Are you a Weapon or a Meister?

Twilight slowly turned to look at Death. His general atmosphere was so thickly serious she could've cut it with a butter knife - there was no more humor in his tone, either. This made her slightly concerned and worried at the same time.

"I hope you realize how important it is that you return to Equestria immediately."

Everything seemed to freeze, including time itself. Twilight merely continued to look at him, and he did the same.

Only when his eyes slanted, as if furrowing his eyebrows, did time resume. Twilight widened her eyes to their full extent and opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. She opened her mouth again slowly, only to stutter and stumble over her words in surprise.

"H-how do you kno-w ab-bout -"

"...goodness, did Pinkie never tell you about me?"

"What?" She blinked, her pupils shrinking.

"Well, I thought she at least would've mentioned me, better yet let others know I exist."

"....what?"

Death sighed. "Hmmm... I guess I should explain, yes?" He tapped his chin. "Let's see... it was about seven centuries ago when I met her."

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Pinkie can't live that long."

"I am aware." He nodded. "Time goes by faster here than in Equestria. For her it must've been about fifteen years, when she was only a filly."

Twilight deadpanned. "You know she's a pony?"

"Of course. That's how I met her."

"How did you know that was her, then?"

Death laughed. "Are you kidding me? There's nobody else I know that's as energetic, random and pink as Pinkie. Don't forget, I also know her voice like the sound of silence itself."

Twilight crossed her arms, wondering how he knows her so well. "You still haven't explained how you met her."

Death nodded, gaining a serious mood again. "Right. Sorry." He coughed, and his voice had a strange tint to it. "Well, as I said, it was about seven-hundred slash fifteen years ago. I was in this very room, doing what I did..."

(Seven centuries ago....)

A very large, spiky and pitch-black figure paced around the Death Room. He had his mind on certain things. The madness-brainwashed Asura was recently detained into a bag formed from his own skin, ripped clean off by Death himself.

Death was worrying and thinking, the worst mix of actions known to man. Asura - whom had murdered three of his companions, including his own weapon - had gone insane, and Death could do nothing about it except keep him locked up for now. He somehow couldn't kill him, even if he wanted to. It was mysteriously proven fact.

He was devastated, horrified and disappointed all at once at his son's actions. He tried to think of what to do, even if his capture was already a century ago. He knew Asura wouldn't stay there forever. He was still alive. Even if he couldn't escape on his own, Death knew someone else would bail him out eventually. He didn't know when or who this would be, but he could almost feel it was proven that this is what would happen in the near or far future.

He sighed, bringing a long, jagged and clawed hand up to his face. "What am I going to do..." He muttered, his voice deep and rough. "I think I just need to relax for a bit. I can worry about this later."

Just as he said that, the mirror behind him flashed with a bright, purple light. He spun around quickly to face the mirror in surprise.

"What the....it doesn't normally do that..." Death stayed in his place, his non-existant eyes wide. The image in the mirror swirled and rolled with conjoined mixtures of many hues. It was as if the rainbow had a malfunction and was reduced to a mushy goo of colors, and was being displayed in his mirror.

As he watched in interest and confusion, the colors split apart like a curtain to reveal blurry shapes. The first color he noticed was pink. In fact, because of the blur, it looked like the image was nothing but pink.

He stepped forward to take a closer look, intrigued by this strange event. He examined the mirror on all sides, front and back, with every little detail. Was this an error of some kind? Did the mirror glitch or something? Could mirrors even glitch in the first place?

He stepped back, sighing. Looking into the mirror's image again, he gasped under his breath when he was met with a tiny, also surprised face.

It was... a pony?

The mirror was no longer blurry, so Death could clearly see the attributes of this young filly that couldn't be older than seven. With dark pink hair fluffed up to look like a cottonball and light pink fur, it's big blue eyes stared up at Death through the bottom of the mirror. It didn't even look much like a horse - he was only able to guess that due to it having small hooves and the general body structure of an equine. Death noticed a colorful mark on it's flank, which looked like three balloons. He blinked, and so did it.

"Who are you, mister?" It spoke. Death flinched, surprised it could speak. It sounded like a female.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked you who you were." She tilted her head to the side a little bit.

He blinked again, then coughed lightly. "Oh. I'm Death."

"Ooh, spooky name." She giggled, a wide smile spreading across her face. She plopped onto the floor, still grinning.

Death sweatdropped. She... wasn't afraid of him? That was very odd to him, considering most human children would run at the mere sight of him. She wasn't the tiniest bit scared, even after hearing his voice. "Mhmm...." He was so shocked that he didn't really have much to say.

