. In spite of whatever transformed you into 'The Great and Powerful Trixie', you are a very wonderful pony to be around."

"No, no," she shot back at me, with more conviction. "I insist. I will walk you to a good place to stay for a bit. It is the least I can do. Maybe..." her voice grew softer. "Maybe I can even fix some of the... problems I had coming here last time, too."

"Stop for a second," I told her. She did. I thought over what she was saying. She was willing to risk getting herself horrifyingly humiliated at my expense, just so she could help me gain some good accommodations... all because I was polite? I didn't exactly follow her logic. Perhaps ponies truly are the people of no war. While that kind of went against having a Royal Guard in the first place, I had to agree with Bill on that one. "Silver, you have got to be the greatest companion I've ever been with, besides Bill and-"

I don't know why it was like that. In fact, I'd never even tried to say her name once. Does that make me a horrible husband? Thinking it was no problem. Fluttershy. Fluttershy flutters shyly through the field. Saying it aloud though... "Besides Bill and... my wife." In a manner unbecoming a doting husband, I did not find myself choking up by simply stating her title. I knew it was practically alienating her, but somehow it made it easier to cope. I'm a monster, I know.

"Flu- Flu... you mean... Fluttershy?" Silver asked innocently. I could tell her intention was not to hurt me emotionally, but do that she did.

"Yes," I replied with a weak voice.

"Is she there with you?"

I didn't mean to be rude or forceful. "Look, Silver, I don't want to talk about it. Could we get going?"

In a manner I didn't expect of her, Silver said one last thing before she led me down the path towards the main square of Ponyville. "I understand. I'm sorry for... making you... er, uncomfortable."

Were that said by anyone else, or by someone whom I did not know, I would have certainly, at the very least, belittled them. At worst I might have even -- were it possible, of course -- hit the person for sounding so unrealistic. However, I was simply astonished by how utterly sincere Silver Star declared her apology. I would not assume of anyone the capability to be so empathetic. "Thank you," I replied, my own statement seemed to be swallowed up by the differences in depth between hers and my own.

We continued towards the town square, and at this point it had become quite the difficulty to slip by unnoticed. More ponies resided near the center of town, and unfortunately for Silver Star, Twilight's library was right there. I had to silently applaud Silver's ability to stick to the shadows. Had she been a human, she would have made a great sneaker, possibly even a good steal soldier. Sorry, but my militaristic mind has to be vented somehow.

Unfortunately, though, all good luck must be broken, and all good things must come to an end. Somepony spotted her. It wasn't until I heard saw the pony herself that I recognised the voice, and for that I feel absolutely terrible. There, standing behind a wagon cart filled to the brim with apples was Applejack herself. It was kind of surprising to me that AJ had not spotted Silver Star sooner, since we... well, she, had been sneaking right across the street from her. "What do y'all think yer doin'?!"

Silver, in shock and fear, snapped her head towards the outburst, and immediately shrunk down. "No. No, no, no. Why her?"

"Are you alright, Silver?" I asked. For metaphorical purposes I stood between her and AJ, hoping that somehow in some way I was shield their view from each other. Bill, ever the resourceful man, used his magic to cause a crate to fall over in front of Silver Star, hiding her from view. It also had the side effect of landing on top of me. While it didn't hurt, it was still annoying and for some reason it felt... I felt violated somehow as the box passed through my incorporeal body. "Silver," I repeated. "Are you okay?"

"It's her," she whispered, her voice even then quivering. "She's the strong one. She's the mean one. Right next to the blue one."

I knew what she was talking about, of course, even if an outsider didn't. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are the most... forward of ponies I've met, with Applejack having a very great mistrust of ponies outside her immediate family. I realise she's the Element of Honesty, but I would have hoped that that fact would have aided her very... uncouth and downright poor social skills. Sure, she can be polite, when the time calls for it, but at other times... she's rather disrespectful, even if she doesn't mean to be.

"It's alright, just a little setback. Here, Bill and I will keep you covered, while you-"

"Aha!" An exclamation of victory sounded behind the three of us. I spun to find Applejack, who had apparently left her stand to reaffirm her initial sighting. "I knew it was you I saw!"

Before Silver Star could completely shut down in worry, I threw a crate down between the two rivaling ponies. "Go!" I shouted to Silver Star. Reassured that her ghostly friends had not abandoned her to the wolves, so to speak, she got up and high-tailed it. Get it? I'll stop now.

Unfortunately, of course, dying meddles with your memory a bit. I became vaguely aware of the possibility that maybe Applejack was possibly more agile that I had first thought. She quickly hopped over the crate to give pursuit to Silver. Running to catch up with my new-found friend, I pulled down pretty much any object I could grab on to. I did make sure not to pull down anything open topped or fragile, as best as I could tell. It was an effort that, sadly, Bill was less inclined to put forth. We did what we were trying to do, at least, which was to stall Applejack long enough for Silver Star to get out of sight or get to the library, whichever came first.

And she did. Make it to the library, I mean. Of course, she still had to get in the library, but Bill had that covered. Taking a second to slide through the wall, he... took about thirty to forty five seconds doing something that I had no doubt would get the door to open. Meanwhile, I busied myself covering up Silver as best as I could, to just try and buy her time. I shifted around a few boxes that happened to be lying beside the tree the library was carved from. I arranged them in a wall around the door, hiding her from view of the ponies in the street.

After almost a minute, Bill did finally return from inside the library. "How'd it go?" I asked.

"Well, aside from Spike having to snap Twilight out of trying to study the self-animated quill writing the words "let me in" on a piece of parchment," I facepalmed even though Bill was the only one who could have seen me do it. "It went quite well. I assume it's only taking this long because Spike is so small and has to drag Twilight from the quill. Mind you, it had been still since I let go of it," he grinned. "But apparently she didn't get the hint."

Silver Star opened her mouth to say something, but before she could the door opened. "So, why did I need to open the door, Spi-" Twilight never finished her question. "What are you doing here?! Get away from my library, now!"

"Please, I can explain-" Silver replied in a very soft voice, lowering herself to the ground, saddened by the, perhaps somewhat understandably, immediate rejection.

"No, I don't care! I know who you are, Trixie,  and you're nothing but a fake!"

"Bill," I said in a side. "Get me the paper and the quill. If you can, bring me ink." Bill nodded and did as he was told.

"Please, Twilight-"

"Do NOT even think we're on a first name basis, Trixie!"

Silver Star shrunk down even further, and in a voice that barely constituted a whisper, said, "Please, Ms. Sparkle, I have nowhere else to go, and I don't know who else I can trust... please..."

For a moment Twilight's resolve wavered. I could see it in her eyes. However, were it not for the fact that Bill brought out the requested items at that time, I'm sure Twilight would have once again strengthened her position and sent Silver packing, which would not have done well for her in my conscience. After all, Silver Star was almost quite literally risking life and limb for my well being. It would only be suit should I do the same.

Taking the paper and quill in hand as Bill held the inkwell with his magic, I began to scribble down onto the paper in a script only those who had seen my letters would be able to read. On it, I wrote, "Twilight Sparkle. You will let this poor pony in and let her explain her situation. To fail to do so would anger one whose self provided you with an outlet for your own frustration. Do as I say."

I did not know Twilight had read my will, or my personal thank you note, nor any other document of mine, but she certainly could read my handwriting, and while she perhaps did not recognise it at first, she did as the words told her and silently, I could see her fuming by the way, let Silver Star in. The latter pony promptly, though gracefully and possibly with the intention to make herself seem lesser to Twilight, sat on the floor in front of the couch. Twilight saw this and did not object.

"Well," she began in a very annoyed tone. Her eyes shot daggers made of fifty caliber laser beams at Silver Star. "Explain."

Silver Star took a deep breath. "My name, for starters, is Silver Star. I'm a researcher at the Canterlot University."

"How did you come to call yourself 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' if your name was Silver Star?" Twilight, as I mentioned about some other Ponyville ponies, oddly enough, was one who was very hypocritical. 'Be nice and make friends' my arse, if this was how she treated someone who came begging to her door.

"Well... during one of my... experiments... I, er, miscalculated," Twilight, probably against her better judgement, nodded in possible understanding. "And I let loose... please don't think I'm insane."

"Why would I believe you to be insane? Other than being a very self-centered stage pony who was shown up by her own folly?"

"Well," Silver Star replied, leaning in closer to Twilight. "Believe it or not, and I hope you believe me, I let loose... an evil spirit."

Twilight nodded. "That would make one believe another to be insane. And why should I not do so to you, Silver Star?"

"Because... I have proof." Silver replied, shifting uncomfortably where she sat, though, whether that was from the discomfort of where the conversation was going or from having to sit on the floor, I was unsure.

"Oh? And what proof would that be?" Twilight retorted in a thoroughly disbelieving tone, bordering a 'you're so stupid how are you alive' tone.

"Will, Bill," Silver called out. "Could you do something to show Twilight you exist? I mean, I know she can't see you, and I don't think she can hear you, so I think you have to write something again."

"What are you-" Twilight began, narrowing her eyes, but before she could finish I flipped over the paper I held in my hands and began writing again.

This time, I wrote something only she could know. "Remember the bookstore right next door to the toy store? The one with the bunny? I certainly remember how dumb it made me look."

From Twilight's perspective, it looked like a quill was writing something on some parchment all on its own. It then floated its way over to her, and as she read it she gasped. "I don't know how you know about this, and I don't know how you're levitating this without magic, but it isn't funny!"

I snatched the paper from the airspace in front of Twilight's head, leaving her with a nice cool breeze. I scribbled more down, this time writing, "Moonshy and Victor. Paracorns. Remember them? Remember me? I didn't think you could hold such an animosity towards me for so long, even after I've died, Twilight."

Reading it, Twilight, for a second, almost looked like she believed it. But then she noticed one thing. "Remember Paracorns? Really? Hah. It's no secret Paracorns exist, Silver Star. Unless you give me absolutely solid proof-"

Snatching the paper for the last time before I exploded in anger, I scribbled furiously. I swear there was smoke coming up from the paper. I floated the parchment in front of Twilight's face once more. "God damn it, Twilight!" she read aloud. For once I could see she didn't entirely believe Silver Star could be capable of such language. "It's me, Will. You are the most stubborn... the stupidest smart pony I've ever met! I mean, after all, throwing rocks at me in plain view of everyone because I'd caught the attention of the mare you so secretly held as your own is perfect proof! Now behave nicely to Silver Star!"

She set the parchment down on the nearby table with her own magic. Taking a breath, and I could feel the sadness in it, making me worry for a second, and only a second, that I'd gone too far, Twilight readdressed Silver Star. "While I don't subscribe to your point of view in its entirety, I do believe there may be a few grains of truth in it. I'm sorry for acting so harshly. You just have to realise, even if you were controlled by an evil spirit, and I'm not saying you were, you still left a horrible mark on everypony you met."

It was Silver's turn to sigh, in the same expression of sadness but for a different reason, of course. "I know. Will's been catching me up to speed about everything."

"So, why are you here? Need a place to stay, or what?"

Silver nodded. "Yeah. Trixie had me stay in a cottage out in the Everfree, but I was too scared to stay there as I am now."

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. It was obvious she felt this was obligatory, not voluntary. "Well, if you need to stay somewhere, the library's a good a place as any." She muttered under her breath; only Bill and I could hear her, "Not like anyone comes here anymore."

Bill read my thoughts and grabbed a new sheet of parchment, the old piece having been completely written over. As a first statement, I wrote, "So... now that I'm dead, what's new?"

Twilight read this and responded, "Not much. You've only been dead a day."

I slapped my forehead at this oversight. "Okay... well, I guess what I mean is... is there anything... strange going on? Aside from what's been happening for the past half hour?"

"What do you mean?" I could see Twilight's face turn red. I guess it was embarrassing for her to speaking to air.

"Like, more accidents than there usually are, near-death experiences, random anvils falling from the sky that luckily land a hair's breadth away from someone... somepony?"

Twilight set her mind to thinking and remembering. Bill waltzed around the room, picking at various things while she did. Good gods, she even tapped her forehoof against her chin as she thought. Something brightened in her eyes, and she spoke with a degree of confidence. "Well, now that you mention it..."
> Chapter 5 - Flowers on the Wind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As it turns out, a lot had occurred in the day that I've been dead. Some was good, but apparently the death of a few people opened the doors for worse. The Elements of Harmony... while they still retained their base attributes, they were... quite listless. Rainbow Dash, for one, experience whiplash when my wife performed, albeit unintentionally, a sonic rainboom, only to have herself and me die a few years after the fact. Pinkie Pie had since reverted to her old "Pinkamina" state, as Twilight called it. Applejack apparently was fraught with guilt, after misplacing her accusations with me for so long and to have me ultimately denounce them as all false. Rarity had essentially stalled her business, barricading herself within her bedroom to grieve on her own. And Twilight... she herself had become so... unsociable, that rarely did anyone -- er, pony, -- visit her library anymore.

What hit me the hardest though, was my mother. Princess Luna Dresden, according to Twilight, has effectively halted all her duties and has forgone completing them in any sense. My aunt Celestia had selflessly picked them up along with her own, and I assume she could do so effortlessly seeing as how she had done it for a thousand years. According to my informant, Luna herself has locked herself within her room in the East Wing tower, and has set up a magical barrier preventing access by even her own sister. Apparently, Celestia was right when I thought she had died the first time, when she told me the reason she had banished Luna was because she was jealous of her younger sister's power.

Not that sentiment mattered to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I felt terrible. You know how suicide hotlines always tell you there's a better way to make it all stop? How all those posters say that when someone commits suicide, they're really hurting their loved ones, not themselves? Yeah. I was getting a first-hand account of how accurate those things were. Turns out, they were probably right. And to be honest, I was being pretty selfish. After all, I offed myself to be with my wife... obviously, as I'm not posthumously rejoicing, I still haven't found her. Not that it should take much looking, though.

Apparently, according to Twilight, strange supernatural things have been happening in and around Ponyville. Most of it bad, but she told me she once visited my old home... my love's old cottage, and she was chased out by something that really didn't want her there. She described something that resembled a cry of anger and anguish. I could only assume, and hope, really, that whatever Twilight encountered at that cottage was my soul. It would work wonders for me.

Not that I'd have time at the moment. Twilight described something incredibly wrong going on at the elementary school, causing it to have to close down until its... situation was resolved. As it turns out, the location on my "hit card" matched that of the school. The job description matched that of what was going on there. Everything matched, which meant hell had come to pay whoever, or whatever was terrorising the school... literally.



"Princess Luna," called a voice from behind the door to the room.

Luna herself recognised the voice in an instant. "Go away, Captain."

Captain Stargazer had been Princess Luna's one true, faithful friend and confidant. He was almost an eighth her age, and had been her caretaker since her return from banishment. As such, he felt bound to help her in her current crisis. "I'm sorry, your Highness, but I'm afraid I can't do that." He was referring to Luna's previous order for him to leave; contrarily, he had remained outside her chamber doors since she sealed herself away.

"Then leave me alone," Luna cried out into her pillow. "Can't you see I'm busy... wallowing?"

Stargazer sighed. "No, your Highness, I cannot see. But I must implore you rethink what you are doing. The many ponies who depend on your night and your presence are-"

"I don't care about them," Luna shouted. Luckily, only Stargazer could hear her, and he would not comment or repeat that statement, for he knew it was an irrational thought. "What good are they to me if my own son is not here?!"

Stargazer, who was not a father himself, could not relate. Being a celibate guard, he had never married and, ever dutiful, had never engaged in any personal relations with a mare. However, despite these facts, he tried to empathise as best he could, if only to attempt to benefit his charge. "I've heard your son was a great man, your Highness. Word on the street is that he was the complete opposite of Prince Blueblood."

He paused to allow time for Luna to finish her cry of sorrow at the mention of her son. "But I must request you accept your fate and proceed as you would any other time. Would you think your son would want you to remain hidden away, locked in your tower, when duties are still there to be performed?"

