Ghosts of the Past

CHAPTER 4 – Death is not the End

Date: 29th of February, First Year of the Game. Location: Canterlot.

All the family and long-lost friends of Sky Blue have come to Canterlot. She asked all of them to come for a few days. During the whole week, the elderly mare took her time to talk with them, to relinquish past memories, to have fun... They didn't know why they were there, but they enjoyed it.

She also required me to translate lots and lots of dialogues between her and Shiny Ring over the week. From idle chatter to old memories, I saw it all. And, slowly, I could understand why they loved each other so much. They also got to know me better, even if I only wrote about myself occasionally and didn’t tell them about anything related to Earth.

The evening of the last day came quickly, and it was time for the speech she had planned since the beginning of the week. Everyone went in the tiny garden behind her shop. In there, was a crowd of around 20 ponies, as well as a diamond dog who was one of her gem suppliers.

The blue mare stepped up on an improvised platform made wooden planks and wood logs, cleared her throat, and addressed the audience.

“Dear friends and family.

“Today, we are reunited here for a very special occasion. You wondered why I made you come here, from as far as Mustang… Well, I have learned an important lesson during my life, and I want to share it with you,” she said before breathing deeply for a few seconds.

“A few months ago, I was spending most of the weekdays slightly drunk behind a counter, and my weekends completely drunk in my bed.”

The audience murmured in surprise.

“Why would I do this, you would say.

“The answer lies in my past. A past that some of you know already; but it's not the case of everyone here. In short, I made a mistake and sabotaged my own life, and now, all that remains is you lot. You’re the only ones I care about... Yet, something more important is waiting for me elsewhere. Something that I destroyed.”

“You see… Some say that family is the most important thing in life. Here, in front of me, I have a family. Yet, its members are not as important to me as some ponies believe. This family did give me life, a shelter, affection. And my friends did too, albeit on a different scale. We had fun; we rested on each other’s shoulder during hard times; we felt like siblings sometimes. With others, like you Scraper,” she said while pointing the diamond dog, “it was more of a business relation, tinted with friendship. It was nice, and in the end you were much more of a true friend than a simple colleague…”

Closing her eyes in regret, she kept speaking. “But this is not what life is about. Family and friends, although they are important, do not make a life perfect,” she said, before opening her eyes again.

“That thing we need to live fully, my friends, is love. More powerful than friendship and family bonds, it becomes our sole reason to live, once we experience it in its purest form.

“This is what I felt, long ago, when I was living with my sweetheart Shiny Ring.”

“The problem with love is that when we lose it, it is not possible to overcome the pain that ensues. Not without great efforts.”

Tears were brimming in her eyes, but she kept on talking with a trembling voice.

“I was not able to do these efforts, and the pain stayed in my mind ever since. My life became hell. I was barely surviving with what I could sell, I was responsible for the deaths of both my child and my lover, and I never could forgive myself.”

“Today, finally, I have the occasion to end this suffering, and to live another life with the one I loved.

“A few days ago, I met what appears to be a god ruling the spirits of the dead; and he holds the soul of my husband, who has stayed near me ever since he died. He gave me a choice, and I chose to join Shiny Ring. I chose to die painlessly, surrounded by people I loved. Today will be my last day on Equestria. And I do not regret it. I have you by my side now, and when I will leave, I will have Shiny Ring by my side. It is the best  passing I could ever dream of experiencing.”

Most of the audience frowned, saddened by the announcement. Some of them muttered: “She can't be serious...”

After her speech ended, I gave her a paper with lyrics and a request.

“I want to try something. This is a song I like. It's called ‘Death is not the end’. It fits this whole situation rather well, so, if you can, sing it.”

She nodded in agreement, and cleared her throat before singing. “This one is for you,” she said, looking at the crowd.

When she started singing, a piano instantly accompanied her, its sound coming from everywhere at the same time. I was not really surprised; I knew their world was weird sometimes… But this phenomenon was interesting, to say the least.

Her voice was not as pure as that of the original singer, but the instruments were exactly the same as those I could listen to on Earth. And the lyrics retained their meaning nonetheless: she was in despair, she had lived a long life, and dying wasn't something she was afraid of. Death was freedom to her.

Shiny Ring was crying after the second verse. He probably must’ve felt like he had been stabbed in the chest.