He was, in fact, talking to a multicolored, young horse that could talk and wasn't afraid of him... was he dreaming, or was he hallucinating from having so little friends?

"So, what'cha doin' in my mirror? It looks cramped in there." Her high-pitched voice broke out of his thoughts. He narrowed his eyes in confusion for a split-second, then blinked, nodding. "Ah. Well, I'm not actually in your mirror. I'm looking at you through a mirror, and so are you. Sort of like a call using... mirrors."

She blinked, a wide smile on her face. "So it's like FaceTime?"

"What?"

"Nothing." She giggled, to which Death brushed it off as a strange horse joke or something.

"How exactly did you get my number?" He asked, and the tiny filly giggled.

"Oh, that was your number? I just wrote random numbers in my bedroom mirror and it glowed, then it showed me you."

He stayed silent. So it was a normal call? Why did it flash so many colors, then?

Then a thought hit him like a truck, and made him slightly excited.

"What is your world named?" He tried to sound as less confusing as possible, but despite that the filly still understood completely.

"Equestria. Why?"

His eyes squinted as if smiling, although the structure of his skull mask might not have showed it in the way he intended. "Ah... no reason. It's just that you and I are in different dimensions."

The tiny filly squealed in delight. "Really? We are?" She hopped up and down in glee. "That's so cool!"

He nodded. That explained why the mirror seemed to act differently than normal - connecting to a different dimension wasn't exactly the easiest feat for it. "It is indeed."

She laughed. "Oh, momma and papa would love to hear about this!"

Death tilted his head in amusement. "Oh?" He didn't see much harm in that. If her parents were anything like human parents, they most likely wouldn't believe an enormous, pitch-black being with a gnarly skull for a face named Death appeared in her bedroom mirror. "Would they?"

"Yup!" Just then, a voice called from faraway on her side of the connection. It was too faint for Death to make out what it said, but he did hear it. The filly's face dropped, and a smile was replaced with a disappointed frown. "Nobody, Momma!" She called back.

"What's wrong?" He suddenly became a bit concerned.

"Momma wants to know who I'm talking to. I have to go."

"But didn't you want them to meet me?"

"Yeah, but not right away. That's forcing too much on them. I got my cutie mark today and threw the biggest party we've ever had - or the only one we've ever had. They're probably exhausted anyway. I'll have to show you to them another time." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Bye, Death!"

He nodded, also disappointed that one of the first 'children' to ever stay around him was leaving. His eyes widened with the realization he never got her name, if she had one.

"Okay, but before you go, may I have your name? I just want to remember it in case we meet each other again."

She smiled, and nodded excitedly. "My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie Pie or Pinkie." Her eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay? My parents are going out to visit other family members around noon and won't be back until nighttime."

"That's a large time gap." His whisper mirrored her excitement.

"Mhmm! Then we can talk and stuff, right?"

"Of course." His non-visible smile softened. "Goodbye, Pinkie Pie."

She nodded and waved to him the same grin on her expression. He leaned down, brought up a jagged claw and waved back before the mirror's image dispersed into darkness. He sighed and stood up straighter. "Man, what a day..."

He then realized that was the first time he smiled in a whole century. That was both depressing and cheery, but he decided to see it in the latter. He, ironically, smiled and floated out of the Death Room to go release his mind of his former worries and replace them with happy thoughts.

It had been several weeks before Death ever saw her again. He hadn't forgotten her during that time, but he thought that maybe she forgot or her parents didn't go on that visit. Death was in the Death Room, dismissing someone out of the room right before the mirror glowed as it had before. The person he was speaking with left the room, thinking it rude to stay around during a call.

Death turned around quickly to face the mirror, surprised at the many colors swarming his mirror again.

She had called again! He smiled even though it couldn't be seen and floated over to the mirror. The blurry colors became clear, and there stood Pinkie Pie. While he was pleased, he was also confused. Why didn't she look different? You would think that over many weeks, she would change at least a little bit. Death couldn't find one change. Maybe she was immortal like him and aged slower than average?

"Death!" She squealed and giggled. "I'm so happy to see you again!"

"I feel the same." His deep voice showed nothing but happiness. "It's been a while since I've seen you, Pinkie."

"One day isn't that long, silly goose!" She laughed and snorted.

