Death Unbound

Dust blinded my vision, not letting me see if my spell had worked properly. I could sense the souls of the dead dramatically increase in number. I could feel pain tearing through my body nearly forcing me to the ground. The battle had been intense and bloody, several unpredicted happenings occurred, forcing me to make new plans on the fly. I saved many lives, but lost much more. My friend, the only thing left of him was a corpse and a soul. Folklore says that Death can breathe life into those he deems worthy, to those who were unjustly taken from the land of the living. They were wrong, fate only gave me the ability to access the spirits and their world with ease, the only actual magic I could manipulate was nothing beyond the norm. Teleportation, levitation, transformation things any normal unicorn could accomplish.

My mind was overwhelmed, the screams and cries of the dead melding with the ringing in my ears to create a cacophony of sound. My power was drained and I could feel myself begin to get weaker. My injuries beginning to catch up with me, I slowly lowered myself to the ground. My job was done, I protected the town and its inhabitants, killed the murderous ponies and erected a barrier around the whole of Ponyville. I felt my head touch soft grass, and a strange dampness upon my cheek that I soon came to recognize as a tear.

A flash of light appeared out of the corner of my eye, causing me to lazily seek its source. I found a small filly, the same one whose mother had been killed in front of her. She was in a fetal position, rocking back and forth, her head buried in her hooves. I stumbled to all fours, being somewhat careful of my still tender wounds. Cringing as I went, I made my way over to her trembling form before once again taking a seat next to her. She flinched as she heard me move adjacent to her, most likely thinking I was going to attack her.

"Its okay kid, everything's gonna be alright. Those monsters are gone, there is nothing to be afraid of anymore." I said, inching closer to the sobbing filly.

She said nothing, still in shock of seeing her parent die in front of her. I wrapped my forehoof around her, earning a flinch and a small squeal for my efforts. I slowly began stroking her mane, a magnificent shade of purple in the tan glow of the barrier next to us. This seemed to have a slight calming effect so I persisted, pulling myself closer to her.

"Hush, hush." I said softly, images of a white filly with a black mane filling my thoughts.

She stopped her rocking, instead choosing to hug me back, crying deeply into my shoulder. The sudden contact startled me, but upon seeing how much this was helping her, I chose to continue the embrace. I kept stroking her mane, resting my chin on her head, I began rocking her myself. This continued for a couple minutes, me constantly trying to comfort a scarred filly, somehow keeping past memories from pushing their way into the forefront of my mind.

She eventually fell into a slumber, her shallow breaths becoming deeper and slower until she was subconsciously snuggling into the crook of my neck. Her light snoring attesting to her current state, as well as being completely adorable. I smiled faintly through my now tear soaked face, remembering the distant memories of-

No! Don't think about them, there is too much pain where your mind wanders, control it, do not let it control you! I thought, regretting my train of thought instantly.

I stood, my limbs crying out in pain, and began walking to the giant tree near the edge of town. The filly hanging in the air next to me, surrounded in a tan magic aura. Her small wings twitching slightly as I walked.

Those wings don't look like they're strong enough to lift her. I'll have to ask her about them when she wakes up. I observed.

I looked about the town, dead bodies strewn through the streets, mares and stallions alike crying over the corpses of loved ones. As I walked through the center of town, I noticed the cage of bone was still untouched and unmoved. I shot a small beam of magic at it, causing it to disappear in a green flash of light. Five ponies stumbled out though with the sudden expenditure of magic, I didn't manage to see them before my vision began to get blurry and faded.

I stumbled by, heading for the treehouse as fast as I could. As soon as I opened the door, I collapsed, exhaustion finally taking over. Twilight Sparkle and her assistant looked over from their hunched forms, eyes red and faces stained with tears. They both went wide eyed as seeing me, rushing over to the sleeping form of the filly, yelling questions at me. I was ignoring them, looking at the prone form on the couch.

The world around me blurred and everything flashed blue before returning to its natural color. In that brief moment, I saw something truly magical. The soul of the only friend I had ever known, looked at me, tears streaming down his face like great rivers. A sad smile formed upon his face, before he waved at me and the vision disappeared, leaving only his dead form on a bloodstained couch, unmoving, soulless eyes looking at the ceiling.

I reached for him, crawled to him, thinking of all I could do to save him, to bring him back. Though in the back of my mind I knew there was no getting him back, he was dead. He was gone. I clutched his cold hoof with no intent of letting him go.