This caused Luna to remember back to the night she had first discovered her sister's then-lifeless body. She remembered what Will had told her when she broke down on him. She let a smile, ever faint, slip past her mask of grief, when she remembered that he didn't so much as tell her as he did slap her. "Pull yourself together, Luna! And focus! What's said was said, and I've forgiven you! Now get over it and focus on the task at hand!" The memory did bring back sad memories, which in turn brought fresh tears to her eyes, but she ceded the victory to Captain Stargazer.

"Very well," she told him through the door. "You may come in and tell me about this... issue face to face... I have not the voice to profess my thoughts through the walls." Her horn glowed, adding an exception to the magical aura she'd cast earlier designed to keep even her sister from entering. Stargazer entered without a problem, however, showing that despite the current condition of Luna's emotional state, she could still be trusted to keep her word.

Captain Stargazer stepped into his Majesty's room. "Now, Princess. On the matter of the people..."



The schoolhouse looked to be in very poor shape, despite Twilight insisting that it had only been abandoned for a day. It made me wonder whether or not these ponies took too much interest in the welfare of everything else, if a building couldn't remain operable after a day of not being used. I shudder to think what it would look like after a break. I stood on one side of the doorway, Bill on the other. I reached out to open the door, But Bill hand shot out and grabbed mine,

With his other hand, he pushed something into my own free hand. Looking down, I saw that it was a translucent Python revolver... it had the engravings I'd had carved in mine while I was alive...I looked up at Bill in shock. "How..." I began, but stopped, the words not coming to my mouth.

He chuckled. "Did I get it right? I made it so that you could have a little range on these things."

I looked it over once more, checking to see if all the necessary mechanical parts were in place and, seeing that the ones on the surface were, I responded, "It looks like it. Guess I'll just have to see if it works like it." I prepped the revolver against my leg and with a nod from Bill, slowly opened the door. Bill took point, allowing me to free up some of my thoughts. Not that it mattered, since this schoolhouse was just a single room. A desk sat at the head of the room in front of a blackboard, while several rows of desks were arranged in block formation along the back.

Naturally, the school being one room ,there was only one place the wraith we were here for could be. That being the case, we almost immediately discovered the wraith, the undead spirit of a "Lily Pad." Our presence did not go unnoticed, though, and at our approach she spun around and crouched defensively. Instinctively, I raised my spirit pistol, while Bill took up his duelist's stance.

"Who are you?!" Lily Pad asked, though it sounded like she was shrieking. It didn't bother my ears at all, however, but I could both hear and see a few of the windows shake in their fittings.

"I'm Will, this is Bill," I said, in as calm a voice as I could muster. "We're here to see you."

Her eyes narrowed, doubting the truth of my answer. "How did you know to find me here?"

I smirked. "It wasn't exactly hard to listen in on the living's words. The talk of the town was that strange things were happening in the schoolhouse, so here we are."

"What do you want, then?" I noticed her body tense, as if she was ready to fling herself at me at any moment.

"Frankly, miss," I said, bringing on my older voice in the hopes of appealing to her sense of flattery. I didn't actually know if it would work, of course, but it was about the last speech I had at my disposal. "I just want to know why you are... in the words of the living, mind you, not that I agree with them, but they say you are terrorising the children, and I just want to know what you're doing and why."

"I'M NOT TERRORISING CHILDREN!" She shouted this as loud as I could guess she could scream, and yet it hurt not my ears. Then, as sudden as she was angry, Lily Pad switched moods again, this time careening into sadness. "I'm just looking for my baby!" She fell on her bum, on account that she had fallen backwards, and threw her hands up to her face. She began to cry, which sparked the gentleman in me to action, much to Bill's dismay.

Despite his efforts to hold me back, I walked to Lily Pad and sat next to her. "I'm sure we can help you find your baby, Miss Lily..." I paused, and tried for another flattery piece. "You have a wonderful name, a happy name. Come now," I said, putting on my best smile. "We can find your baby."

"Do..." she stammered. "Do you really think so?" She looked up at me, and I could tell she was not faking her cries.

My gamble had payed off. "Promise."

She sniffed and nodded. After wiping her nose on her sleeve, Lily Pad stood up, and I with her. "Her name," she sobbed. "Is Roseluck."

At that moment, I was stunned. Not because Bill's fears were proved true and this was all a ruse by Lily to defeat me easier, but because I knew Roseluck. Not personally, no, but I always passed by her flower shop and bade both her and her coworker Daisy good morning on my way to the hospital. "Bill," I called. "What time is it?"

Bill looked at his wrist, which bore either an invisible or nonexistent watch, and replied, "It's almost one in the afternoon, why?"

I, both mentally and physically, cheered silently. "Good, we still have time. Let's go find your daughter, Lily. Roseluck, you said her name was, correct?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Great. I think I might know where she is, then."



"So, Tri- I mean, Silver, sorry. Is there anything I can get you? Tea, maybe? A hay sandwich?"

"No, Miss Sparkle, but thank you. I don't... I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Oh," Twilight said with a noticeable dip in spirits. "Well, would you like to look for a book while your here? I'm sure I have something you might like. You said were a researcher in Canterlot? I have a couple books based on Starswirl the Bearded's theories on magic application."

Silver Star sighed. "Actually, Miss Sparkle, I think I've stayed long enough. I didn't exactly, er, leave a very good impression last time I was here, so I don't want to chance something coming up. I was already chased by your orange friend..."

Twilight cocked her head. "Who, Applejack? She chased you?"

Silver nodded. "Will, Bill and I were coming here to talk to you, but she saw me and we had to run. She followed us."

"How come she didn't find you here, then?" Twilight, oblivious as always, failed to notice the crates Bill and Will had stacked up behind their living vassal.

"Will and Bill blocked the way with some boxes... though I thought she'd be able to get around them by now..." Pounding on the door pronounced her point. "Speak of the mare..." Silver muttered under her breath.

"I'll..." Twilight began, not sure if she should let Applejack in to possibly hurt Silver Star or to turn her away. She eventually decided on the former, of course. "Let her in, but I'll make her promise to behave. It's... the most I can do."

"Very well, Miss Sparkle," Silver said in a somewhat defeated tone. "I'll manage."

As Twilight went to answer the door, Silver Star sat on the couch, preparing herself for a hailstorm of accusations, criticisms, and insults. When Twilight opened the door, she saw that her preparations were called for. "Twilight," Applejack called. "Th' fact you'd let this here con, this sham, into your own home disappoints me, girl!" Applejack, to Silver's dismay, got very close to her face, staring at her with a very condescending glare. "What have ya gotta say fer yerself, huh?"

"Applejack, please," Twilight pleaded. "Let us tell you why she's here before you start getting on her case."

"Didn't ya see th' way she acted last time she was here, Twilight? She can't be trusted, especially not with important stuff."

"Please," Silver begged, very uncomfortable under the sheer gaze brought on by the orange mare. "I'm not the same mare you know me to be. Please... let me explain..." She shrunk down, cowering deeper and deeper into the couch, trying to hide from the stern stare of the intimidating farm pony.

Applejack stood there for a few moments more, but eventually stepped down after a while. "Alright, but you better come up with a good story, ya hear?"

Silver froze up, but with some encouragement from her once-rival-now-ally, she took a deep breath and began to retell the same tale she told Twilight an hour ago.



"Are you sure you know where my baby is? You seem pretty confidant, but I doubt you really know."

It wasn't the first time during our walk to the flower shop that Lily Pad doubted me. In fact, it was almost a constant slew of second-guessing from her, which more hurt my ears than it hurt my ego, but still. Rolling my eyes, not for the first time, mind you, I responded in the same manner I'd done so for the last ten instances of this same question coming up. "Yes, Miss Lily, I am almost entirely certain I know where your daughter is. Please, just have a little faith in me."

A sigh came from Lily, which was new, but her follow up comment was not. "Very well, I guess I can only put my trust in your conviction right now."

"Please believe me," Bill jumped in. "Will's about the only person short of his mother and aunt that you can put your faith in and not be disappointed by failure. We won't let you down, ma'am. I swear you this."

A moment of silence crept into our group, but it was broken by a question. "Why are you talking in the olden tongue?"

"You mean," I asked for clarification. "Why are Bill and I using old English? That's actually a lot simpler than some would expect."

"Why's that?" Lily asked innocently. Despite her origins, at least... her wraith's origins, I didn't really feel threatened by her. It would probably come to stab me in the back later on, but I honestly didn't view Lily Pad as a threat.

"Well," I told her. "I dunno about Bill, but I'm doing it because it's the best way to flatter someone." I shook my head. "It really used to help when I needed to impress high society. I guess I simply forgot that... those lesser off do not exactly take the time to... put effort into speaking like snobs, I guess." I chuckled in an attempt to show Lily that, if she were of "lesser status," not that I wasn't, I didn't think any less of her. "Too much time spent working and playing, rather than trying to maintain an image of class. 'Tis what I like about these smaller villages; the people are quick, dirty, and to the point. I don't have to worry about poison in my food if I don't speak in the right order."

"Wait..." Lily said, not to stop the train, but to clarify one point that I think I might have let slip. "You... are you saying... you... you can't be..."

Honestly, this was the most terrifying experience with Lily I've had so far. I had no idea what she was talking about, but luckily if anything went wrong I could always count on Bill to pull through in a bind. "What do you mean?"

"Are you... Will? As in, Prince Will? And you," I didn't have to see her to know she was looking at Bill. "You must be Bill Power, Princess Luna's husband..."

Bill visibly tensed, which kind of sent a chill down Lily's spine, but I didn't entirely notice. I was too busy trying not to let certain memories resurface... memories of my life. "Let us please entertain these thoughts no longer, please, Miss Lily. I do not wish to be reminded of many events that occurred during our lives."

"But you're Will, and you're Bill! I can't let this go!" I thought she meant this as a signal to come to conflict, but it was instead a different tone. "You guys are amazing! You-"

"Please, Lily, drop it," I said much more forcefully than I had intended. "I mean it. I don't like some things I did. Let it be."

"Oh..." Her demeanor immediately diminished. "I'm... sorry."

Guilt automatically gripped my heart, and I was spurred to ease her sorrow in way I could. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Miss Lily. I really am. It's just that... I'm not comfortable speaking about my life. There were too many things that went wrong then, I guess... I guess I just haven't gotten over it yet." Come to think of it, I felt like I was speaking to Silver Star back in the Everfree Forest.

"I... I understand, Will. I'm sorry for bringing it up. I promise I won't do it again."

I sighed. "Now I feel terrible for hurting your feelings." I more directed the next part to myself, but Lily must have heard me or she wouldn't have responded. "It seems to be all I do... Mother... Aunt... F-f-f-f..." I paused. "I can't say it..."

"Your... wife?"

My chest was visible wracked with pain, evidenced by Bill's moving towards me to support me and keep me from tipping over. "Miss Lily," he said. "I think it would be best if this subject was dropped. Why... why don't you tell us what your daughter, Roseluck? looks like, so we can find her more easily."

"Oh... right... Er, she's cream-coloured, and she has a pink-and-red mane... that's... really all I know. I'm guessing since you're taking me to a flower shop she works with flowers, so I think I can assume her cutie mark is a flower of some kind, probably a rose. Will that be enough?"

Being able to stand on my own again, I nodded. "Yes, thank you, Miss Lily." I huffed. "Let us... let us get on with it, then."


*******


It took us another fifteen minutes, but we finally reached the flower shop where I was certain Lily Pad's daughter Roseluck worked. As if on queue, the sign in the window flipped from open to closed, and out came two mares. One I immediately discounted, as I recognised her as Daisy. with her pink coat and off-white mane. The other, with a cream coat and pink-red mane, fit Lily's description exactly. Granted, the description was rather broad, but it was still a match. "Roseluck!" Lily called out, running to her living daughter.

The operative word here was, obviously, living. Lily was neither heard nor seen by her daughter or, any other pony for that matter. I doubted, though, whether that mattered to her or not. Seeing her happy was one of the things I didn't want to admit was on my priorities list and, based on the reaction to seeing her daughter, I could say with confidance that Lily was elated. Bill and I stood at the end of the drive for a few moments before joining Lily by her daughter as the latter walked home while engaged in conversation with her coworker.

"You can't imagine how happy I am to see my baby again..." Lily whispered, knowing only we could hear her.

"Honestly," I said. "You're right. I just hope that I can meet some of my relations."

"Alright," Lily said, and I could hear her changing the subject and tone of the conversation. "I know why you're really here, Will."

I was taken aback. "What do you mean, Miss Lily?"

"You can drop the act, Will. I know you and Bill are Reapers."

"How could you guess that?" I asked incredulously. Do Reapers walk around with their professions stamped to their foreheads or something?

"You aren't haunting anything... not yet at least... not to mention that Reapers can tell each other apart." As if waiting for it to click, she turned to look me in the eyes. Upon closer inspection, I could now realise she had a different... aura about her than the wraith that had possessed Silver Star had. "I know He sent you to me. I know why."

"W-w-why?" I sputtered. "Why would I be sent after another Reaper?"

She sighed. "I'd actually been a good Reaper. I'd been doing my duty for about four years now." Another sigh. "But after I learned that I had a daughter and she was fully grown, I began searching for her." A sniffle this time. "I forewent my Reaping duties and took advantage of my free reign to complete a personal goal. That, as you can probably guess by now, is against the rules."

"But... how did you know you had a daughter?"

"It's the same thing that you told me when we first met: I heard it from the living. 'Lily Pad's filly, Roseluck, she's got that flower shop. It's very pretty.' That's where I heard it from." She paused before adding. "Though, now that I've seen my daughter, and seen how happy she is... my quest is fulfilled. I can go peacefully now."

"Very well," I said. "I guess this is goodbye."

A cough from Bill, though, drew my attention away from Lily to him. He whispered in my ear, "Will, we can't let her go."

I looked at him in shock, but kept whispering. "Why?"

"Our assignment specifically states we must erase her, on the basis that scaring kids is too horrible a crime... look," he said, sensing the protest on my lips before they left my mouth. "I don't want to do this just as much as you want to be reminded of things, but we have to, or we risk the same happening to us... I'm sorry."

I pulled back and stared sadly at Lily. She looked at me quizzically, then asked, "What? Is something wrong?" I took my assignment from Bill and gave it to her. She read it carefully and I could tell her eyes rested on the method of performance. for several moments. "You mean I have to... go... I can't even be remembered by my own daughter."

Tears began streaming from my eyes. "I'm sorry, Miss Lily."

"No, no," she replied, her own voice cracking. "I deserve it. And I wouldn't want the same to happen to you." She sniffled again. "At least I got to see my daughter grown and happy." Huffing, she told me, "Do it. I'm... I'm ready."

My body froze; I was unable to move. Saving my hide, Bill came to me and drew my pistol. Leveling the barrel at her head, Bill placed his finger on the trigger. "I know I'll forget you by the time I pull the trigger," he told her. "But I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and that this will hurt me more in the second it takes you to be erased than it will hurt you." Lily said nothing, so he pulled back.

My eyes shut, so I didn't see just what happened to a wraith, Reaper or not, when they permanently died. The shudder that shot through my spine and up again told me I didn't ever want to find out. Unfortunately, it was then I realised that I was going to have to do this for the rest of my existence... oh, the universe loved to screw me, rain or shine, alive or dead. Thank you, universe.
> Chapter 6 - Reconciliatio 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There was a problem. Well, it wasn't so much a problem as it was a conundrum. See, I'd been led to believe by Styx herself that, should a wraith die, regardless of whether or not they were a Reaper, their memory would be erased forever. Not their knowledge, mind. I mean she said that the memory of that wraith would pass from the universe without a trace. No one would be able to remember who you were, if you existed, et cetera. So, for example, if I died according to Styx, Bill would not remember me, my own mother wouldn't remember me, and so on. But, see, that was just the problem.

I remembered Lily Pad.

I don't know if it took time for the memory to be erased, but Lily Pad was still fresh in my mind. I could see her figure perfectly, hear her voice to the tone. That's why I was standing around, looking like an idiot. I wasn't supposed to remember anything about Lily Pad. I wasn't even supposed to remember she had even existed. I would have to have a talk with Styx when I next saw her, if I ever saw her again.

But I had no time right now. I don't know who gives us our assignments, but I guessed I'd have to work quickly to escape them for just long enough to get my project done. Nodding to Bill, we made a straight dash. I couldn't put this off. I needed to get it done yesterday. Well... you know what I mean.