I know that kind of pain. It happened to me, a few times. I was not a man who cried for nothing, but when it did happen, I couldn’t control myself.

She stopped singing after the fourth verse. It was all I remembered from the lyrics. Some people in the audience were trying to retain obvious tears, and others silently listened, their heads resting on their own loved ones.

Sky Blue took a while to regain her composure. She forcefully smiled, with tears in her eyes, and simply said “Good bye” to the audience. The ponies stayed on their seats, without understanding what was happening. Then, she headed to her bedroom and laid herself down on her bed after locking the door.

“I am ready.”

She took one final breath, closed her eyes, and waited.

Shiny Ring was watching her silently from a corner of the room, not daring to even accidentally disturb me.

On the side of the bed, I was trying to focus. It was hard, much harder than levitation. I had to concentrate on the idea of seeing her Soul Link for almost thirty seconds, before managing to catch a glimpse of it. It flickered several times. The mare's family was already trying to open the door at that point, and they were quite noisy.

Sky Blue didn’t care about all this. She waited for something like that during several decades; it wasn’t like she couldn’t wait a few more seconds.

Finally, after a few minutes, I managed to see the Link constantly. It was tied in a knot, going all over her body. “I guess cutting it will be bad.”

Undoing that knot without my right hand was hard, but the knot was fairly simple. The constant hits on the door didn't make my task easy but I managed to pull the rope regardless. Once the knot was undone, I tugged on the rope one last time.

While I was pulling the Link, a ghostly version of Sky Blue appeared, slowly dissociating from her body. The room was illuminated during the process. That was noticed by her family members, who tried to bust the door open in panic.

The only thing I heard was a slow expiration, and then, a much younger version of Sky Blue was there, with us.

It was done. I took a life. I didn’t feel any particular emotion at that moment, but I knew that some time later, this emotional dam would backfire on me.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes, turned her face and saw me. Her eyes opened wide and she bit her lip for a second, but she didn’t let her fear dictate her actions. “Is that you… JC?”

“Yes. It’s me. But it is not for me that you are here. Look over there,” I said with a knot in my throat, as I was pointing to the corner of the room.

Sky Blue slowly turned her head, and saw a cowering Shiny Ring sitting in a corner, unsure of what to do.

“So it was true…”

She jumped to the corner of the room and slapped him.

He looked at her, stunned, before asking: “Why?”

She didn’t answer, put her hooves on his cheeks, and kissed him.

During that moment, her siblings finally managed to open the door, oblivious to the scene occurring in the Soul Dimension. One of them stepped forward and checked the pulse on her body. She was dead.

The brother declared: “I hope it really was what she wanted,” before leaving the room, weeping silently despite her speech.

After what seemed like eternity to me, the two detached themselves, and sat down. Sky Blue looked at her brother going out of the room, and looked worried for a second. But it didn’t last long. Shiny Ring was more important to her.

“What you did was stupid. Before we go, promise me one thing: don’t ever do anything like this again. You know I love you too much to leave you like this,” she said with a motherly tone.

Shiny Ring looked straight in her eyes and agreed silently, his ears turned back.

He then turned his head to face me and asked: “What do we do now?”

I scratched my head in embarrassment, before admitting: “Well, in fact, I don’t really know. I’ll have to ask my boss.”

Sky Blue looked at me, bedazzled. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. Now please stay here, I’ll send ‘him’ a message,” I said while going through the wall.

Once in a room where I was alone, I focused on sending a message to Mercury. Instead of appearing himself, he sent me a scroll.

“There’s an autopilot on the chopper, idiot. Oh and, you don’t have the right to push the buttons.”

“Uh-uh. So I was supposed to summon it somehow. Well, time for some experiments.”

I walked into the street, where some of Sky Blue’s friends were discussing, some of them crying on others’ shoulders.

I closed my eyes to make everything easier, since summoning something certainly wouldn’t be easy; and focused on the chopper appearing from thin air in front of me. It took several minutes, but I managed to get it to show up.

Oddly enough, the chopper didn’t appear in thin air as I imagined it would. In fact, a bunch of smoke clouds detached from the heap of it that was hovering around me, and moved to the side. It took the shape of a big circle floating in the air. The chopper came through the smoke passageway, blinding me with its chromed coating’s reflections. It drove itself for a few meters, before putting its own crutch on the ground and shutting the engine off.