He paused for a moment. One day? It had been weeks. She was at least smart enough to know about dimensions, so she should know that weeks are not one day. She seemed to notice his confusion and tilted her head to the side.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, nothing... something just baffled my mind for a second. We're in different dimensions, correct?"

"Yup."

"Do you think that maybe we have different time zones as well? It's been weeks for me, while it had been a day for you."

She widened her eyes. "It's been weeks?" She repeated, her mouth opening in shock. "I'm sorry! I would've called you sooner if I knew time passed so quickly over there."

Death shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. That's in the past now. What matters is now, right? Your parents are gone on that trip, I'm assuming, so there's no issue."

Pinkie smiled wide.  "Right." She plopped down in a sitting position, to which Death did the same. "So," Pinkie giggled. "Where are you at the moment?"

Twilight widened her eyes. "Wait a second... so you were the 'Death' being she was talking about!"

Death tilted his head to the left. "Oh, so she did tell you about me?"

The witch nodded. "Yes. She told all of us. We just didn't believe her, because... you know."

His head straightened, and he seemed to smile. "Right, I understand." He sighed and looked around. "Ah, but that was all I wanted to inform you about. Kind of got off topic, but I am serious." He looked at Twilight straight in the eyes. "Promise me you and your friends'll find a way back to Equestria safe and sound. It's of utmost importance."

She frowned. "I am aware. But..." She trailed off, looking behind her. She looked back at Death. "Is there a time limit? And if there is, what would happen if we don't return in time?"

"There is, and if you don't then your ability to return is diminished." His serious demeanor made a U-turn and came back. "It won't close and open many years later or anything like that. There's no second chances. It will close permanently, and you'll be stuck here for the rest of your life."

Twilight's mouth opened in horror. "How do we get back to Equestria, then?" She sounded panicked.

Death noticed immediately and widened his eyes. "Hold on, hold on! I didn't mean to worry you; the time limit isn't short. You just have to return within a year."

The witch blinked. "Oh." She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's not short at all."

"Exactly. Now..." He tapped his chin. "To return, I believe you have three choices."

He held up one finger. "The first and most easiest choice is to make three Death Scythe pairs connect soul wavelengths. Then a portal will open, and you can step right in. However, there's a catch. The Death Scythe pairs who open the portal need to enter it. They cannot open it for others, only themselves." He narrowed his eyes. "Along with that, while it is the easiest out of the three, it is the longest. When your time limit is a year, making three Death Scythe pairs almost seems impossible."

He held up another finger. "The second choice is the more difficult one, with no definite time range. You must find out who or what transported you here in the first place, which might take a long or short time. It all depends on who the said person is. Then you have to somehow make them transport you back. It seems easy enough, but most beings who can do that are rare and often don't like doing that for others. So, you must convince and persuade them to help you. Explaining your situation may be enough, but sometimes it isn't as easy."

He held up a third finger. "Finally, the there's the third choice. This option is probably the most complicated and may not work or go as planned." He motioned to his mirror. "You can contact someon- I mean, somepony in Equestria, and request that they somehow find a way to transport you back. This may fail for the reason that the pony you contact doesn't believe your circumstance is real, or they may just hate you and not care. Or they don't know how to complete your request. Of course, they can get somepony else to help, but that means connecting to their universe all over again, and who knows how long that would take - don't forget that our worlds have different time zones. One day there is several weeks here. You may not connect with them again by the end of the year."

Twilight sat in uneasy silence, thinking about the options. "But all of them have a bad quality to them..." She muttered.

Death nodded. "Right. I would personally try all of them, but the Death Scythe option would be the first I'd do. It is possible, but unlikely. Doesn't hurt to try, though."

Twilight nodded. "Okay.... thank you, Death." She bowed lightly in respect and turned around, running under the guillotines and hurrying for the door.

As she put her hand on the doorknob, Death faintly called out to her again. She turned to him again, frowning. "Yes?"

"When you see Pinkie again... be sure to give her that skull bracelet in your shirt pocket."

Twilight blinked and reached into her pocket, pulling out a thin, short and silver bracelet with occasional tiny blue gems on it's chain. The most noticeable feature was the tiny skull hanging on it, looking exactly like Death's mask. "Oh... uhm, okay."

"Thank you. It's important to her and to me. I'd appreciate it if you'd do that for me. Now, have fun! G'bye!" He waved to her, closing his eyes and seeming to smile.

Twilight nodded and exited the room, wondering how the bracelet got there, why it was important and how Death knew where it was.

"Strange city, I tell ya..." She muttered, starting to walk down the crowded hallway once again to look for her friends.