We booked it down the road. Dust kicked up from under our feet, making it seem as if a random dust storm had set in. While it was rare, it did happen here in Ponyville, though certainly not as often as, say, it did farther south. Sooner than later, though whether it was because Bill and I'd gained some sort of speed boost by dying I knew not, Ponyville disappeared behind us. What took a little while longer was getting to... it. And though it pained me to do so, see it I did.

The cottage, or more accurately its remains, came into view soon enough. It looked like some work had been done on it, because it was not as destroyed as I remember it being. I made it to the door without breaking into tears, and Bill could do nothing to aid me, for he knew this was a deep emotional pain; since we were no longer tied together as we were when we were alive, he could not so directly affect me as he once could. Taking a breath, steeling myself to face memories long buried, I opened the door and took a step inside. I maybe could have done that a bit differently.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" The voice pierced my ears, and this time they did in fact hurt. I could feel my face scrunch up, and I had to struggle to keep my hands by my sides.

In a weak voice... well, I thought it was weak. My hearing was a little impaired, so I had to guess my tone. In a weak voice, I whispered, "Fluttershy?"

The word passed my lips before my mind could remind me it had pained me to so much as think of it silently. Fortunately, as it did, it did not register within my brain and my body was spared additional anguish. Bill stood astounded, for he knew what I was thinking; it wasn't hard for him to get into my mind at all, what with how close we were. Still, my ears' assailant heard my inquiry. Immediately, its tone altered dramatically, and the next words I heard were less damaging. "... Will?"

The yellow mare I'd loved so much stepped out from behind the couch, which was in good state, as opposed to when it was mostly ash many years ago. Her pink mane was just that: pink. The soot I'd seen on her last was no longer present, her voice no longer carried the rasp of smoke inhalation, and her eyes were watering for another reason. "I'm so sorry," she pleaded. "I didn't know it was you; if I had I wouldn't have screamed. Please forgive me!"

Taking no extra time, I quickly made my way over to my wife. My wife... I felt liberated. Seeing her again, for the first time since her death, I felt free to say her name and who she was to me. I no longer felt restrained or restricted from voicing my relation. I stroked her mane, her wonderful, flowing mane that I'd loved to play with at night after a long day of work. "Hush now," I told her quietly, my hearing more or less back to normal as if her soft voice had healed me. "You couldn't have known it was me. I'd heard a lot of ponies were coming by. I understand if you thought I could have been one of them."

"But I should have known it was you! Oh, I'm just a big mess up."

"Don't you dare talk like that," my voice caring but firm. "You are not a mess up. You are the most perfect pony I've met in my entire life. Besides, though I hated to wait so long, it's been years since... that day." More tears welled in my eyes. "When you told me you'd wait for me?" I tried to chuckle but it came out wrong. It sounded more like a cough than a gesture of amusement. "I'm glad you did." I hugged her as tightly as I could without outright choking her. "I love you, Fluttershy."

Still crying, she pressed her face into my chest and sobbed. "I love you too, Will," she pushed out.

Sitting like this, with my wife in my arms, reunited once more, resting within our not-as-damaged-as-before home... I felt like I could have sat there forever. Bill was content to let me be, standing aside and out of the way. I was a terrible husband, however. It wasn't until I caught on to Bill's hand motions, which consisted of shaping a small box and a hug, did I realise just what he was trying to get me to notice. "Where..." I feared to bring to light another possible chance to cause an outright breakdown, but it had to be asked. "Where are... our... foals?"

Fluttershy didn't answer immediately. In fact, for several seconds her bawling intensified. As it died down to the sobs she'd had before I'd asked the question, she responded, "They're... upstairs..." She stopped me from going up to check however. I had shifted my weight, so I assume that's why she had done so. "I don't... I don't mean inside the house."

I stared at her with blank sadness and asked, "What do you mean? Upstairs, but not in the house?"

Fluttershy nodded. "A human lady came to me... to us... she said she was there to bring us to... a better place..." She began crying more, and she snuggled closer into my chest. "Moonshy and Victor wanted to go, but I'd promised you I would wait..."

"So you let them go while you stayed behind." Before Fluttershy could answer Bill's head snapped to the door and he quickly went outside to deal with whatever it was. Fluttershy didn't notice, thankfully.

"Yes... was that bad?"

I shook my head, though she couldn't see me. "No, Fluttershy. That was perfect. Thank you."

Fluttershy was about to respond before a loud shout from outside interrupted her: "I WILL ERASE YOU!" The front door flew open and a body sailed in, landing on its back. My wife and I stared in shock and both wondered what was going on. Before the man could get up, Bill came in and used the body as a landing strip. He began to pound his fists into the man, his cries of pain and terror wracking through my body.

"Please, please!" The man cried. "I'm just the messenger! Plea-hee-hee-heese sto-hop!" By the end of his cries for mercy, they had degenerated into wails.

"Bill!" I shouted. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"Loot at this!" He yelled back, shoving a folded paper at my face. I practically had to snatch it from Bill, but when I read what was on the paper, I could sort of understand just where he was coming from.


I'm glad to see you've taken a preemptive move on your part to get ahead
in your duties, Will. Here is your next assignment. Sorry to make it so soon after your
last one (good job on that, by the way), but this is one job that cannot wait any longer.

Subject: Fluttershy
Description: Equestrian Pegasus. Yellow coat, pink mane. Teal eyes. Soft voice.
Grievances: Terrorising the local populace. Taken to haunting cottage on edge
of village of "Ponyville."
Threat Level: To self, almost none. Subject seems to have been very pacifistic in life,
slightly less so in death. To others: great. Subject has terrorised the locals and has put
fear in their hearts, rending families and friendships.
Importance: Very. Subject is a critical aspect in returning local activity to a minimum.

I hope to see you complete this assignment with as much judgement and surgical skill as you previous and first assignment was. I hope to hear back from my people that you have not let me down. Until later, Styx.


It took me several seconds to process the meaning of the letter. Seconds that, unbeknownst to me, Fluttershy used to read the letter. Bill and the messenger had simply used the seconds staring at me to watch my response. Boy, did they get an eye and ear full. Fluttershy began crying. "Did I do something wrong? I didn't know I was hurting them! They wouldn't stop coming here! I didn't mean to scream! They wouldn't leave me alone!" She fell to the floor and started flooding the home.

Meanwhile, I strode to the messenger and crumpled the letter in my hands. "You," I said, my voice oozing anger. I threw the balled-up letter at him. "Can take this back to Styx and tell her where she can shove it. There is no way in the Hells I will do this. If the miststück can feel no sympathy, no remorse, no respect, then she deserves none from me. Tell her she can figuratively go to Hell." With that, I walked over to my wife, gently picked her up and held her with her head over my shoulder so she could cry. Bill followed me out of the cottage.

"So where to next, Will?" Bill asked. "Only a day in service as a Reaper and already we're fugitives. How intriguing."

"I think I know where we can go. First, however, we need to get to the library and let Silver know where we're headed."

Bill looked at me quizzically. "And where would that be?"

I looked grimly at him. "To the only person I think can help us at this point."

"Who's that?" Bill inquired me, cocking his head slightly, like a dog. "You can't mean Him, I hope."

I shook my head no. "Of course not. if he's the one that had us become Reapers, I'm sure he could be very well pissed at our mutiny. No, I mean another." Bill stared at me expectantly. In response, I gave him a dead pan. "Really?" I sighed. "I am talking, Bill," I said slowly. "About my mother."

"And what do you think she could do?" He asked. "You'll be lucky if she can hear us, much less see us. What makes you think she won't pass our voices, and that is if she even hears us, off as part of her condition?!"

I gave him a black look, which transformed into confusion. "Condition?"

Bill nodded grimly. "Come on, let's get to the library. I'll tell you about it on the way."
> Chapter 7 -  Honorabilis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Yes, her condition."

We were traveling back down the road we had come on, heading back towards Ponyville. We'd pretty much just told Styx, my "employer," I guess you could call her, the finger and were now shirking our duties. "What do you mean, her condition?" Bill sprung this on me, and I really wished he was joking. Bad thing is: I didn't feel he was.

"She is... rather volatile. I sensed this of her back when we met her inside the Moon Castle ruins." His pupil-less eyes seemed to darken. "The death of your father Harry took its toll on her. This she confided with me during our marriage."

"You mean..." I started, my mental state dropping severely. "When I..."

Bill nodded, knowing what I was going to say before I had even finished my sentence. "Yes. I have almost no doubt when you... joined Fluttershy," Bill conceded, bowing slightly to the mare in my arms, to show he meant no offence, not that my wife hadn't gotten 'used to' my Oracle during our time together, before continuing. "Luna plummeted into despair. I mean not to injure you stance, Will." I shrugged. "I know why you did such a thing, and I admire you for it. But this is just the way it is."

I was silent. I had an idea, thanks to Twilight, of how my mother was doing, but thanks to Bill's ever wonderful sense of circumspection, I was now feeling worse. I knew a suicide would hurt everyone involved, but I didn't stop to think that maybe I was hurting a few people more than I had expected. "This is-"

Before I could finish my sentence, the rude jerk, Bill interrupted me. "Don't you even dare say what I think you're about to say Will." And he was right, of course. I was about to say it. But I didn't, so already I felt... negligibly better about myself.

It was a short time before the three of us reached the library by that point. Fluttershy had by then calmed down somewhat, and my soothing efforts were working. None of us had said anything for the rest of the way, and frankly, I was glad to have someone- er, again, pony, who would want to talk. Did I mention how much I hated silences?

As I opened the door, Twilight looked up, and saw no one come through. There might have been doubt in her head at first as to whether or not it opened by itself, but when Bill closed the door behind us, I think the doubt was mostly removed. "Silver?" I called out, not seeing her at first.

"Will?" She responded, peeking out from the couch. Next to her was Applejack, and I was afraid we'd have to bolt out of there and cover her back. But, luckily for us, it was taken care of. "Before you say anything, Applejack and I have patched things up. We're now friends-"

"Now hold it there, girl. Ah said we'd be friends if ya showed me Will and Bill. Ah don't see 'em, so?"

"Twilight," Silver requested. "Could you get me more parchment?"

Twilight nodded, but before she found it, I said, "No need. I'll tell you things only we would know."

I told her the first thing. "Will says," she repeated. "He's sorry for... really?" I gave her an affirmative. She forged on. "He says he's sorry for... killing himself... and that he might not have had he known you would take it so bad."

"Yer gonna have ta convince me a little harder, Silver. Anypony could make up something like that."

I shook my head, remembering how stubborn Twilight was and planned for this. "Will," Silver said through me. "Says that Will was so nervous the day of his wedding, before Fluttershy arrived, he asked Bill, in front of everypony, if he could take his place while he hid."

Applejack smirked. "Hun," she said, shaking her head. "Ah thought you could do better, but Ah guess we all have our shortcomings." She got up to walk away, but Fluttershy told me something, and Silver Star overheard.

"Is that..." she asked incredulously. "Is that Fluttershy? She's with you?! Oh Celestia, I'm so happy for you!" Applejack and Twilight both stared at her like she had grown a second head. "Girls," she excitedly relayed to them. "Will says he finally found Fluttershy! He said even though he died much later than she, she told him she would wait for him, and based on Twilight's information that people were being scared from their old cottage, he and Bill went to check it out and found her!"

She'd said all that in one breath, so I was rather very impressed, especially since the only pony I knew who could do that was Pinkie Pie, and she wasn't the one speaking, not that I had any doubt she and her Pinkie ways would find a way to do something about it. Anyways, Twilight and Applejack both stood slack-jawed, their wide eyes pointed straight at Silver Star. If I had to guess what they thought before they said it, I'd say they believed her more than ever now. And, lo and behold, "Well Ah'll be," Applejack conceded. "Ah guess Ah just have ta believe ya now, Silver. Sorry 'bout doubtin' ya at first."

Silver shook her head, smiling all the while. "It's no trouble at all. I'm just glad some ponies finally actually believe me. And," she admitted, her face slightly reddening in embarrassment. "Of course, for Will and Fluttershy's reunion."

"Yes, well, about that," I said, reluctantly. "We need to high-tail it outta here." Silver repeated every word of mine to the letter. "Bill and I are here because we were conscripted by one of our goddesses to capture escaped spirits and return them to the Underworld." I paused to take a breath, knowing I was pushing it in regards to what they would believe. "Bill and I got rid of the spirit possessing Silver Star, named Trixie, and I've gotten a spirit in the schoolhouse." I turned to Twilight even though I knew she couldn't see me. "The spirit there didn't intend to hurt anyone, she was just looking for her foal, Roseluck.

"However," I said grimly, and I was surprised to hear that Silver Star was actually repeating my words in as close to the same tone as I was. 'Bless her heart,' I silently thought. "My next assignment..." I was still shocked to even think... actually, seeing as Styx was the goddess of hatred, I wasn't. I was shocked that she'd put up a facade of gentility at first. "My next assignment is to capture... Fluttershy."

Silver Star gasped before the other two mares because she'd heard my words first, and when she repeated them they too followed suit. "We cain't let that happen, to y'all, Will, not after all you've been through!"

"I'd already come to that conclusion, AJ, thank you. What I was planning on doing was going to see my mother. Since she was possessed the Nightmare, I'm hoping she'll be able to at least hear me and be in some sort of position to help my case."

"Well," Twilight said. "It's a good thing I've got Spike. Spike!" She called out for her assistant slash little brother. "I need you to get a letter to Princess Celestia!"

"Why can't we just pen Luna?" I asked, still not entirely 'in the know', as it were, of the situation regarding my mother.

"She's locked herself in the tower in the East Wing, and the spells she's put around her block all magic, including dragon magic. That's why we need to send this letter to Princess Celestia if we want any hope of getting it to Princess Luna."

I nodded in understanding. Twilight knew a little more about the situation than I did, so I had to admit the fact that I was outmatched in this regard. Twilight dictated the letter to Spike, who sent it on its way with his green dragon flames. I had only begun wondering how long it would take my aunt to receive the letter, read it, reply with her own, and send it on her way when lo and behold, Spike belched out a letter with my aunt's seal. I don't know how long it took, but Bill thought to me, Five minutes. 'Thanks.'

Twilight read the letter her mentor sent her, and looked up at where she thought I was standing. To be fair, it was probably a good guess of judging the presence of a spirit based on energy alone, but she was looking more towards Bill than me. "The Princess," she said. "Has sent a chariot as soon as she read the letter. It should be here in only a few-"

Before she could continue, however, a knock at the door interrupted her. "Come in," Twilight called. The door of the library opened to reveal a pony, a mare by the looks of it. As she stepped in, I noticed the pony's mane and coat were both pure white; it was an odd combination, to be sure, one I'd never seen before. Also odd was the sheer aura that emanated from her. It made my metaphorical skin crawl, and I could see Bill shiver as well. "May I help you?" Twilight asked politely.

"Oh, how silly of me!" The pony dramatised. "My name is Ire. Ire Spirit." I saw Twilight's eyes twinkle as she processed the strange name. Indeed it was strange; no pony I'd ever met had a name even as close to sinister as this mare did. "I'm afraid I might have dropped something of mine in here."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "I don't think we've ever met."

Ire chuckled. "I don't think you were here that day." She looked around the room pointedly, as if she were feigning the act and already knew what she was looking for. Unfortunately, whatever it was didn't matter. The fact she exclaimed "aha!" as soon as she looked directly in my direction unsettled me much.

So naturally, I did the obvious and most non-threatening thing. "Hold it there, Miss!" I projected.

The mare stopped and pointed to herself. "Who," she asked. "Me?"

Unfortunately, that's the one thing I didn't want to hear. Neither did I want to hear Bill's syllogism: "Ire... anger. Spirit... wraith. Will," he said without taking his eyes off the mare. "We need to leave. Pronto."

Silver Star overheard us and, bless her, whispered to Twilight what we were saying. Thinking quickly, Twilight grabbed the mare in a locking spell. "Um, Miss," Twilight said cautiously. "I'm sorry, but I'd like to know what you're here for."

