Dark Iron Kingdom

When the train arrived back to home to our castle outside ponyville, Death and Life in turn had to wait in our bodies for the Gateway to Paradise to activate for them. And regards to this they allowed me the temporary ability to "tune" the gate, for lack of a better word, to their realms so they could go home. And after everything was all set, their last parting was just both of them using our bodies to passionately kiss each other before one at a time they flowed out of our mouths again and into the gate one at a time.

An eerie silence soon took hold afterwards as I remained staring at the mystic archway. Admittedly while I was quite pleased that I had access to both of my eyes again after Death left my body, and the wonderful binocular vision that it afforded, but...for some reason I felt...hollow. It was if something was pulled from me, and I felt alone with my thoughts.

"It is silly really. At first, I could not wait for them to go back so I could have my body all to myself again, but now I only wish we had more time," I said to Twilight next to me before she moved closer.

"Yeah. Life had a great sense of humor. She was like a walking book on everything botany and we finally had time to talk normally for once. And she really reeeeally liked cake," Twilight replied with a small laugh before she slowly matched the frown I possessed.

"Yes, Death was nice to talk to and figure things out with. And regular access to his booming voice is certainly going to be missed," I said wrapping my right foreleg around Twilight's back before adding, "Well that is that though. We have to get moving. Paradise still needs our help, and we also have four fugitive souls to track down."

And with that we packed everyone up and headed back to our castle after locking down the Gateway to Paradise again. The mood had remained somber as we walked to our destination while trying to think of what to do next. For we had no leads to go on, but we had figured that the only creature, or should I say only spirit, who may have more insight into the matter was well Paradise herself.

So after some minor discussions first, we decided on just Twilight and myself to talk to Paradise alone. Reports were that Paradise, while had stabilized some, was still in a weakened state and we did not wish to bombard her with a cacophony of questions from a crowd of ponies, alive or otherwise. In turn this lead us to the separate hospital room that we had requested given Paradise's obvious unique nature and the unknowns that would entail, but luckily our staff were used to such things by now. But regardless though, when we finally opened the door it was an interesting experience.

Now this is not the first time that I had encountered Paradise. For I had met her once before and the memory of such a thing will never leave me. This time it was something similar but somewhat more subdued. The only way I can describe such things again is a sense of peace that most only know when at the end of their life. It is both enormously comforting, but also mentally painful because it is not our time yet and thus are vividly reminded of life's struggles in comparison.

However, with a small measure of effort from Twilight and myself we brushed off that feeling and made our way into the room to see a figure in a bed facing a newly forming dawn in through the window. I almost reflexively closed the curtains over said window due to my vampiric nature until I heard Paradise speak.

"This world is still...strange to me. I am truly...fascinated by your day...and night cycle. I have always looked at this...world from what one would call...a top down view. But I am being...impolite. How can I aid you...Prince Blood Moon and Princess Twilight Sparkle on this...what is it called? Ahh yes morning," Paradise said softly in a smooth calming tone.

I in turn glanced over at Twilight before she nodded and put an anti-sound ward on the burning bracelet Tartarus gave me, just in case if you will. However, after that I replied with, "A fine morning to you too and apologies for disturbing your rest, but we have some questions that we are unable to have answered elsewhere. We were hoping you could shed some light on such things if you will."

"Yes...I assumed you two would be...coming soon. I have felt that Tartarus is...mostly closed. My counterpart and I thank you for that. But regardless, you two doubtlessly only know...fragments of what happened. And for that I will...gladly assist. For the spirits are..." Paradise stated before something strange happened. For her peaceful calm nature altered and became what I can only describe as a deep sorrow. Like the feeling of a parent who is forced to only stand by and witness their child fight off a terrible sickness. But after a few moments she continued with, "The departed spirits...are scared and alone. They wander aimlessly...trapped in this world. They are so frightened. I can sense...Death is attempting to...gather them, but he has nowhere to...send them to.

A hard lump had formed in my throat to her words. While I knew the situation was generally dire, it is still all the more, dare I say apparent, when you see a sorrowful guardian of sorts. I had seen this many times with leaders who failed at protecting something. I have even seen it in myself, but it never gets any easier to witness. However now was not the time to wallow on such thoughts. We needed answers and Paradise was the only one potentially who knew them.

As such we began our questions while attempting to be as polite as possible when Paradise got cryptic from time to time. In turn what she described was borderline insane and yet sorrowful. For you see the source of the issue was ultimately the creation of one pony working tirelessly seeking not power, nor wealth, not even to conquer, but their own death. Or to put it more correctly seeking an erasure from existence.