“So, it is half conscious or something?”

Pondering on what this behavior implied, I walked back to the room where Shiny Ring and Sky Blue were. I went through the door, and found them making out again.

I tapped on the ground with a foot. “We’re going. Now.”

They both looked at me with pleading eyes, as if they both were puppies desperate for an owner, waiting in a miserable pet shop. Too bad I didn’t have visible eyes... They couldn’t win this fight.

A few minutes later, once they were sitting on the bike, I sat on the front of the saddle, started the engine, and examined the display in the middle. There were several buttons that I never saw on my bikes on Earth.

What could I do but to try them one after the other?

“Fuck the instructions. If there is a ‘red button’, I’m going to push it now.”

The first button changed the bike’s color from that flashy chrome to a black matte; the second made the saddle higher; the third removed the top case… Needless to say, I was a bit confused. But these buttons weren’t the most confusing ones.

The fourth button I pressed was different. I heard a click, and we were all surrounded by smoke for a second.

Shiny Ring tapped on my shoulder. “What's happening?”

I whispered: “I don't know!”

Strangely, the voice seemed to come from my chest, instead of coming from my mask.

That’s when the ponies in the street looked at me, straight in my eyes.

A mare almost silently asked: "What the hay is this thing? Who is that?"

She was standing in front of the bike, looking straight into my torso, as if it was more interesting than my iron mask.

I waved my hand and said: “Hello!”

Her mane straightened suddenly and she jumped back slightly, before I noticed that I was waving the scythe at her face.

“Oh, sorry.”

When I leapt off of the bike, I understood what was wrong. Instead of hearing two feet bumping on the ground, I heard four distinct hooves. Their noise resonated in my ears during a half of a second that seemed like eternity to me; and suddenly the world sped up and caught up with my brain.

When I looked down, I was more than surprised. My body was much more transparent than usual, and a very tall pony in a black costume was at the same place as me, my legs intersecting with his torso. I tried moving my arms a bit, and he did exacty the same thing with his legs. When I spoke, the voice came from him instead of from me. When I walked with my two legs, he walked with his four legs.

The guests were bewildered as to who this strange pony was, and they found his gestures as strange as ridiculous; but since he wasn't on the bike anymore, they saw the two ghosts behind: Shiny Ring and Sky Blue, slightly see-through but still technically there. The ponies very soon stopped eyeing the black stranger and contemplated their dead acquaintances, now apparently among them once again.

Sky Blue intervened, hoping to ease their understanding of the situation: “It’s me, my friends!”

They couldn’t believe it. She was dead, and yet she talked to them exactly like she did a few minutes earlier.

One of her brothers came out of the house, alerted by the screams of a few ponies in the street, and suddenly stopped walking. “It was all true...” was all he could say, before seeing me and bowing down.

I gestured towards him with my hands, and the pony under me did the same thing with his foreleg. I spoke, and it was the pony's voice that could be heard. “Please, don’t do this… I am not a god. Don’t revere me. I am a Soul Guide, a simple messenger.”

He stood up, still visibly afraid of the figure facing him, and asked: “What will happen to her?”

Once again, the words I uttered did not exit my own mouth, but that of the pony under me. “I will lead her to the source of all life, and her soul will be renewed. She will live another life, under another name, in another body. But, hopefully, she will live that new life in company of the stallion for whom she abandoned this life.

“Do not be sad for her. Be happy, as she will leave here all her sorrows, and build something new. Live your own life fully, and keep her in your memories. It is all that I ask from you. Remember her as she was, and remember that her sacrifice was her own choice.”

“Heh. I’m starting to like this ‘wise man’ thing. The ‘eloquence bonus’ is awesome. But this weird pony puppet... I'm going to have to ask Mercury about it.”

By then, all of the guests were in the street, ogling at the two ghosts still sitting on the strange machine.

Sky Blue spoke up after a while. “When I said ‘Good bye’, I meant it. I am happy that way. Do not make me regret it, please.”

Her family nodded in acceptance, as well as most of the other guests.

I climbed on the bike once again, as well as the pony under me, and he addressed them one last time while copying every single one of my gestures.