"Why, I told you: to find my lost object. I have found it, now please let me go!" Ire Spirit answered in a huffy tone, which only unnerved me more.

I motioned for Bill and Fluttershy to follow me and, as we passed Silver, I whispered, "Follow us through the window; we need you to let the chariot drivers know we're aboard." Silver nodded and started walking to the window sill when I added, "Make it look like you're browsing for a book or something. Anything to keep attention and suspicion off of you." She nodded again and continued.

Bill and Fluttershy were the first to go through the window, and hearing the chariot land shortly after, Silver made her way out. I, like usual, was the last out. Before I escaped my doom, however, I took a chance. "Remember, Styx! The Moirai are not to be tempered with! Her thread has not yet ended! Your affairs are with the dead!" And for the first time since dying, I took a physical unknown.

I attempted to use magic. It was a simple spell I tried, just to sever Twilight's hold on my 'handler'. Forcing it out through my horn was no easy task, what with me being out of practise and all, but I still accomplished my goal, even if it took much more of my energy than it would have were I alive. "Αντίο, πλάνος!" With that, I swung my other leg over the sill and dashed for the chariot. I was lucky, too. Silver, by no fault of her own, had assumed that she'd be the last out and had told the chariot pilots that everyone was aboard. It was by pure will that I hopped onto the flying transport before it left me behind, which would have ended badly, to say the least.

For the first time since Bill and I had essentially committed treason against beings that could, and probably would, squash us like bugs without lifting a finger, I relaxed. I settled myself onto one of the benches and sighed. I could literally feel my muscles unwinding from the recent escapade. I think I even caught a few precious minutes of sleep. Unfortunately, though, all good things, even if that good thing is a brief respite from running for your life, must come to an end.

What? Did you think Styx would somehow materialise in midair and snatch us away? Good gods, no.

What brought my precious rest to a close was the fact that we landed.
> Chapter 8 - Life of the Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I recognised our landing spot. It was where my mother, Fluttershy, and I landed when we arrived to participate in the music festival. In fact, I recognised it so well that I even could tell that the guards standing... guard, were the same ones that had given me trouble. Heh, that was fun. "Remember them, Fluttershy?" I asked my wife, pointing to the metaphorically trigger happy guards.

She nodded. "They stopped us because you were different."

I shrugged. "Eh, I think it was okay; they were just doing their job, after all."

"True," Fluttershy said. "So true. Do you think Princess Celestia will come out to meet us again?"

I drew breath to say something, but it wasn't until then that I realised I didn't have an answer for that. It's not like the question was even that important; it was just a guess. Luckily, though, I didn't have to answer in the first place. My aunt did.

The great golden gates swung open quickly but majestically. Passing underneath were an honour guard of two Royal Guards. Behind them, and between, was my aunt, still as I'd left her: in her Paracorn form, her Alicorn disguise cast off as a promise to the nation. I couldn't help but let a small smile creep across my face. 'It's been too long,' I thought. A day? 'Am I wrong?' ... No. My smile grew.

I expected my aunt to greet her returning chariot pilots, or at least greet Silver Star. Instead, however, she strode straight in my direction with a look on her face that I could only describe as halfway between angry and happy all at once. I know, I know, I wasn't known for my great judge of character, but I was just going out on a limb here and saying my aunt was frustrated. She sped over to my vicinity, and yet I still was not sure if she could hear me, feel my energy, or what. It wasn't until she swatted her hand across the air in front of her did I realise: she could touch me.

My head snapped to the side, my cheek stinging like she'd branded it. "Ouch," I said with great intellect. "That... that hurt."

Silver Star, hearing this, asked, "My Princess... you can see Will?"

My aunt said nothing. She stood in front of me for a second more, her face still contorted in the strange mix of emotions. Then, the anger half vanished and was replaced with sadness. Now her face read sadness and happiness. And then she hugged me. When she wrapped her arms around me, even being careful so as to not disturb or somehow injure my wings in any way, she said softly into my ear, "Don't you dare do that to me again, Will."

To the others it must have looked like she was hugging air. But I knew better, since my chest was being constricted and all. "Tia," I gasped. "Air."

She quickly withdrew. "Oh," she said, innocently. "I... forgive me. I did not realise that, well... with you being, well..."

"Dead?"

She nodded. "I did not think you'd had any more need for breath."

I shrugged. "I guess that makes me one, then." Then I in turn hugged her. "I missed you, Tia. So very much. More than... well, probably not more than you could imagine. But I still missed you a lot."

"And I, you, Will." She turned to face Bill. "And you as well, Bill." Bill simply nodded. When she turned to Fluttershy, my wife shrunk back a bit. "I missed you, dear. I missed having Will be absolutely clueless about everything because you were on his mind."

"Oh," my wife said softly in a barely audible whisper. "Was that a bad thing?"

My aunt chuckled. "Of course not, my dear." She straightened. "I know why you all are here. Come, I will take you over to the tower." My knowledge of the layout of the castle wasn't what it could have been, I admit. It probably wasn't even on an acceptable level. However, I could recognise the sun beginning to set behind the other side of the castle, so I could easily theorise that we were already at the East Wing. Therefore, it didn't come as an entire surprise when my aunt stopped the train several minutes later. "These stairs," she said. "Will lead you straight to the antechamber within which my sister has kept herself. You will have to speak to her guard, but they both should allow access."

Before she could continue, a runner, identified by his cloth-like armour rather than the gold plate, came upon us and whispered something into my aunt's ear. She straightened. "I wish I could accompany you, but I'm afraid I am needed elsewhere. If you would please, guards, to follow me?"

And with that, we were alone. An awkward silence began to creep in, but Bill came to the rescue once again. "So, shall we?" No one answered him, but it seemed those words were all that were needed to get the four of us moving. I took the first step, but apprehension kept me from taking the lead. Silver easily and unknowingly passed me, while my cohorts stopped to check me. 'Celestia could see us...' I thought. 'What does that say about my mother?' It means she'll see you. Past that? I don't know. I sighed. 'There's only one way to find out, isn't there?' Yeah. So come on. 'Coming.'

It was a rather long climb, but that was probably due to the fact that I wasn't sure I particularly wanted to face my mother with what I'd done. We did eventually reach the top, however, and I found that Silver had waited for us. Upon our arrival, and when I had asked her why we were waiting, she replied, "We were waiting for you, Will. Come on." With that, the door opened and I found Captain Stargazer to be the cause.

Without thinking, I tipped my head in respect and said, "Captain." It wasn't until the word had left my mouth did I realise he couldn't see or hear me. Or so I thought.

"My Prince. I am pleased to see you again." I froze in place, befuddled.

"You can hear me? How?" Bill asked.

Stargazer gave a small bow. "When you've been close to the night, you pick up a few things. Speaking of which," he turned to Bill and my general direction. I guessed that although he could hear me, he couldn't see me. "The light and the dark have a meeting with the night, I presume. I'll leave you to it. I'll be outside." With that, he took his leave to stand guard at the door.

I looked deeper into the room now, and I almost wished I hadn't. The room was tattered, about half the drapery was burnt, sheets were torn, pillows were emptied. It was as if a flaming tornado with claws had ravaged the place. But what pained me to see more was who stood in the center of it all.

My mother, Princess Luna Dresden, was a mess. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes were wrinkled, her feet bare. I noticed her crown lying upside down in a corner. Her wings... her beautiful wings were not groomed, the feathers pointing in odd directions. Her face was red, and two dark lines trailed from her eyes down her cheeks. She'd had to have been crying nonstop for the tear stains to be that ingrained. I couldn't say anything, nor could any other member of my party.

My mother spoke first, at any rate. "You..." Her face scrunched up, and I was afraid that she'd either erupt into more tears or into fury. "You..." she fell into the former case. Running at me with fresh tears streaming down her face, she barreled into me at almost top running speed. "I can't decide," she choked out. "Whether I should hit you, kiss you, squeeze you, or apologise."

Attempting to lighten the mood, I said, "Well, Tia already hit me, so I guess you could make it even." I was promptly, playfully, slapped on the cheek. "As for the other three... I think you should just do the first and last one. I don't particularly enjoy being squeezed much."

Needless to say, my mother happily obliged. She kissed my cheek, and said, "I'm sorry."

I wasn't entirely unprepared for this, so it was somewhat easy to respond to that. "It isn't your fault. It's my own selfish fault. I'm the one who jumped."

"And I'm the one who made you do it."

"Wrong again," I said, trying unsuccessfully to smooth her hair. "Blueblood made me."

"Then what am I to be sorry for?"

I smirked. "I think feeling sorry for myself would be nice for a change. Mother," I shook my head. "I didn't think this room could get this messy in a day. You've been trying."

She nodded. "I'm sorry." She patted my shoulder, and looked at Bill. "So very sorry."

Her second late husband shrugged. "Nothing to be sorry about. Some of the blame is mine, some of the blame is his, some of the blame is Blueblood's. None of the blame is yours."

Before any more could be said, however, Stargazer's voice bled through the walls. "You cannot enter. You are not permitted." A pause, then, "On behalf of her Highness Princess Luna, I order you to stand where you-" but before he could finish his order, a heavy thud resounded through the walls as the door shook from a weight.

"Captain!" Luna called. "Captain, are you alright?" Her voice became laden with worry. "Captain?" Her voice had gotten weaker.

Then a laugh sounded from outside. "I see you've put up a barrier to stop me." Another laugh. "Too bad," the voice said as the door flung open and Captain Stargazer's still body flew through. "I know its weaknesses." A two-legged creature walked through the doorway, and I instantly recognised it. I could tell Bill did as well. "Ah, my subjects. You weren't hard to find."

Styx had just broken and entered.
> Chapter 9 - Deadly Haven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Have you naught to say?" Her voice was like daggers to my ears. "Or has the weight of what you have done, of the crime you have just committed, just come crashing down?"

Bill was the first to speak, oddly enough. "Neither, Styx." He parted his legs in a defensive stance. "We were just talking about you."

Feigned surprise stretched across her face. "Oh, really now?"

Bill shook his head. "Of course not. We've been reacquainting ourselves with our family. But I don't suspect you would understand, would you?"

Styx laughed. "Why would you attempt such a foolish thing? Do you wish to rejoin the living? It is impossible, as I said before. Nothing of the sort can be done."

"Yes," I said at last. "Just like you said we'd forget."

Styx's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"You heard me," I shot off. "You told us we'd forget. But I remember. I remember everything. I remember the spirit Trixie. I remember the Reaper Lily Pad," I growled at her. "πλάνος."

"What did you call me?" She hissed.

I jutted my chin out at her in response. "I called you Deceiver. Am I wrong?"

"You DARE," she half-screamed. "Insult your goddess?!"

"No," I replied defiantly. "My god has always been Apollo."

My mother whispered to herself, not really to either party, "Apollo, god of light... Styx, goddess of hatred..." She shook her head. "No matter." She took several steps forward until she was in front of my party of three dead and one living. "How dare you intrude upon my affairs? How dare you attack my guard unprovoked?! How DARE thee break in upon my chambers uninvited?! Thou hast angered me, and now thou shalt feel my anger!"

Styx did something I never would have done. She laughed. Styx laughed in my mother's face. Not a chuckle, but a full blown laugh. "Do you think you frighten me, χωρικός? I was alive before your great-grandparents were even conceived!" Styx slapped the air, but she might as well have been right in front of my mother. Luna's face recoiled as if she had been hit. "You will not interfere with my matters!"

"σταματώ, επιδρομέας!" Bill projected. Styx, who was about to slap Luna again, stopped in mid-swing. "You have now," Bill said with a purpose, as if this were a correct response. "Attacked two residents of this realm not under you domain. You have rendered one unconscious and another, whom you have physically attacked, is one of two in a diarchy of the nation. You must now cease all actions and grant a request of both ailed parties of their choosing. As for the guard Captain Stargazer, he shall ask his gift upon his awakening."

I realised Bill had probably rehearsed for this very moment. This was an ancient if effective ritual administered whenever someone committed a grievance or otherwise minor crime against another. In this manner, the courts needed not to be bothered and both parties could get on with their lives in peace. "You..." Styx attempted, I'm guessing, to insult Bill, but miserably failed. "Alright..." Styx sighed angrily. "What is your wish? Speak it, so that I may grant it."

Luna needed no hesitation. "Give them back to me. Give me Will, Bill, and Fluttershy."

"You cannot," Styx hissed. "It is impossible."

"Nothing is impossible," Luna retorted. "If humans can bring their own back to life, certainly a goddess can as well." Luna folded her arms. "Let them live once more, as they had been when they died."

To be honest, I was glad my mother added that last bit. Knowing the... sense of humour my gods had, Styx could very well have returned us all back to life as babies, or as withering old hags. Styx made a sound that could very well have been attributed to a mixture between a dog, a tiger, and a falcon all at once. Needless to say, it was a strange vocalisation I would not dream of hearing again. "Very well, Princess." Styx snapped her fingers.

Of course, Bill, Fluttershy and I could not tell if something had changed. We could see each other just fine, so to notice a change we'd have to rely on outside help. And since Luna could already see and hear us, there was only one pony left to make the judgement call. Silver Star shrieked and fell backwards. Fluttershy ran to her side to check on her, and asked, "Oh my! Are you alright?"

"Th-th-th..." Silver sputtered. "They're humans!" Evidently, Silver Star hadn't made the connection between my voicing the fact that the Princesses were related to me and my appearance.

Using my restored life to the fullest opportunity, I threaded magic through my horn and woke up Stargazer. He remained lying on the ground for a few seconds more before he shook his head and got up. He stumbled, simply because the blow Styx had delivered him had knocked him senseless. He regained his footing and, upon seeing Styx, went into a defensive posture. "Relax," I told him. "Bill has forced her to be complacent and non-aggressive. You now get to request a gift from her."

"A... gift?" He asked, before processing just what had happened. "Wait... Will? Bill? You... you're alive?!"

I nodded with a small smile. "Luna's request."

"Ah," he said, nodding in understanding. "That... sounds like something she'd do."

"Is that," Luna said with mock temper. "Supposed to mean anything, Captain?"

"No, my liege." Stargazer turned to Styx. "I am told that I may now request a gift from you. Is this correct?" Styx nodded, her furrowed eyebrows and frowning lips burning hatred towards us all. "Well, then..." Stargazer thought for a while. "I want for Will, and everypony, and everyone," he stressed, as a gesture to us two-legged animals. "Associated with him, to be completely absolved of your control. Meaning," he specified. "You no longer have any power to control or order the aforementioned parties."

Styx's eyes clearly burned with rage. "You cannot do that! They are mine, and will forever be mine! They serve me, not you!"

"Wrong," I said hotly. "We serve Zeus, not you."

As an aside, Captain Stargazer looked to me. "Can this Zeus order her to leave you alone?" I nodded. Turning back to Styx, Stargazer said, "Fine. I change my wish. I now wish for them to be completely absolved of your rule for a week. Within this week, if they can convince 'Zeus' to take their side, they will be absolved permanently. Should they fail, they return to your service." He paused, then added, "Alive."

"Very well," Styx said, totally not angry or anything of the sort. "But hear you me, Will," she growled. "You will not convince Zeus. I may have lied about many things, but I do not when I say that he was in fact the party responsible for your conscription into the ranks of Reapers." Then, with a flash, Styx was gone.

We all stood silently, staring at the space that was once occupied by my tyrant. Bill, at length, spoke. "Well," he huffed. "Time to get going." I nodded in agreement, and we began to leave before Luna interrupted our departure.

"Wait," she told us. "You're just going to go? What if she comes back?"

"She won't," I responded with confidence. "She may be a liar and a deceiver, and her heart may be blacker than coal, but a deal is a deal. She must remain true to the law."

Luna, clearly not entirely satisfied, nodded. "Well," she said softly. "Just... be careful."

"We will," I comforted her as best I could. And with that, we were gone.
> Interlude - Alles Klar?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	We, Bill and I, stood outside the door to Luna's bedroom, otherwise known as the antechamber. Speaking with our minds, which was easier now that we were, for all intents, purposes, and realities, alive, we both went over just what was going on. 'What did you do?' I invoked ancient Greek law. 'And you knew she had to follow it how? How did you know she wouldn't just try to off us anyways?' I didn't. That stunned me for a second.