He had not only become my friend or my comrade, he had become a symbol to me, proof that I wasn't some unnatural accident. That deep below my scar infested exterior, I was just another pony, nothing more. He had been my anchor, he kept me from insanity, from losing myself in my times of mourning. Mourning for those I had lost, for those I was losing, and for those I will lose. Mourning even for myself. In times when the nobility would antagonize me to no end, when they would constantly remind me I was an outsider, shunned even by the ever caring princesses, he would be back at the barracks, waiting to hear my complaints and my worries. He was more than a friend, he was family, a brother.

It was then that I looked up, expecting to see hate filled faces shunning me in my moment of weakness. I noticed quickly how different this town was from Canterlot, for both Twilight and her assistant had their heads bowed out of respect for the dead, fresh tears dotting the ground where they stood. I also saw the filly, now awake from all of the noise, her face still tear stricken as she looked at me, on the ground, begging for some greater power to return my brother back to me.

She walked over to me and sat next to me. Without warning, she brought me into an embrace, much like I did with her not ten minutes before. I hugged back, attempting to control myself to no avail. Eventually the tears stopped, not for lack of stimulation, for I still had plenty of sorrow, I had simply run out of my last energy reserves. I felt my eyelids begin to droop uncontrollably, my consciousness slipping away, and suddenly I was in a realm of dreams.

It wasn't like my normal dreamscape. Whenever I would go to sleep I would reappear in a vast emptiness, a hole waiting to be filled by my imagination. This time though, the stage was already set as I appeared next to a group of three different species. One, a griffin, somehow giving a sense of defeat as my eyes passed over her to the next creature. A buffalo, hair missing in places, matted in others, his horns had either broken off or cracked, was next to pass under my gaze. Beside him was a zebra, seemingly devoid of food for her entire life as there couldn't have been any muscle between her skin and her skeletal structure. I could not only count every bone, but I could also see the imperfections in them.

They all turned to look at me and I recognized them instantly, I had seen them on the walls. They were the mysterious teammates brought together by fate in this apparently shared dreamscape. I nodded at each out of respect, not wanting to make enemies out of my new team. They introduced themselves as, Blood Mourn, the griffin, Dirge, the buffalo, and Aeternalis, the zebra. What struck me as odd, was that I had not seen any of their mouths move, and yet I had come to know their names.

Not wanting to be rude I was about to say my name when I was interrupted by a feminine voice, "We know who you are Crash Wrecker, master strategist, old general of the princesses themselves, and recently re-accepted into their royal guard."

Once again I found it strange that none of their mouths moved even slightly. Through a bit of guess work, I was able to figure out that it had been the griffin that had somehow communicated with me. I looked at her, staring into her deep red eyes. The longer I looked, the more I began to notice a red haze that began to surround her. Whipping my head back to look at the other two, I saw that they had their own hazes that surrounded them, each of a different color. The buffalo was encased in a green shroud and the zebra, a pale yellow. I looked to my hooves to see a mist, taking a familiar shade of purple, surrounding them, traveling a few inches out before dissipating.

I got flashes of the battle I had earlier in my head, it was the same power that turned me into...what had Twilight called it? Death incarnate? That sounded about right. I could feel the power inside me, pulsating, moving, trying to claw its way out of my body. There were other powers too, ones that were not inside me, but that emanated from the creatures around me. I watched as all of our colors swirled together in the center of the four of us, forming a large orb.

I looked deep into the orb, for some reason, I was unable to look away. It reflected where there was no light, it produced heat where there was no cold, it was unnatural yet, beautiful. Without realizing it, I began walking closer and closer to it, wanting desperately to touch it. By the time I realized how close I was getting, it was too late. All four of us touched the orb, the others just as drawn to it as I was. At first nothing happened, then suddenly, our bodies began to convulse and shiver and shake as images of each other's roles filled our heads.

Blood Mourn was to be the general of our vast armies of the damned. With her vast knowledge of fighting styles and strategies, all the kingdoms of Terra would fall before us. Dirge was to be our living threat, anypony who tried to resist us would be tortured by watching their friends and family die by some incurable disease before finally handing over their rule. Aeternalis was our riot control. If any territory was to try and retaliate, they would all slowly starve to death until there was no one left. I was to be the ruler of the planet, doing whatever I please to whomever I please. Eventually the four of us were meant to bring about the end of the world before waiting for the cycle to start again. We fell to the floor, unable to move. Before we passed out, we all looked to each other and one thing was understood, we needed to find each other as soon as possible.