“Remember. Enjoy your life the best way you can. Not everyone will have the chance I gave her.”

The black pony and I both slowly turned the mutant bike towards the other end of the street, and clumsily turned the throttle with telekinesis.

“Fucking scythe. I can’t drive with this.”

Sky Blue and Shiny Ring looked back at their friends one last time.

When I accelerated, the guests’ haircuts were ruined by a powerful wind blow.

My smoke aura outpaced the bike a few seconds after and rose up, creating a dark wall of fog.

We heard a cracking noise, and suddenly, there was nothing but blackness around us.

Date: 29th of February, First Year of the Game. Location: Tartarus.

The motorbike came to a halt on a rocky terrain, in front of a massive wooden gate encrusted in a black wall of polished stone. The black stone wall was surrounded by an endless void. It reflected the chopper’s lights as well as a mirror, and it showed me that the pony had disappeared.

Shiny Ring and Sky Blue were terrified by the ominous door. They both asked: “What was that pony we saw there?”

“I don't know! Now stop asking me questions, I'm as confused as you are.” However, my mask did not show anything, as usual.

Seeing as there was no intercom, I tried to honk with the motorbike.

“Here goes nothing…”

A sound that you would have expected from a heavy-duty truck came out of the bike.

Slowly, the gate opened, creaking slightly in the process. Behind it, I could see a small yard with strange plants on one side, famished animals on the other, and a mansion in the middle. Standing in the doorframe was a woman wearing a simple white toga and a golden belt.

I drove slowly to the middle of the yard and jumped out of the bike. As I pointed my arms backwards, I declared: “You two, don’t go anywhere.”

I walked to the door and approached the woman. She stared at me until I reached the stairs, before asking me with a disdainful tone: “And who might you be exactly?”

“The pizza guy,” I said, my mask remaining expressionless.

The woman smirked. “Nah, seriously. Who are you?”

“Mercury sent me. He said I was a Soul Guide now. But I didn’t really have any instructions… And you are… Styx, I presume?”

“Correct. And you are right in the middle of my domain. Now, why did Mercury send you here? It’s because of those two over there?” She motioned towards the two ponies.

“They have to go to the Fount. The bike brought me here, but now I don’t really know what to do.”

Styx sighed. “You really are a damned newbie… I wasn’t aware that this slacker recruited people who didn’t even know  their job…”

“So… I just have to leave them here and you do the rest? He didn't tell me anything else.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. I’ll go and send them to Hades, and poof, they’ll be gone.”

“Perfect. But I want to see… Can I come?” I asked, hopeful.

“No. Go away. You’re a guide, not a god. Find other lost souls and let me do my job,” she retorted harshly.

“Bitch.”

I did not answer her and went back to the bike.

“It seems I will have to leave you guys here. Don’t be afraid, this person over there is in charge of everything related to your next life. I can’t follow you, though,” I said, disappointed.

Shiny Ring wasn’t exactly prone to speaking in moments like this one, so Sky Blue spoke up.

“I haven’t known you for long, but, JC, if we ever meet again, I’m sure I’ll remember you. I’m sorry I can’t stay here, but thanks for everything.”

She jumped out of the bike, clumsily stood on her back legs and hugged me. “Well, I didn’t see that one coming.”

I gave in a few seconds after and hugged her too. “I’ll miss you both.”

Shiny Ring slowly let himself slide off of the bike, and awkwardly lifted his hoof. I shaked it vigorously, and watched them walking towards Styx. They turned their heads and looked at me one last time, before Styx snapped her fingers and they all fell through the ground.

“At least they looked happy,” I thought to myself, trying to contain my emotions.

Unfortunately, I failed to do so. Less than a minute later, every repressed feeling I’ve brushed aside during the last few months showed up and kicked my mind’s fictional nuts. Sky Blue and Shiny Ring were the only people I could consider as more than strangers here; and I left them. There was no chance I would see them later either… My mask was as motionless as ever, but under it, my face was tense. I refused to let myself cry, yet my heart was screaming in pain and regret.

Interrupting me in my self-loathing session, a green flash of light illuminated the yard as a scroll appeared in my hand.

“Two souls for the price of one? Good job.

“But I told you not to touch the buttons. That will cost you dear.”