'You mean to tell me you just flipped a coin for our survival?' Yes. Should I not have? I mulled over the event for a moment or two before answering, 'No. You were right.' As usual. 'Don't push it.'

I ran my right hand through my hair. 'Okay, so how are we gonna do this?' You mean, how are we going to get to Mount Olympus, somehow convince the gods to give us counsel with Zeus, somehow convince Zeus to get Styx off our backs, all within a week? And somehow make it back here, alive? 'Yeah, I guess that sums it up pretty well.' I have absolutely no clue. 'Come to think of it, that's probably the reason Styx so readily agreed to this condition.' Oh so true. Gods... what the hell have we gotten ourselves into? 'I don't know, and frankly, I'm not entirely sure I want to know. After all-'

I think I may have a solution. I recognised that voice... a voice I'd only heard when in my mother's company. I'm glad you remember me to an extent Will, but I hope we can both agree that placing a somewhat forgotten name to a voice you've only ever heard in your head is less important than your success in this... endeavour. I nodded. 'We can.' Excellent. Now, as I'm sure you can ascertain, I am much older than either of you. 'True.' I know a way. A way into Mount Olympus. I had to make a double take, mentally of course, with this new bit of information. So apparently Helen, that was her name, knew how to gain entrance to a place that, for all intents and purposes should be purely fictional.

That right there, Will, is my point exactly. You were able to visualise Erebus as you did because that is how your mind painted it. If, in your mind, Erebus was a green meadow with daisies everywhere, that would have been how you saw it. 'So you're saying that I could get to Mount Olympus by simply... dreaming it?' To put it into simple terms, yes. After all, we both know that the gods do not truly exist. I almost choked. 'Wait, what?' You mean to tell us, Bill joined in. That we've been simply imagining this whole set of events? Are we even in a race to free ourselves from someone or something?

Very much so, Helen responded, confusing my brain with different matters as she did. Styx, as with the other gods, do not exist as you believe they do. They are living, breathing beings, but they are not by any means "godlike," per sé. They are simply incredibly powerful beings that have grouped together into their own little society. 'So... so how would I go about talking to Zeus? We obviously can't go to Mount Olympus to speak to him if it isn't even a real place.'

Sidetracking, Mount Olympus is a real mountain in what was the country of Greece back on Earth. Anyways, true. There would be no possible way to travel from here to there in a week or less. However, you could imagine yourself at Mount Olympus. 'What do you mean? Are you saying that if I imagine being at Mount Olympus I'd be able to speak with Zeus? Because if you are, frankly it sounds like I'd have a better chance of imagining myself at an ice cream parlour to speak with Chubby the Clown.'

I heard Helen sigh, which was probably called for. Will, you must realise that there are things in this world that even I do not understand. How could you speak with Styx in Erebus if Erebus does not exist? You know that your beliefs state that when you die you will pass judgement, for lack of a better term, in the transition realm of Erebus. You know that part of that realm is the river Styx, whose boatman Charon ferries the dead across for coin. You know that the personification of the river is the goddess Styx who is that personification of hatred. You know she is a prominent goddess in that area and as such, when your mind created the realm of Erebus after you'd died, it also created Styx. I don't mean to say Styx herself does not exist, because she does, but when your mind called for her she responded and she showed up. That is why you can easily speak to Zeus. That is why, if you imagine it hard enough, you can place yourself in a fictional Mount Olympus with your mind calling for an imitation of Zeus. He may or may not come forth on the first try, but it's as good a shot as any if you want any hope of speaking with him.

She was right of course. I didn't have much of a chance on my own to speak with the one god -- well, one being that could be described as a god -- that could free both Bill and I, and in turn Fluttershy, of our enslavement to Styx. Using Helen's information, I stood a slightly better chance of coming out of this whole ordeal alive and well. I just hoped that the effort and ideas were worth it. After all, if I sat around like an idiot with a stupid expression on my face trying to imagine myself at a place a zillion miles away speaking with a being I'd never even seen before, only to find out that the method was completely ineffectual and had no significance or sway with my predicament, I'd feel really crappy. Especially, of course, since Fluttershy would be the most affected out of the three of us.

Needless to say, regardless of whether or not I would particularly succeed... I still had to try. 'Tell me anything I need to do to make this work.'
> Chapter 11 - Fere Antepone Morte
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I took what Helen told me with as much belief as I could. Trust me, it was quite difficult to have much faith in a plan whose main points consisted of making stuff up. Regardless of my thoughts, I began to set aside my whims and tried to concentrate on my task. Unfortunately, I couldn't do so immediately. Without trying to access it, without trying to bring it up, a memory of mine surfaced, incapacitating me, keeping me from doing what had to be done.



"C'mon, Angel, tie your freakin' laces. In case you've forgotten, this is a war?"

I looked around, my vision blurry for a second. It took a while, but pain finally registered in my legs. Turning my eyes toward my limbs, they were met with a beam, or more like a board, on top of my leg. I realised I was dreaming for all intents and purposes, so it came to no surprise when I spoke without meaning to. "Sorry, sir, just got my leg pinched. I'll be out in a moment." My head turned to the speaker, and I recognised Lieutenant Masterson. Naturally, as this particular event came before I'd even seen Equestria from orbit, he was alive and well. Well, mostly alive.

There was a streak of red going from his left temple to his jawline, and it looked like his right arm was unresponsive. That was a shame, considering that was his shooting arm. Accordingly, all he had was his sidearm in his off hand. "Heh," he chuckled. "Let me give you a little hand, here." He holstered his sidearm and went to work trying to lift the board with his one good arm. I helped, of course. Placing both my hands under the board, I pushed with all the might I could muster while being in such a position. With several grunts and heaves, the two of us finally managed to throw the board aside, which clattered to the ground with a sharp clang. Masterson returned his attention to me and immediately swore.

Looking down to see what he meant, my eyes were met with a gruesome sight. My right leg, which hurt the most, was broken. The knee was obviously dislocated, but I could move my upper leg. I turned my attention to my left leg, however, and I began to understand why Masterson had cursed. My left leg was a bloody mess. I couldn't move any part of it. I saw what appeared to be my shin bone jutting from the blood-slick skin. Frankly, I was glad I couldn't feel it all that much. You can thank me for that, Will.

Now, at this point in time the flashback took place, Bill had not said a word to me directly. You seem to forget: I'm an Oracle, Will. And Oracles are Dreamwalkers. I mentally nodded. 'Yeah, I know.' I returned my focus to the memory.

"Well, damn," my dream self said. "Sir," he said, looking up. "I don't think I'll be getting up any time soon."

Masterson shook his head vigorously. "Like hell, you aren't! Mason! Get over here!" I turned my head to the right and watched as a slightly battered Mason with a large blood stain on his left sleeve ran to my side. "We gotta get him to safety! Help me lift!"

"Where should I grab, sir?" Mason asked, not queasy, but concerned.

"Frankly, Mason, just grab somewhere that looks well enough to hold." Masterson grabbed my arms for himself, while Mason moved to lift me by my waist. My legs hung down, but since I couldn't feel them -- 'Thanks, again.' -- I didn't scream in pain the whole way. It was tiresome for all three of us. I was basically dead weight in the hands of Mason and Masterson, and I was sure I was losing much more blood than would be healthy. Accordingly, my vision began to darken.

An explosion sounded nearby, causing the three of us to fall to the floor. I moved my head to try and get a grasp of the situation, when a figure began slowly approaching from my left. Looking up, I saw something that terrified me. It didn't scare my dream self, it terrified me. The figure was that of a woman, clad only in robes. As she drew nearer she removed her arms from behind her back and revealed a terrible thing.

Fluttershy. My wife and love was in the arms of this woman, who I knew was Styx the moment she appeared. It didn't make any sense, of course. This was before anything involving Equestria occurred. There was no way this was happening.

My dream self was blissfully unaware of what was happening, since he couldn't see it. I felt it. 'What do you mean?' I felt something that day. Felt a... presence. Of course, I didn't know what it was, but I guess now I know. 'You're saying my meeting with Fluttershy was planned from the start?' I dunno about the Fluttershy part, but I'm fairly certain Styx was there to collect you. My dream self averted his gaze and turned to look at Mason.

As he did, the voice of Styx invaded my mind. "Don't think you can run, don't think you can hide. I will have you Will, even if some... people... have to die. You can not escape. You may as well give up; Zeus won't talk to you. I've already warned him of you. You have no chance to survive this; make your time as you will."

My dream self turned his head again, to look off to the right. When I jerked my head back to the left, Styx was gone, as was Fluttershy. The odds are, as you might have guessed, against us. 'Yeah. Tell me something I don't know.' Fine. You're not dreaming anymore.




He was right. The pain in my legs had ceased. When my eyes opened slightly, as the light in the room was unbearable for a while, my mother was kneeling in front of me, a worried expression worn prominently on her face. "Will he be alright?" She asked.

"Yes," Bill replied, off to my left. "He just... had a little relapse."

"Of what?" This time it was the nearly inaudible voice of my wife that posed the question.

"Of... his past. Something he'd rather not talk about."

I managed to get over the searing pain that the light was bringing me long enough to sit up. Looking around, I saw everyone around me, even my aunt, who had probably dropped everything and ran at the mere mention that I was in trouble. I looked down at my legs, and that coupled with my recent flashback caused a dull throb to rise. I massaged them to ease the discomfort, but a shock caused my left hand to recoil. Worried, my mother lifted my pant leg, against my feeble attempts to stop her.

And thus, the secret was out. Everyone but Bill did a collective gasp. Shining beneath the lamp light were several metal rods, rivets, screws, wires, and gears. Fluttershy fainted, the poor dear, while Stargazer looked away. Luna looked up at me with bewilderment. "Why didn't you tell us?"

I hung my head in shame and embarrassment. "I wanted no one to know. It was supposed to be my secret that I could live with as it was." At that moment, I felt my vision swim and the room got darker.

"What do you-" Before my mother could continue, Bill placed a finger over her lips and tapped his temple. Understanding, my mother and aunt together tuned their minds to my own.



"We're gonna lose him, give another pack of blood, now! Jeffery, get me as much anesthetic as you can carry. Linda, I'm gonna need you to schedule that appointment as soon as possible." A pause in the orders occurred before it resumed. "You two, I'm gonna need you to hold him down while we at least get him stabilized."

In the background I heard wheels squeaking, and figured I was on a gurney. You were. The squeaking came to a halt and the commanding voice from before began speaking again. "Help me get him on the table." I felt my body being grabbed and lifted. After a short sense of weightlessness, I felt my back hit the cold surface of an operating table.

A door opened behind me relative to me perspective, and I heard frantic footsteps. "They were available now. They'll be here in a moment," a woman's voice said.

"Thank you, Linda," the voice said. "Help me bandage his good leg up. A set should fix that, with lots of time off. Sorry, sirs," he added.

"No problem, doctor," said the voice of Masterson.

"The other leg, however... we're gonna have to get rid of it."

"No way," my person said. "I'm keeping this leg."

"Angel," Masterson grimly stated from my right. "That leg is useless. You're no good to me useless. I'd rather you be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life than sit around at the base all day because you disregarded the doctor's suggestions."

"This leg is gone, Angel! It's worthless! Keeping it is stubborn and, frankly, stupid!" I didn't expect that from a doctor.

Oh God... my mother gasped.

The door opened again, and this time it was Jeffery. "I have the anesthesia, sir. And the operators are here, too."

"Thank you Jeffery." His attention must have turned to the two operators. "Amputee."

"Like hell I'll be an amputee!" My person shouted. "Get the hell away from me!"

"Starting," said an unknown voice. Masterson and Mason held my arms down as the nurses busied themselves aiding the doctors. Jeffery pumped anesthetic into my system, as I could feel the needle go in. However, it worked like it was so much apple juice. As soon as the saw drew one slice my person howled in pain.

"Jeff, how much anesthesia did you give him?" cried the doctor.

"The same amount I give every amputee patient, sir!"

"Give him more!" I felt the needle go in again and Jeffery put more into me.

This is too gruesome... I don't know that I can watch it all. Despite her worries, my aunt continued observing my ordeal.

The saw worked back and forth, and in spite of what I thought at the time, with the added painkillers the sawing wasn't all too painful, nor was the process very long. Shortly, the operator stood back and said, "Finished."

"Give me my leg, bastards!" my past self shouted.

That was also the time I received a slap in the face from Mason. "These guys just saved your life, Angel. It'd be wise to respect them."

I harrumphed, then said, "Fine. With all due respect, give me my damn legs, bastards!" This only rewarded me with another slap.

"Do you have what you need, doctor?" The first doctor, the one who wheeled me in, asked.

"We do," replied the other operator. Wheeling a cart around, I saw buckets of metallic objects: gears, cogs, rods, and the like. "We're ready to proceed when you are."



I gasped, and blinked open my eyes. I shakily looked around, trying to regain my bearings. I tried to stand but found that my mother had placed a prohibitive hand on my "good" leg to stop me. "You're not running from this one, Will," my mother said sternly, a scowl on her face. "I want to know. Everything."

I sighed. As much as I would like to avoid this conversation, it seemed I had no chance of doing so this time, the fact that my mother's hand was on my leg aside. I shot my mother a look that said, 'Are you sure?' She nodded, to which I sighed again. I was about to begin the gruesome tale, and had actually gotten two words in, but Bill had thankfully interrupted. "We need to go."

My mother turned her attention to him, which gave me the opportunity to escape. I slipped my leg out from underneath her hand, pulled the sleeve down, and made a dash for the stairs. Unfortunately, though I recognised the necessity of my success, this action reminded me of my flight from the jail. It didn't help that my mother tried to hold me in the same way, or that Bill released me in the same way as well.

I continued my mad dash down the stairs, half-blinded by a wild card of emotions. My vision was red around the edges as if I were enraged, yet little circles swam before my eyes as if the blood flow to my brain was getting cut off. Frankly, it annoyed me more than worried me, because to my mind it meant that I couldn't get away as quick due to having to mind the bouts of near-blindness that came with this condition.

Eventually I gave up on my plan to dash through the front gates and ended up stopping at one of the landings in the stairwell. I can land safely, you fly away. I'll get to you later. 'What about the risk of capture? How do I know you won't get caught?' Just let them try to stop me. Despite the grim tone of that threat, I went with it. 'Okay, you go first. Can't risk my wings.' Understood. With that, Bill jumped through the window. Shortly after, I stepped forward to follow.

Before I could, however, I heard behind me, "Stop him!" It was Celestia's voice.

"Bolt out!" It was Stargazer's voice this time, and shortly after he said that I felt something pierce my back. It didn't hurt too much, and I could tell it wasn't really a damaging effect. With that in mind, I jumped out. I noticed that I was over the gardens. I unfurled my wings and began to flap, but something took over. It wasn't like Luna's magical grasp on me. It was more like a slowing effect. I felt the adrenaline in my system run dry. On top of that, my vision continued to darken at a steady pace, as opposed to its sporadic reddening that it was before.

Slowly, though, I lost control of my limbs. It started with my arms, then my legs. Eventually it moved its way into my wings and finally into my head. As what usually comes from not being able to flap your wings in mid-air, I began a not-so-steady decent towards the ground. Unfortunately for me, and for the plants and flowers around it, the fence enclosing the gardens were spiked to keep out intruders. And I was headed straight for them.

It only took a few antsy moments for me to reach the ground... or the fence, in this case. I guess the only good thing to come of this prospect was that the spikes were spaced far enough that only one could hit me. But that was still a bad thing. The spike impaled me right next to my heart. I felt the effects of its damage to my lungs. Actually, there was another "plus," if you could call it that. Bill was with me in mere seconds. "No!" I heard him shout, distantly. I felt arms wrap around my body, hauling me off the spike. "Not today, not again!"

I didn't know what he thought he could do. I'm not sure Bill could fix this. After all, the doctors could barely pull me from death's clutches from a stomach wound, and that was a flesh wound compared to this, and this one was a full penetration. Regardless, Bill did his best. He layed me on the ground, muttering, almost shouting incoherently. "C'mon, Will, stay with me, man!"

