Reincarnated Immortality

The door to Skygleam's house opened, revealing the mare herself. She stepped out and began walking down the street. Carn paused and looked back, she had closed the door but left it unlocked.

"Having second thoughts?"

"No, but I do know how were going to pay Will." Carn crossed the street and approached her door. "An agent of darkness requires no money."

Carn continued down the street, a medium sized bag of bits attached to his satchel.

"At least we don't have to worry about money for awhile"

"Yes, well let's hope it lasts" The tavern was only a block away. Carn's ears twitched as he heard a familiar pattern of hoofsteps behind him.  They had been following him since he left the square. The tavern was in sight, but instead of heading inside, Carn walked into the back alley where he had landed. The pony behind him followed. The alley branched off to the left where it reached its end. Carn approached the back wall and merely turned to face his attacker. The pegasus smiled contently to himself while he brandished a knife attached to his right front leg.

"Ya know, I thought you were gonna be a little harder to catch, but walking into a back alley by your own free will is just unforgivable. Now just give me that ittle ole' bag attached your purse, and I'll be on my way." a thief, nothing more. Carn looked into his eyes. He was a simple thief, had a small family that he tried to provide for, member of a thieves guild that he had to 'help' establish, but he was only a thief because it was what he had always been, he knew of nothing else. Each scenario began to play itself out within his mind.

Give him the bag. He would bring it to his guild where it would be distributed among its members at the end of the week. Due to the high quantity of bits within, he would be expected to bring in more which he is not capable of. The guild would 'dispose' of him and his family to keep its identity hidden. Refuse to give him the money. He would kill me, take the money and possibly all of my other things, but be expelled from said guild. they wouldn't want to get involved in murder and would alienate him and his family. He would be racked with depression having killed somepony over a bit bag. He and his family would enter poverty with almost no hope to escape it. Kill him. The rest of his family would suffer, and enter poverty. Incapacitate him, turn him over to the Royal Guard. Would be convicted of several crimes of theft and sentenced to five years in the dungeons. His family would turn to the Guard for protection having learned he was a member of this guild. Family support would allow him to find his true calling.

Carn looked down at the pegasus' legs as they shifted uncomfortably.

"Look just give me the bag I'll go." Carn gazed back into his eyes.

"Your family will be most proud of you." Carn's horn erupted with magic, causing earthen spikes to erupt from the cobblestone, pinning the pegasus to the wall, two went for his legs, but instead made a platform for him to stand. two more locked his hooves in place and finally, one formed a claw around his neck.

"I'm afraid you won't be stealing from anypony today. Now, if I were in your position, I wouldn't attempt to escape such confines, for you see that rock around your neck is as sharp as any military grade sword. If you were to even twitch  the blade will cut open your neck. You would bleed out in a matter of minutes. I'm sure your family would not enjoy being informed about your death. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters that I need to attend to."

"You can't just..." He slowly sipped in air. He could feel the pressure the blade put on his neck. "leave me here."

"Ah, well I don't intend to." Carn shot a magical red flare into the sky, a common signal used by the Royal Guard to indicate that there was trouble. The signal was rarely used, and many guards would not recognize it, but some would. He walked back toward the alley's entrance, hearing a string of curses and insults behind him.

"Another criminal spared by your hoof Carn?" The voice questioned.

"He will go on to repent his ways. Even root out the thieves guild I had to establish to ensure the guard were still required to actually do something in the city."

"Ah yes they did grow quite lazy over the years." she remarked.

"But with the arrival of the darkness, they will have their attention divided, making them weaker. This stallion will reveal guild's whereabouts and expose them. The guard will be able to focus on the new threat at hoof after their elimination. This will however tip the scales again. I will have to do something else, something terrible, to keep the two forces at an impasse. While the force of darkness is strong, it is not strong enough. It will require another sacrifice, a leader, to balance this world."

The voiced gasped in horror.

“No! You can’t do that! That’s just… I mean… they’re sisters!” Carn had created this voice; it had its own thoughts, desires, and conscious. The only thing it lacked was a body. Due to it being a ‘separate’ being it did not posses the gift of foresight that he had been cursed to bear. Their thoughts were their own but they could be heard by each of them. He had nurtured it with knowledge he had acquired over his lifetimes, allowing it to develop as a child might have.

“Every time I attempt to create balance in this world something else comes to destroy it. So, I must attempt to keep it as close to being balanced as possible. If one side were to gain permanent dominance over the other…”

“Yes, I know. The world will deteriorate into nothing.”

“She will return in time and when she does, other evils will rise so fill the void that she will have left.”

“I know…” the voice sounded as though it were on the brink of tears. Carn exited the alley and entered the tavern

“She’ll be back…” Carn felt the sense of loss creep into his eyes as he heard the clanking of armor echo down the alley beside the tavern.