Five seconds later, I writhed in agony on the ground and felt my consciousness fading away. Again.

Date: 29th of February, First Year of the Game. Location unknown.

I woke up in a place even weirder than the one I left. Instead of the lugubrious manor that I just left, I was lying on a small floating island. It was the size of a fisherman’s boat, and surrounded by an absolute nothingness. Except this time, the nothingness was blindingly white.

I sat and looked around, but I found nothing. I was alone. And my fabulous uniform was gone, too.

I missed my right hand during all that time. It felt good to stretch these fingers again… But I didn’t miss my glasses.

That loneliness didn’t last long, though, because a few minutes later, another island floated around mine. On it, was standing Mercury.

He stared at me and frowned.

“You have disobeyed me. Do that again, and I kill you. But it won’t end there. Because after killing you, I’ll resurrect you, and kill you again. And that will last for a while. I’m not easily satisfied when I torture people.”

I swallowed, before asking: “Why was it important not to push the buttons?”

“I told you, I did not want you to be seen back there. And you have been, as well as your cargo. By no less than twenty-two sentient beings,” he said, emphasizing the number.

“Remember when we met. What did I ask you?”

“You asked me if I liked to live on the edge of the law... Right?”

“Exactly. And your answer satisfied me, back then. But what you did with the buttons was not simply walking on the edge. You outright crossed the border, and I am not happy with that. You were supposed to find another way; not to disobey. For example, I hoped that your friends on the back would have been the ones to push the buttons. That way, you would have respected the law while still getting what you wanted. You understand?”

“I guess. When you talk about the law… It’s referring to the contract too, right? After all, for example, as the article number 1134 of my Civil Code says, ‘Contracts are law to those who concluded them’. Is it what you’re talking about too?”

“That’s about it, yes. And since this contract we’re talking about has been made by a god, namely, me; it is not to be taken lightly by anyone. Is it clear?”

“Yes. Uh, I have another question. What was that Phantasm pony under me?”

“It is your image in the world of mortals. For now, it is nothing but a moving picture that does everything you do. However, when I will grant you the ability to fully cross dimensions, you will be able to become what it represented.”

“Hmm. Interesting. That 'picture' was pretty tall compared to other ponies. Now, it might sound stupid, but where are we?”

“A nifty place I created just now. I admit the decoration is quite sparse, but I had very little time to make this place. Basically it’s a dream. I told you already, I’m the god of communication; and that includes divination. And divination includes prophetic dreams. Oh and no, I won’t show you your future.”

I nodded. “Uh-uh. Got it. So, what do I do, now that I brought Shiny Ring to Styx? Keep on being a Soul Guide?”

He twirled an imaginary Dali-esque moustache with his fingers, and answered me with a nefarious look on his face.

“Now that the only guy who knew your true face is gone for good, and for no other reason than this particular knowledge… The next part of my plan shall be put into motion. Ha-ha!”

Before letting me the time to react, he exploded, and the dream world exploded with him.

Date: 29th of February, First Year of the Game. Location: Tartarus.

I woke up with a headache. Back in my costume, I could see Styx’s mansion, and a wheel of the bike.

I didn’t move because of the headache, almost tired for once. I didn’t sleep for a good while, but this time, after having actually slept, although it was by necessity, I felt really tired. My jaw kept tensing up by itself, as if I was about to yawn.

And I meditated about what Mercury said. What kind of plan could he have had exactly? Why punish me like this for a few buttons and people who didn’t know my true face?

Perhaps it was more about the lesson than the act.

Perhaps it was a way to teach me how to maximize what I could do without being unlawful.

After what seemed to last an eternity, I came to the following conclusion: “That bastard is training me to exploit the holes in the Game’s rules.”

The real question was: why would he do that? Perhaps he wanted me to be able to carry his plan to completion by myself. That was the most plausible. A Piece who could bend the game’s rules to serve its desires truly would be the most powerful of all Pieces. Even without any actual power.

After that little brainstorming session, I stood up. The headache was gone. Quickly, I jumped on the bike and started the engine. Just like last time, the smoke cloud came over me while I was driving, and with a loud bang, I suddenly arrived somewhere else.

Date: 29th of February, First Year of the Game. Location: A desert.

“Yaaaay. I love sand.”