"Will!" This time, it was my aunt. She'd come down from the tower, along with my mother and Stargazer. At this point, Bill was pretty much blind and deaf when it came to his emotions. On one hand, he was utterly shattered by my current status, but on the other he was furious that it was the actions of Stargazer that had, to Bill, caused this to begin with. He stood in a flash. I could feel a surge of energy and magic, and the next thing I saw by Bill was a courtsword, almost identical to my old one. Actually, as I took a better look at it, it was identical.

"Get back!" Bill shouted. "I don't care who you are, I will strike down anyone that comes close!" His voice, if his actions did not already denote it, was filled with rage and hatred.

"You'd do so to your own wife?" Luna tried to use logic on Bill.

Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly keen on logic at the moment. "If you come close, by God I will do so faster than any of you could draw breath!"

By now, however, the pain I'd felt began to fade, to recede. Slowly, I began to feel more and more painless... even though I knew I was dying, for the fourth time, no less, I held an air of calmness about me. One could probably say I becoming comfortably numb. "He's dying, Bill!" My mother shouted. "He needs help!"

Bill took one glance towards me, and with the last vestiges of vision I had left, I could see his face was incredibly pained. Tears were almost gushing from his white eyes, and his face was red. Looking back at the party of three, he hesitantly lowered his sword. "Well don't just stand there!" Bill tried to shout, but since he was crying so hard, it only came out as a strained croak. "Help me! Help-" Before he finished his sentence, he clipped it. Shortly after I heard a thump, which signified he had fallen over.

And that was when I could feel no more.
> Chapter 12 - Necesse Fit Factum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I blinked my eyes several times. See, dying has this perverse effect of making sure your eye lids get crusted, so you have to clean your eyes every time you die. Naturally of course, counting my previous... experiences, I consider myself an expert on dying and its effects. What I didn't have experience with was having my death presided over by what I could only assume were judges.

They all sat behind large stone podiums and each had a gavel by their hands. Of course, I haven't gotten around to explaining just who "they" were yet because I couldn't see their faces. For all I knew they were middle management that admits or sends off various souls as they die. "We are not." That was unexpected to say the least, but telepathic powers aren't unheard of in my world, so I just rolled with it. "As you should." Now that was getting creepy.

"You know why you are here." Those were the exact words Bill had asked me the first time I'd died.

"Yes," I croaked out. That's another thing. Dying will mess up your voice. No questions.

"Then you know who we are."

I shook my head. "No, I can't say that I do. I haven't met any of you before. At least, not to my knowledge." It was then that I got a clearer picture of them. There were three of them, and upon closer inspection they all appeared to be female. "Wait," I said. "You... you are..." I took a breath before saying, "The Fates."

"You are correct. We sisters three have presided over all that has come to pass in this universe, all that is passing, and all that yet still remain to occur. It is now we have brought you here to... get to know you better."

"Well," I said with a small chuckle. "I doubt by that you mean to want to know which colour I prefer and whatnot. I suppose you mean to ask what you shall do with me?"

"We have not met one with such disrespect for their elders."

"My apologies," I quickly replied. "It was not my intention to offend, I merely meant to speak my thoughts. I suppose now that I shall be... reprimanded? I'm sorry, I don't know how things work around here."

"They do."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Things work around here because they do. It was set to be before our time, and will only end long after your time."

"Oh. Well," I drawled, scratching my head. "What do you want to know?"

"Why have you been brought here?"

"I wasn't aware that I controlled my destination, but I suppose I am here because I have died. Again."

"What were the circumstances for this death?"

"I was attempting to flee my mother for rather selfish reasons."

"And what were these reasons?"

"I withheld from her secrets that I had kept from my past; the condition of my body."

"And how did she come to discover these secrets?" I was starting to grow tired of these questions, but at least it was better than being in the presence of Styx.

"I had a... relapse, a flashback, back to when I received my... features. They had sat in and watched my ordeal."

"And why did you have such a relapse?"

"My Oracle and I were attempting to contact Zeus because we were trying to get him to call off Styx to leave the three of us, my Oracle, my wife, and I, alone and let us live in peace."

"Why was Styx after you?"

"We, the three of us, had died previously and my Oracle and I had been drafted by Styx to become part of her entourage of Wraiths, spirit hunters."

"What an odd coincidence then," The lead sister began. "That by attempting to escape fate you have, indeed, ended with Fates."

I nodded. "I suppose there is some irony there to be beheld."

Before the Fates could continue, a popping sound was heard behind me and a voice asked, "What did I miss?" Bill strode up and patted me on the shoulder. Looking up at the three Fates, he immediately changed his tone. "Oh, my apologies elders, I did not mean to interrupt."

They continued as if nothing had transpired. "That brings us to our predicament, Will." They leaned forward. "What shall we do with you?" Before I could speak they continued. "You have continued to live despite our every attempt to sever your line. What can we do with you?"

Bill spoke up, saying, "Er, with all due respect, elders, I have a suggestion: mayhap you could perchance allow us, Will, his wife and I, to live our lives in peace?" The leading sister turned her head to him, to which he responded by ducking his head and hastily saying, "Just a suggestion, elder, please don't condemn me."

"Hmm. We shall see about that." They turned to me. "There is one who would like to have a word with you."

My eyes widened without my consent, and I blurted, "If it's Styx, you might as well send me to Hades now."

"You have no say in this matter, unfortunately." With that, the Devil herself appeared.

"Ha ha ha. Oh, Will. You really must see the look on your face." Styx took a step forward and pretended to peer closer.

Bill harrumphed. "It's a hell of a lot prettier than what just showed up."

Styx flashed forward in front of Bill's face, and said loudly, "You had best watch your mouth, Oracle, lest it betray you your life."

Bill seemed to be completely unfazed by her actions. "Oh, dear. Threatening a guest, Styx? While you yourself are a guest as well? You don't seem very bright if you choose this path."

"I have the power to end you! You will not insult me!"

Bill cocked an eyebrow. "Really now? Why not ask the Fates if you have power here, hmm? After all, you were brought here by their will, and if you overstep your welcome your claim is forfeit."

"You don't-" Styx didn't finish. She stopped mid-sentence to turn her head to the Fates. Seeing their blank faces, she turned back. "You two will be mine," she whispered, as if she believed that it would make a difference. "Just you see." She then stepped back.

"Now then," began the leading Fate. "Let it be known that Styx claims that Will and Bill are hers to control."

"It is known," said the other two in unison.

"Let it also be known that while Will and Bill served under her, she did not give them choice."

"Lies!" Screamed Styx. "They willingly took up their mantles!"

I didn't know what to say, and neither did Bill. Luckily for us, that worked in our favour. "Speaking out of turn. You are not endearing yourself to us, Styx." That caused her to sulk. "Let it be known."

"It is known."

"Let it be known that Will and Bill performed their duty under Styx."

"It is known."

"Let it be known that Will and Bill experienced an event directly contradicting that which Styx had informed them."

"It is known." Styx sulked further, hatred burning in her red eyes.

"Let it be known that by the right of visit, and its law therein, Styx agreed to allow Will and Bill a period of one half a fortnight, and that they should return to living."

"It is known."

"Let it be known that Styx has attacked Will and Bill through their minds."

"You cannot prove that!" Styx shouted.

"I will overlook that interruption, Styx, if only to explain that we may search your minds for the truth." When she was satisfied Styx would not interrupt again, she repeated, "Let it be known."

"It is known."

"Let it be known that we are now at the point in which a decision must be made to appease the parties present."

"It is known."

"Will, Bill," she began. "Your defense?"

I didn't really know I'd have to do this, but apparently Bill came prepared. "I must ask, before the court, a question."

"Continue."

"If, for example, Zeus had asked me to fetch him some water. Please," he held up a hand at Styx's opening mouth. "Let me finish. If Zeus had asked me to fetch him water, and I did so, would that, in your eyes, require me to fetch him water continuously? Or would it simply be a single instance?"

"Styx," the leading Fate, who I remembered to be Atropos, said. "Your rebuttal?"

"If one agreed to do such a task once, should one not be held accountable when the task arises again and it goes unfulfilled? Besides the matter, agreeing to become a Wraith puts one under my command. There is no alternative."

"Will, Bill, have you any refute?"

"Yes, I do," Bill said. He was turning out to be a great lawyer. "You see, we had no choice in the matter."

"You did, you just did not choose."

"Silence, Styx, or I will forfeit your claim." Atropos turned to Bill. "Continue."

"Styx had told us that we had no choice in the matter. While in Erebus, Hades was in sight. We were beside the river Styx, where the portal to our Wraithdom stood. She told us we could only go through the portal. She said it was the order of Zeus himself."

Atropos was about to tell Styx that it was her turn to speak, when suddenly she straightened. "It seems we have an unexpected guest. Welcome them to this house, lest you insult them." She didn't need to be facing us for me to know she was talking to Bill and I. After all, we were kind of newcomers to this particular place.

A great rumble took the hall, and a flash of lightning struck the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a man had taken its place, and immediately, under instinct, Bill and I bowed low. "Welcome," we said together. "Zeus, our Lord. We trust your trip here was uneventful?"

"Hello, milord," greeted Styx halfheartedly.

"I thank you for your welcomes. To answer your question, Will, Bill, yes. Quite wonderfully so." Zeus's voice sounded a bit... like an English accent. It didn't sound Greek. "Greetings, Moirai."

"Welcome, Father," they said in unison. I knew enough about the mythology to know Zeus wasn't really their father, but I could catch the symbolism.

"It seems you have undertaken a venture that may be out of your control, Moirai."

"Perhaps so, Father."

"Hmm." Zeus strode to Bill and I. "Why are you here, might I ask?"

I gulped. It seems Bill did the same. Neither of us, I could tell, expected to speak to Zeus himself. I was the first to regain my composure. "Well, Lord, to put it simply: we are here to be free of Styx's grasp. We do not wish to be her slaves."

"I see. And what exactly-" He didn't finish. His eyes clouded over a bit, and his mouth hung slightly open, before he regained his own composure. "I see," he said with more emphasis.

"It seems you two are in a bit of a bind." He turned to Styx. "It also seems you used an illusion of authority to sway them into servitude." As an aside to us, he said, "I did not order you to becomes Wraiths; had I known you'd died, I would have sent you off to paradise." He turned his attention back to the personification of hatred. "In our laws, that is an immediate forfeit."

"No! I will not allow it! They are mine!"

"Defying your Lord? You certainly know what comes of that."

"I do not care!" It was around this time I truly began to think Styx had more screws loose than Bill and I had originally thought. "I will have them if it means killing them myself!"

"Well then, if that is what you want," Zeus began, ominously. "To make it fair, there is only one option: mortality." As he raised his hand, Styx stammered out several protestations. Most of them consisted of proclamations of abuse, of impossibilities, and the sort. However, it had no effect on Zeus. A light flashed from his hand and gripped Styx in a viper's hold. In a flash, the light was gone, and Styx screamed in pain. "And now, to make it so you cannot attack him in his sleep," another light flashed, and Styx screamed again.

"And now," Zeus said, turning to the rest of us. "I must go, I'm afraid. I do wish you luck on your lives," he said to us. To the Moirai, he said, "Fare thee well until my return, Moirai." With that, he disappeared.

No one else had time to act, though, when I suddenly was wracked with spasms. "Will!" Bill dropped to my side. "Will, are you alright?!"

I nodded. "You know what this means." He did the same. "They're bringing me back."

Again, not a word could be gotten off before the world went white, then dark.



"Will, don't you do this to me again, not again!" It was my mother's voice.

"Oh... my... please, Will... don't die..." My wife's.

"I'm so sorry, my liege, I did not intend to do such a thing, I did not know!" Stargazer's voice.

"Silence, Captain," My aunt's. "She has already forgiven you, and you know it in your heart. Just keep silent. Please." Her voice was terse and firm, yet not unkind. She didn't even sound upset.

I gasped involuntarily. I choked for breath, but I found it eventually. "He's alive," my mother said, with a sigh of relief. Off to my right, I heard another deep intake of breath followed by several shallow breaths. "As is he..." She sounded more relieved by our simultaneous survival.

"Yes," I choked out. "I'm... alive... for now..." With that, I promptly lost consciousness. And sleep well I did, for once in a long time.
> Chapter 13 - Terra Viventium
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Are you sure you're well enough for this, my liege?"

"Yes, Captain Lightstar. I assure you I am ready. Please, relax yourself. Soon you'll have me worried." I finished buttoning up my overcoat. Captain Lightstar was Captain of my own guard, which in itself was an honour for the both of us. Lightstar had been credited with many, many glorious victories against the monsters during the past war, and was level-headed, calm, and professional at home. He did, however, have a lighter side reserved for only his closest relations.

Today I was to be established as an official Prince. My first announcement of this position many years ago had not exactly been timely, nor was it "successful," so to say. I was only really told I was a Prince, and the public had the same thing. Now, I was to truly be recognised. "If you ask me, you should worry more about Bill. He seems to be the one in need of attention."

It was partly true. Bill was fidgeting in his clothes as if they were uncomfortable to wear, which I knew was not the case since Rarity of Ponyville had them custom made to fit snugly yet breathably. "I'm not nervous," he said to us, both to retort my claim as well as to prevent Lightstar from approaching. "I'm just restless. The sooner this is over, the better." Need I remind you there is a threat over our heads as clear as water? 'You need not to. I know this. I've known this for months. We need to be prepared. But we must not let it run our lives... but I trust you will continue your vigil?' Never doubt it.

And of course, I never would. I trust Bill with my life. Frankly, I trust him with that more than I trust myself with it. There aren't many people I would apply that honour to. Just then, interrupting my thoughts, my mother barged in. "Rude," I shot off before she could get a word out.

"Careful, Will," she warned playfully as she strode over to us. "I'm still your mother."

That caused Captain Lightstar to let out a chuckle against his will, hah, and caused my cheeks to redden. "Yes, yes," Bill said, slightly annoyed. "When can we get out of these ridiculous outfits?"

"And I," she responded, moving up behind him. "Am still your wife."

Lightstar laughed more heartily this time around, saying, "Hah, the bane of men, eh?"

Luna turned quickly and stalked towards my captain. "And I-"

"Alright," I said loudly to intentionally interrupt her. "Now that we've established that Luna should have been named Captain Obvious," I huffed and straightened my suit. "Shouldn't we get this ball rolling?"

My mother glared friendly daggers at me, but said instead, "That's what I came here to tell you. The ceremony is about to begin, and we cannot proceed without the man of the hour, now can we?"

I dipped my head. "Of course. Lead the way."

The trek to the main hall was filled with Luna giving Bill and me our instructions. "When you walk down the aisle, you will both stand shoulder to shoulder. When you reach the end, you will salute the Guard Captain. For you, Will, that will be Lightstar."

"So was the Guard Captain Stargazer for you and Sunwatcher for Tia?"

"Captain Stargazer, yes. Sunwatcher, however, was not Sister's Captain until recently."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I thought Sunwatcher had been her Captain for a while now."

"He has," she answered. "But he replaced Twilight Sparkle's brother Shining Armour as Guard Captain when Shining Armour married Princess Cadence and went to rule the Crystal Empire. Shining Armour was the last Guard Captain to be present when my sister and I went to reaffirm our rule, so to speak."

"You mean," Bill started. "You two hold a re-coronation every so often?"

"Yes. It is a big day. Every fifty years or so Tia and I hold a ceremony at a city of our choosing to celebrate our crowning."

"Were you two anyone else," I said. "I would say that you two are very conceited."

"Now," Luna continued her instruction, ignoring my comment. "When you salute the Guard Captain, he will call a squire to him, and that squire will bear your crown." She was talking about me at that point, because Bill would not be getting a crown; he wasn't a Prince. "The Guard Captain will accept the crown, present it to the gathering. This is when you will kneel. Both of you," she added. "Bow your head, and the Guard Captain will place the crown on your head. This is the moment. The rest is partying, and I hope I can assume correctly you know how to party?"

I chuckled. "Ball, special day, birth, or get-together party?" I flashed a grin to her.

In response, she stuck her tongue out at me, saying, "Little of them all."



"Ready for this?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"... Yes."

"Then let's go."



We walked forward, really strode, tall and proud. There was clapping -- well, clopping, as it were -- all around us, and it was raining confetti. Luna had found a strip of cloth for Bill to keep from unnerving the ponies, thankfully. Though, its necessity was questionable considering pretty much every eye was on me at the time. Ahead of us, at the stage, were Luna, Celestia, and Captain Lightstar. The two princesses were on either side of him as he stood there, looking proud himself.

I did my best to put on a smile, but the crowds were making me uneasy. I never was good around large numbers of people, or ponies for that matter. The main hall was large, so at our pace it took us a good several minutes to reach the stage. When we did, Bill and I bowed to both of the Princesses. When we turned to face Lightstar, he nodded. Without turning his gaze away from us, he called out for the squire.

The squire arrived with the silver crown, to complement the gold of my aunt's crown and the obsidian of my mother's. Taking it, Lightstar used hi magic to hold it up for everypony to see clearly. "This," he announced with a thunderous voice. "Is the crown with which we here today recognise Will, son of Princess Luna, as Prince of Equestria!" With those words, the crowds almost literally went wild. Cheering erupted everywhere.

Lightstar levitated the crown down and prepared to place it upon my head. However, something shook the ground itself, and he nearly lost his grip. A feminine laughter, sinister in every sense, frightening in every other, echoed throughout the hall. It sent chills down both Bill's spine and my own. "How pathetic you two are!" The voice was dark yet light. Sinister, yet almost... playful. "You think a crown can stop me?" I knew who it was. Everyone in my current "circle" knew who it was. Even Lightstar, who hadn't been present the day of my return.

That didn't stop him from leaving the crown with the squire and rushing forward to take up a defensive stance in front of me. "Leave, demon!" He called.

"Must you continue to use others to fight your battles, Will? Do you truly wish to see this life extinguished so desperately?"

"Stand down," I told Lightstar in the most authoritative tone I could muster.

"My liege, this witch threatens your life, I must defend you."

"I said, stand down."

"But Lord-"

"I don't," I nearly growled. "Want my first order as Prince to be your imprisonment, Captain. Stand. Down." Lightstar stood there for a few moments more, before sighing and returning to his spot on the stage. I turned my attention to the still invisible Styx. "Why are you here, Deceiver?"

"I can smell the fear in your voice, Will." I felt the air to my left move a bit, and a much closer voice said, "I can feel it." I brought my left arm up and to the right. My intent was to land a blow to Styx, but she had moved before I could do so. She laughed. "Too slow, Will." In a much more... sadistic tone, she said, "This will be too easy." She appeared in front of me, about five meters out. Then, she lunged at me.

Everything around Bill and I stopped. I don't mean that this went by so fast it felt everything else was going slowly. I mean Styx literally stopped time as she attacked. Luckily for Bill and I, we were not affected. Nimbly dodging to the left, I drew my courtsword that I had made the month before. As I did, I swung it to the right, hoping to catch Styx. I didn't, but the strike did not leave me unbalanced, so I was fortunate.

Bill, however, was much, much faster than me. And much stronger, as well. He'd already moved to strike at Styx when I was just getting out of the way of her sudden attack, and he had been successful, if only in nicking her in the upper arm. This did cause her to howl though, and for that I was confused. I did, at length, realise that since she was now mortal, she could feel pain. I suppose if you had never felt pain before a small cut would feel as if your arm had been severed.

"It burns!" She screamed.

"That tends to happen when you get hurt, Deceiver," I spat. "But you wouldn't know. You use other to fight your battles. Well," I added. "You used to."

"You..." she was about to call me something that probably would have been offensive, but she instead opted to make another pass. It seemed that when Zeus had made her mortal, much of her supernatural speed and strength had been taken as well. I am almost certain that if Styx had been at the peak of her power, she could easily have overcome Bill and I without breaking a sweat. And, while what Zeus did wasn't exactly favouring us, he did keep his word.

So when Styx passed again, I sidestepped and took another swipe. This one caught her in the cheek, and Bill's slash bit into her right leg. Against her white garments, the deep red blood dripping from her wounds stood out as clear as day. She brought a hand to her face and it, of course, came away red. "Blood?" She asked as if she had never seen the stuff before. I knew, however, that she knew of it, considering how much of it was spilled on her account.

This time, Bill and I took the fight to her. Cautiously but quickly making our way over to her, we readied for a counter attack. However, none came. We swung our blades fast and true, and each time they found their mark. Bill disabled her arms. I, her legs. She fell to the floor kneeling, her outfit spattered with blood. As the final blow, we both went for her neck. We halted when our blades met her flesh.

"Despite all you've done, Deceiver," I began. "Despite your failings, your offenses, your crimes, your lies... I do not wish to deliver this final blow. I do not believe I am within my rights to appoint myself your executioner. However, our Lord Zeus has made it clear this feud can end only with one of us dying. You'll understand if I wish it to be you who dies."

She looked up at me. Her eyes were red, but not with rage. Tears were falling from her eyes, and her mouth hung slightly open. It moved up and down without a sound a few times, but eventually she found words. "I am... he did not lie... I am... mortal..." The word "mortal" passed from her lips as if it were a curse, but her tone belied a sad undertone. "I do not wish to die," she added, her voice regaining some of its strength. "I shall leave you three alone, just... please, do not end me... spare me... please..."

I hesitated, but eventually lowered my blade. I maintained I contact for several more moments before stepping back. "Bill," I called to him. "Step back."

He did not, though. He remained fixed at his spot, as if someone had nailed his feet to the floor. This went on for another few moments. The peace, however, was disturbed by Bill himself. Suddenly, he gasped, and growled, "You traitorous whore!" With that, he pulled swiftly back on his sword, slitting Styx's throat. He then thrust the blade through her heart. He withdrew his blade to allow for her to bleed out of the wound.

"Bill!" I shouted, running up to Styx. "Stay alive, Styx! Stay alive!"

"Will," she whispered, her life slipping away with every word. "Thank you... for showing me... love was possible... for showing me... determination and sacrifice..." she gasped, the added, "Return to terra viventium, Will... live on in happiness..." He head slumped back, and the last of her breath escaped her mouth. Neither Bill nor I said a word for a while. At length, I closed her eyes.

"Bill?" I asked. "Got any coins?" He knew what I meant and handed me two silver pennies. I placed one on either of her eyes, then gently set her down. Bill and I simultaneously wiped our blades and sheathed them. That was when time resumed its pace. When this happened, Bill and I were in the middle of the aisle, and we were standing over Styx's body.

"She's dead!" Luna cried, running to me. She gave me a hug, but I did not reciprocate it. "What... what's wrong?"

I shook my head. "There will be no celebrating this day." I gestured towards Styx. "She was not evil. She was misguided. She did not know love, comfort. She knew only death and anger." I turned my face to my mother's and looked her in the eyes. "I showed her that. So she said before she died, I showed her love was possible. I showed her perseverance and sacrifice would get you almost anything she wanted. And she wanted love." I looked away. "No celebrating. This is not a good day."
> Chapter 14 - Mind Games
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It began to rain halfway through. No one was "invited" except Bill, my aunt and my mother, and our respective Guard Captains. I didn't want to have Fluttershy here, but in an act of rare assertiveness she told me she would be next to me no matter what, so I had no choice but to "allow" her to come. We had to cancel the coronation, but I felt that this was more important. The grave itself wasn't that deep, but I didn't have time to dig the whole six feet. As it stood, her grave was only about a foot deep, with dirt piled up in a mound over it.

I myself made her gravestone. It read:


Styx
Goddess of the River
Lived Misguided,
Died Reformed
Live on Forever,
Or Rest in Peace


The funeral itself was held in silence. I felt bad for not even having an on-the-spot eulogy, but it had all occurred so suddenly and my mind was racing with so many different thoughts that I simply couldn't concentrate on it. Zeus made an appearance, which had surprised me a bit. It was towards the end, when Celestia and Luna had bidden me good night and retired for the night. Even Captain Lightstar left, but not before a bit of insisting from me.

In the end it was just me, Bill, Fluttershy, and Zeus who remained at the shallow grave. Several silent minutes passed with only the sound of the falling rain to show time was still passing. At length, Zeus said, "Styx. I..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know a lot of this is my fault. If I hadn't said that we needed more Wraiths, this mess would never had happened." Sighing, he continued. "Nothing can bring you back." He turned to Bill and I, saying, "When one of us dies, it's permanent. It isn't like other species where we can bring you back."

"I'm sorry, Lord," I told him. "If I hadn't acted so selfishly that time ago, she would never have been able to have picked me to be a Wraith. If I had left well enough alone, none of this would have happened. She just happened to inherit a stubborn, selfish guy like me."

Zeus let out a grim chuckle. "How about we agree that we both are at fault here?" He stuck out his hand.

I took it, replying with, "Agreed."

"Well," he said when the shake finished. "I must go. This whole debacle, unfortunately, has caused me no end of strife back home. I will, hopefully under better circumstances, see you three later." With a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, he was gone.

By now, Fluttershy, Bill, and I were all soaked just about to the bone. "How about we go inside and dry off," I suggested. "Maybe even get a cup of hot chocolate or something." Naturally, there were no objections. Once inside, I flagged down a Royal Guardspony. "Could you, please, direct us to the kitchen?"

"Of course, my Prince." He led us to one of the kitchens in the castle, as there are very many and this was the closest. I noticed the halls, while clean, had a very... dark feeling to them. Not necessarily evil, but... let's just say you wouldn't have found these kinds of walls in a children's house.

It is your imagination. Before I could respond, our guide proclaimed, "Here we are, my lord. The ponies inside will help you from here."

"Thank you so very much, sir. I hope the rest of your rounds will be dull if not boring." He chuckled, thanked me for the well wishes, and continued on his way. The three of us entered the kitchen, and to my surprise there were actually ponies still working. They looked miserable: their eyes were sunken, their legs trudged along the ground. Many of them were shackled to the floor, unable to move much more than a few feet in any direction. Fight it!

'Fight what?!' Fight the feeling in your mind! Look for it! It wasn't there! Not ever, until now! Kick it out! I looked through my mind, trying desperately to understand what was going on. Eventually, though, I discovered what Bill was talking about. Within my subconsciousness, I found an anomaly. It was powerful, strong, but it was not very effective at maintaining its presence. Several shoves, with ample help from Bill, and the thing disappeared.

Check Fluttershy. I don't know what that thing was, but it could be able to jump from brain to brain. "Fluttershy," I began, turning to her. "I need your permission to, essentially, rack your brain. Bill and I discovered something in my own head and I need to make sure it didn't try to use you."

"Uh," she stammered. "O-o-okay, I guess. Will... will it hurt?"

"Bill and I will search you, and there won't be any pain. When we fought it, whatever it was, it didn't hurt either of us. So you shouldn't feel any pain. Let us know if you do, though, so we can help. Alright?" She nodded. Bill and I, upon entering her mind, split up. I floated throughout Fluttershy's memories, her personalities, her feelings. I saw many things I was never meant to see, and for that I felt terrible. Luckily, that was the worst of it. Fluttershy had not obtained whatever that thing was.

We returned to our own selves, and I said, "Thank you, Fluttershy. We didn't find anything, so it's alright. I do, however, apologise for seeing your memories. I know there are some things in your life you would rather keep a secret, but we couldn't leave any stone unturned, as the saying goes."

"It's... it's okay, Will. As long as we're all safe."

With that, I turned to look at the cooks in the kitchen, and sure enough, they were upbeat. Many were whistling along with each other, and they all wore smiles. A little browsing around garnered us some hot chocolate to warm us up from the cold outside, some fresh bread still warm from the oven, and fresh cheese. Thanking the cooks, we went on our way. Earlier that day, Luna had shown me my chambers, which were very near her own, and she told Fluttershy she was welcome to stay in my quarters whenever she wanted. Being Fluttershy, she asked me if it was alright with me, and being me I said it was perfectly fine.

So that was where we found ourselves after about half an hour trying to navigate the corridors correctly. A spare bed had been brought in for Bill, but I doubted he would have slept there any way. He had resumed his position by my mother's side as her husband, saying to me that he had quite a bit of time to make up. As long as that didn't mean they were going to try anything I was fine with that. After all, Fluttershy had nine years to make up with me.

"Will?" She asked after our main conversation had pretty much ended and we lay on the bed.

I looked over at her, looked into her beautiful, captivating eyes, and asked, "Yes, my love?" She hesitated, which didn't really prompt a response from me considering Fluttershy hesitated with just about everything, especially when it was about a touchy topic. Not that I minded. It's one of the things I fell in love with her for, after all.

"Um," she mumbled. "Uh..."

I put on my best smile and kissed her lightly. "Come on, love. Go ahead. We're alone here; you don't have to be afraid. What do you want to ask me?"

Her lips twitched in a hint of a smile, though they never reached "smiling" status. She opened her mouth to take a breath, and asked me a question I really was not at all prepared for.

"I... can we... if it's okay with you, I mean... do you... want to have a foal?"
> Chapter 15 - Ein Verständnis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I couldn't speak. Forget unexpected, this simply was mind stopping. Despite my temporary inability to make words form with my mouth, I could certainly make other sounds. I coughed, trying not to choke on my own saliva after hearing this proposal. It's not that I didn't want it, but it was just... so sudden.

"Oh gosh," Fluttershy gasped in her usual soft voice. "Will, are you alright?"

I nodded, still half-choking. "Ye-he-he-hes," I finally managed to choke out, pun intended. "You just," I began after gaining back some semblance of normalcy. "You just... surprised me, is all. Surprised me a whole lot."

"Oh... I'm sorry..."

"No, no, it's not your fault," I told her. "You didn't know." I sat in the bed breathing heavily. I shook my head at the thought. "Wow... I mean no offence, Shy, but you really picked an hour to ask me that."

"I'm-"

"No, no, no," I interrupted her apology. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm just saying it's really late." I sighed. "Tell you what," I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Let's sleep on it, and we can think about this in the morning, yeah?"

"Okay," she said, her tone reverting back from apologetic to its normal, nearly-inaudible state. "Good night, Will."

She curled up under the sheets. As I moved around to get comfortable again, I laid my arm across her in a hug and promptly fell asleep, dropping like a rock into slumber.



The morning unfortunately had to come at such an inopportune time. I had just gotten into one of the best dreams I'd had in a while, when the smell of something delicious wafted through my nostrils. Bleary eyed, I blinked at the bright sun shining through the window in my face. "Good morning, sunshine," a melodic voice sung from another side of the room.

Turning drowsily towards the sound, I was greeted by a rolling cart piled with breakfasts of just about every variety. There were eggs, cheeses of many sorts, red and white grapes, juices of many fruits, and their solid forms, white and chocolate milk, pancakes and crepes and waffles, granola bars, those little boxes of cereal that don't have enough in them to make you satisfied, yogurts, and much more. But what else is that it was my aunt propelling the little cart along. My mother and wife were beside her, as was Bill.

Being the sleepy man that I was, I wasn't thinking clearly. Thus, it came as no surprise to the sensible people that my first words were not "funny you should say that"; "good morning guys"; or even "is that for me". No, what I said was much more nonsensical. "Why do they call them white grapes instead of green grapes?"

Naturally everyone rolled with it. "Good morning to you too, son," Luna said, drawing near. "You do take so much after your father." Her eyes kind of glossed over for a second, but returned to normal almost before I could process the change had occurred.

"Before you get any ideas," Bill warned. "This is for all of us. Save some food for us after your pudgy self gets some. He said it with a smile to show he meant no offense, and even Fluttershy had been around him for long enough to get somewhat used to his antics, even if some of them still worried her and made her nervous.

I chuckled. "Behave, and I might deem you worthy of the scraps." I tried to put on my best pompous tone, but seeing as how as I hadn't exactly been practising with it, it came rather pathetic.

"I can take it away if I need to," Celestia said, turning the cart around in a feigned motion to leave.

"No, no," I said. "You can keep it here. There's no way I'm finishing all this by myself."

With that said, Bill needed no more encouragement. Taking one of the plastic plates from the cart's lower platform, he began heaping food onto it. That action alone seemed to ease the tensions of everyone in the room, which promted us all to follow suit. Being polite, I did not eat on the bed; I sat down on the floor with Fluttershy to my right and Bill to my left. Luna sat next to Bill and Tia sat next to Fluttershy. We arranged ourselves into somewhat of a circle if only so that we could still see and talk to each other.

"So," my mother began. "How's your first day of Princehood coming along?"

"Why, I do believe it is coming along quite well, if I may say so myself," I replied, biting into a hard-boiled egg. "The sun is shining, so already there may be just greatness in store for today."

"I thought you liked the rain," Bill prompted. "At least, that's what you told me every time I wanted to go inside."

"I do. Doesn't mean it brings a good outlook for the day." I shrugged, finishing off the egg. "You know the saying, though." Bill nodded, but the others looked a bit confused. "Tell them."

"'Red skies at night'," Bill quoted. "'Sailors' delight. Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning'. It's a little rhyme about weather to keep people from not knowing whether or not their trips will be met with success or peril."

Everybody moved to look out the window, but before they could I said, "Don't worry, I already looked." I chuckled. "No offense, but you guys worry too much." At their astonished gazes, I held up my right hand, saying, "I know: coming from me, that's something to worry about in and of itself. However," I assured, dipping my head in acknowledgement. "I'm fine, and you guys need to relax."

"Will," my mother intoned. The fact she'd pursed her lips slightly unnerved me, but it wasn't something I could not handle myself. "Come with me."



We stood on the roof of the castle. I still did not know what this purpose was, as the trip here was silent. We stood, overlooking the country. "Do you know why I brought you here alone, Will?"

I shook my head. "Naturally not, since I was hoping you would tell me."

"Because I'm scared. I'm scared for you, Will. Since your arrival, there hasn't been a single break for you. Just constant conflict."

"You don't get it, mother," I said respectfully. "It's over."

"What if it isn't?" Her tone was a bit more... panicky now. "What if, tomorrow, there's another hideous thing to intrude on your life? Can you promise me that there isn't?"

"Well..." Luna tried to interject, but I hurried to cut her off. "Fluttershy asked me if I wanted to try having another foal last night."

The silence that ensued was long, almost uncomfortable so. During that period, Luna worked her mouth up and down over and over many times. "Are you sure?"

I was dumbfounded at that. "What do you mean, 'am I sure?' Of course, I'm sure!"

"I mean, you may have dreamt that."

"No, you are just afraid to admit." At Luna's puzzled expression, I continued. "Mother, look." I threw my arms out. "I'm here, this is it." Turning back to her, I stressed the words out, "I'm free."

"I don't..."

I shook my head. "I am finally free, mother. From the Army, from Death, from the Wraiths. I am a free man." With that, I jumped off the roof. I heard my mother call frantically after me, and when I looked up I saw that she had dived after me.

"Will! What are you doing?!"

I smiled. "Being free," I replied back up at her. A few moments later, I unfurled my wings and took to flight. I worked to circle the castle, even taking risks like weaving between towers and such. I think I even saw Lightstar at some point. Feeling the wind on my face was very refreshing, something I had not felt for many years. I was ecstatic. When I finally landed, I stopped back on the roof at the same spot I took off.

My mother was very close behind me. "What the hell was that about?!" I have to admit I was rather surprised. I had never heard my mother use such language, minor vulgarity though it was. "You nearly gave me heart attack!"

I bowed my head in shame. "I'm sorry. I just... I just hadn't flown in so long." When I looked back up there were tears in my eyes. "Freedom is something I haven't really tasted, Luna." I used her name to emphasise my point. "To be able to feel it now... this feeling is like no other I've felt. The ability to fly when you want, the ability to do what you please..." I sank to my knees. "It's just so overwhelming!" I buried my head in my hands and began to let everything loose.

My mother took a step forward as if to move to comfort, but she stopped herself as I continued my monologue. "For my whole life I've done nothing but adhere to the whims of others! My pare-" I stopped myself when I remembered that their role was simply being my caretakers. "My sitters, my commanding officer, my sergeant, everyone! They've all ordered me about like a servant!" I took a heaving breath. "To be able to do something for myself... now that it's moved from being a simply fantasy to reality..." More tears burst forth from my eyes. "I don't know if you've felt it, Luna, but by the gods it feels absolutely amazing to finally be free." For some reason that word was very gratifying to say, and I didn't see it getting old for a while.

My outburst complete, my mother proceeded to kneel next to me. "Honey," she said in a soothing, soft voice. "You know I'm here for you. I'm sorry if I happened to upset you, please know though that wasn't my intention." I nodded. "I love you, Will. So much. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I'm scared because I love you. Okay?" She tried to smile, even though it was slightly ruined by her new found tears. She then hugged me, firmly enough to show me she truly meant it, but gently enough so as to not strangle me. And for that, I loved her even more.

"Now," she said, holding me at arms' length. "What was this about having a foal?"
> Chapter 16 - Re Torvus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I stood outside the window, looking inside at the white-clothed ponies work around Fluttershy. It had been too long of a time since I had last seen such a smile on her face, and I was determined to make sure that she kept it up for as long as she could. I myself smiled, partly because my wife was so happy, and partly because I had once again remembered what we had decided to name our foal if it was a filly. I waited with practically bated breath waiting for the doctor's signal of the foal's gender.

I really couldn't wait. Evidently, my impatience was known to the ponies standing near me as well. "Will," Applejack said in her drawl. "Would ya calm down? They know what they're doin', you dun need ta worry none."

Shifting my weight between my feet just about every second, I replied, "I know. I just can't wait... You'll understand my eagerness, I trust?"

All of them -- Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity -- understood my meaning. All of them except Twilight. It wasn't because she still had that anger directed towards me. No, that was long gone. At least I hope it was. No. The meaning, the undertone of my reply sailed way over her head. She started to ask what I meant, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that Pinkie, in her dramatic fashion, swept her hoof across her throat and pretended to be dead. "Oh," came the soft-spoken response.

Returning my full attention to the delivery room, I noticed that Fluttershy was holding our newborn foal. The doctor had wrapped it up in an adorable little pink towel, which told me it was a filly. And I knew what that meant. I knew what her name was. "Styx..." I whispered.

"What? Where?!" Rainbow Dash, seemingly to outdo Twilight, remained oblivious to the reason behind my silent word. Of course, it was partly my fault for not telling them what Fluttershy and I had planned, though that could easily rectified.

"In there, Rainbow," I answered. "Fluttershy's getting to hold her now."

Rainbow Dash, and everypony else, for that matter, peered inside to see what they knew as Styx. They were surprised and a little annoyed when they didn't meet their expectations. "Ah don't see Styx anywhere in there at all, Will."

It was then my smile grew larger. "Look at Fluttershy's hooves. Styx is in them right now."

"You mean..." Twilight stumbled. "You mean to say that you named your foal after one of your worst enemies?! Does Fluttershy even know about this?"

Twilight, of course, still could not let me enjoy my fun, it seemed. "No, Twilight. Styx was not my worst enemy. Not even one of them. She was one of my friends. That is, until she became overzealous to please Zeus's wish. And Fluttershy was the one who suggested it in the first place, so I'd think she knows about this."

Her jaw worked up and down for a few seconds, then finally snapped shut and she didn't say another word. "Prince Will," the doctor called from the now open doorway. "If you wish to see your foal before we send her off to sleep, you must come now."

Following his instructions, I followed him into the room. "Hey there, love," I said in as soft a tone as I could manage. "How are you feeling?"

Fluttershy was beginning to feel the effects of both giving birth and the medicine and anesthetics. "I'm..." she started in a dazed expression. "I'm fine. Just a little..." she yawned. "Sleepy. You wanna hold her?"

I nodded. "I think that would be wise." She weakly lifted her hooves to hand Styx off to me, and when I bore the full weight of our foal I realised how small she was. She could not have weighed more than ten pounds, and I could easily cradle her in my arms. Her eyes were still closed; they wouldn't open for at least another week or so, then the ears would follow. "Go on to sleep, love. I'll make sure Styx gets to rest."

"Okay... Will." Another yawn. "I'll be fine, I promise."

I handed the doctor my foal, and said to him, "Please be careful."

To that, despite the doctor's place in society as one of Canterlot's best doctors, he had to chuckle. "Don't worry, Prince Will. We'll take good care of her. Rest easy."

"Thank you." Exiting the room, I turned to leave the hospital. They'd need all the room and focus they could get to quickly bring the baby to good stability and to get Fluttershy quickly back to great shape.

I would also have been able to exit quickly and quietly had I not forgotten that I did in fact bring along friends. "How's the foal? Is she smiling? What's her name? Wait, I already know her name, you told us! How big is she? Is she a pegasus? Unicorn? Tell me tell me tell me!"

When my eyes finished shrinking down to reasonable sizes and my lungs and heart popped back into place, I took a breath to answer. "In that order," I said, trying to recall exactly what Pinkie Pie had asked in her too-fast-to-understand speak. "She's fine. Not yet. Small. And as for that last one, you'll have to find out when you see her."

"Awww..." The look of disappointment on Pinkie's face almost made me spoil the surprise. Almost.

"Sorry, Pinkie. But you'll just have to wait." With that, I made my escape... er, I mean exit, as expediently as I could. I had been here for several months now. In Canterlot, I mean. Though, for that same amount of time, I did not know where Bill was. Apparently Luna didn't know either, which made me really worried. Working my way through the streets, I headed back to the Castle and, eventually, my bed.

My rest was a bit more fitful than I had wished for, though I just attributed it to being more excited than I realised. After a while of tossing and turning, however, I finally fell into the welcoming embrace of the darkness of sleep... or so I thought.



I held out my arms as I caught Styx. It was her third time gliding, and though she was slightly behind in the flying department compared to other pegasi, I didn't mind one bit. By the gods she was my daughter, my little filly. I was proud of her no matter what. "That was great, Styx! You're doing really well!" A dull throb arose within my chest near my heart, but I paid no attention to it. My daughter's performance took precedence.

"Thanks, dad!" She gave me a hug, wrapping her arms around me yet unable to clasp her hands behind me.

See, the thing was, according to my mother, that a Paracorn is genetically similar to Equestrian ponies, of all types, so as to be able to produce children. Those children were, unlike other cross-species results like ligers or mules, fertile and could produce children themselves as well, and they would be able to produce children all down the line. I had no need to worry about my line dying out, in other words. On top of that, there is a chance that the offspring of Paracorns and Equestrian ponies will be born a Paracorn instead of a pony. Styx was one of those occasions.

"I think that's enough for one day, though," I told her. Before she could make the most adorable puppy-face that I knew I wouldn't be able to resist, I told her. "Let's go inside and see what your mother's cooking up for dinner, shall we?"

With that, my adorable little filly began excitedly saying, "Yeah yeah! Let's go!" She grabbed hold of my hand and tried dragging me to the house. It probably would have worked if she were larger or I were smaller, but since neither she nor I fit into those modifiers, I had to walk with her so she didn't fall over. "Come on, dad!"

I laughed, but that drew a bit of attention towards the feeling I had in my chest. Still, I knew there was nothing wrong with me. It was just a memory of past days, days I'd left behind to start my family. "Alrighty, sport, no worries!" Chuckling again, I continued, "The house isn't going anywhere!"

"But mommy might! Come on!" I was more amazed that she managed to keep a straight face while saying that, but then again, I had to remember that she was only seven years old. It's probably also why she still called Fluttershy "Mommy" but me "dad". Everyone knows daughters are closer or more in touch with their mothers than they are with their fathers if everything in the household is normal. But just to keep me on my toes, Styx had those times where she came to me to be with me more. Those periods lasted about a week on average, and maybe same per month.

Opening the door for her, she ran inside, straight to the kitchen and to her mother. I, on the other hand, went for the couch. Sitting down in front of the coffee table, I laid back and closed my eyes. I really was proud of Styx. She was a very good little girl. She behaved well, was really smart, and was even very athletic, hence why I had called her sport; she was active in the school's air football team. They weren't a competing team, in any sense, but it still let her practise her thing and let her experiment with different avenues of hobbies.

Thinking about my wonderful daughter simply had to put a smile on my face. I had just about everything anyone could ask for. I had a loving wife, an adorable little daughter, an experienced and caring mother, and a sensible aunt. I still wondered where Bill had wandered off to, and I also wished that we had been able to concoct some sort of locating spell or something, that would let us know where the other was.

"Will!" The scream came from the direction of the kitchen, but it was muffled, distant. "Will!" It was the same voice: my mother's. Was she visiting? If she was, why was she screaming? I had only known her to surprise us with her visitations; at least she'd let us know ahead of time.

Something wasn't right.

"Will, stay with me!" It was Bill. Was that why Luna was shouting? Bill had returned? No, that couldn't be it. They both sounded panicked. Was someone hurt? Celestia? Fluttershy... Styx? I couldn't sit back anymore. It felt as if I'd sat there for minutes, but it was in reality a few seconds.

I opened my eyes, but saw nothing. Only darkness. Still, they kept calling to me. Was this a dream? If it was, it was a pretty nightmarish dream. Or, I guess, it could be a nightmare. "Come on, Will!" It was my aunt now. "Stay alive!"

It beat the hell out of me as to why she'd tell me to do that. All I did was close my eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't know!" That was Stargazer. He was the one who, heh, hit me with that paralysis bolt. But that was ages ago. I don't know why he'd be saying sorry now. I remember he said it then, too.

"Will! No, no, no! WILL! God damnit, stay alive, man! I felt a rhythmic thumping against my chest. I realised I must have been having a flashback or something similar. Experiencing that day again, for some reason. A scene flashed before me, of Bill huddled over me. He was the source of the thumping, pounding against my chest. That must have been how he got my heart pumping again. The area next to my heart began actually hurting by this point. Luna's face was next to Bill's, tears streaming prolifically from her eyes.

"Will... Will... WILL!" The third time she screamed my name, her voice cracked and heaving overcame her annunciation in the middle of the word.

"Not again, man! NOT AGAIN, DAMMIT!" Bill was shouting at me, and his face was no more than twenty inches away. Still, both their voices sounded as distant as the sun. And then it hit me. I realised just what was going on. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't a memory.

I was dying.

In re torvus... it hit me harder than if I had flown full speed into a brick wall. Not only in my brain or physically, but in my heart. And it wasn't just because of the gaping wound. I had not fought Styx. She never died. I wasn't free. Fluttershy was still waiting for me to solve our problem with Styx. And I had no daughter. It all set in.

The scene that had been displayed before me vanished slowly, fading back to black. I dimly became aware of a soft beating. It was my heart, pumping along, trying to pump enough blood to clot the wound that wouldn't allow it to. I also became aware of a soft continuous tone in the back of my consciousness. Ever so slightly, I heard that tone fade. I heard that beat become less frequent. Then, finally, I heard the loudest sound I've ever heard: silence.

I was dead.

To be completely honest, I didn't know what to do or what to expect. With that idea in mind, I began preparing myself for every situation I could imagine. Every death scenario played in my mind. It just so happened that the scenario that I encountered this time, was the only one I hadn't prepared for. And it chilled me to my ethereal bones.

"Are you staying this time, Victor? Your kids want to see their daddy again."

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. My father. had he known I just thought of his full name, he'd warn me again that Names carry power. Thankfully, I was thinking this all and therefore could not be heard. But I was very surprised. When I first died, he'd been there to welcome me. Before I woke up in Erebus, he'd told me he'd watch over my two foals Moonshy and Victor while I got sorted out. Unfortunately, because of Styx, I never got to relieve him of his duty. Thus, it was no surprise that he'd crack that line upon my return.

It really pained me, dying for the second time. Unfortunately, it felt oddly natural, as if it was my time. I knew that that feeling was probably the Fates' doing. They did, after all, control the span of the lives of every living thing in the universe. And I couldn't bear it. As much as I wanted nothing more than to be with Fluttershy once again forever, I did not want to see her pained look that would surely occupy her face whenever she saw the scars, or the constant worry everyone would have as to when the next potentially fatal accident would occur. No. This time, for the sake of everyone including myself, I had a single decision to make, and even when I made it I prayed that it was the right one.

"Yes, dad. I'm staying this time."





I felt at peace for the first time in my life.