Now even Paradise did not know the full details of why this pony was seeking oblivion minus one simple fact. For one reason or another their spirit could not pass on. It was as if their soul was beyond the grasp of Paradise, Tartarus, or even Death. In fact, the only reason she knew about this pony was because they had spoken to her while they attempted to beseech her aid in their truly fractured spirit form. And while she honestly wanted to help them, for some reason that pony was stuck in some sort of never-ending death and rebirth cycle while they retained all their previous lives' memories. Ultimately the pony with the fractured spirit got angry and metaphorically stomped off without so much as a backwards glance when she could not help them.

However, this is in turn where the problem arose. The crazed pony seeking oblivion plotted and schemed over dozens of lifetimes all while yelling into the void. So much so that Paradise had secretly begun keeping tabs on this poor soul hoping to save them somehow. But that was all she had discovered before Tartarus broke open and threatened to spill over into Paradise's domain.

And this is where it leads us to now. To prevent a massive spiritual cataclysm, Paradise sealed off her domain, but to do so she has to maintain the ward from the outside. Hence why she was currently laying in a hospital bed in the city me and Twilight manage. And until we are able to round up the remaining fragments of Tartarus that were stolen, Paradise will not be able to drop the ward. This is because even as we spoke she stated there were strange attacks from three different points in the material plane trying to desperately punch through as it were.

"And that is all...I know...dear souls," Paradise finally stated before she added, "But there is one thing...that might aid you...in your journey."

After that she asked me to give her my left hoof for some reason. And while unsure at first, remembering the horrible red burning bracelet from Tartarus, I did as she asked. To which she gently leaned over, kissed the middle of my foreleg, and then blew a strange foggy mist from her mouth that condensed into another vague bracelet. The bracelet then began to condense further until it solidified and began to glow white with light blue runes written around it. And unlike its harsh counterpart this one felt as if I was perpetually touching soft velvet.

"There, as you have...friends who no doubt...wish to come with you...on your journey. They can enter this bracelet to rest...and not get lost," Paradise stated before she smiled, laid back, and seemingly fell asleep.

And thus, that was that. Paradise had apparently needed rest after our discussion and the creation of my new additional bracelet. So, we did the most logical thing afterwards and decided to call a meeting with the other royals to explain what was going on. But mostly it was for guidance as we still were flying blind as it were on how to act on these current events. But right after Twilight had setup that planned meeting, I decided to setup another meeting with two other individuals or should I say spirits.

So, there I was sitting on the balcony off my room on the top of my castle having a cup of mint tea and feeling a large amount of deja vu ever since that day I got spooked off my balcony almost to my doom. In fact, it was from the very spirits I setup this meeting that did it. I do not think I will ever get over that, but I digress. In turn I was just staring at the starry sky when I heard the potted mint plant next to me rustle around for a few seconds before I saw it form into a vague face. Then I heard a portal close before I saw a shade next to me.

"You desired to speak with us, Blood Moon?" I heard Death state next to me, his voice was tired and somewhat sorrowful.

I then glanced at the shade of Death to see he was somewhat downtrodden. Even Life who was manifesting through the potted mint plant next to me looked to be equally grim. As such silence remained for a few seconds before I rubbed my face and said, "I take it restoring the life and death cycle is not going so well."

Both of them merely shook their respective heads before Life stated, "The cycle is still severely hindered. Without Death having the ability of guiding spirits to Paradise, all those wandering spirits are tipping the scale heavily to the Death's side. It is unfortunately strangling the natural ebb and flow of life force in the world."

After a few more seconds of silence Death added with, "Imagine being tasked with a job and you are for whatever reason unable to complete that very job. I have gathered what spirits I could together to lessen the effect they are having, but I have nowhere to send them to as they were meant to go to Paradise. I just cannot balance the life and death scale."

I bit my lip at the news. I had figured that with Tartarus partially back up and running and with Life and Death back to their respective realms and duties that the world would be somewhat normalized. However, I was wrong. My efforts and those of the others seemed to result in little more than to slow the bleeding on a gaping wound. A wound that is seemingly getting worst by the day.

The other shards of Tartarus's spirit seem to be still missing, Paradise is still sealed off, and spirits are roaming the world with no way of passing on to their final destination. And now I find out the life and death balance is still broken. But before an absolutely wretched brood set in I remembered that there was potentially one glimmer of hope. The single lead we had to potentially fixing where this may have all started.

As such I cleared my throat before I stated in an even tone, "I have a question to ask you two. It is the main reason I setup this small meeting to be honest. I was tasked with finding four souls but while I do not know them all I may have the one that is potentially the source of all this," and I stopped for a second to see them both glancing at me before I added, "What do you know about a fractured soul stuck in an endless rebirth and death cycle?"

The two of them were actually a bit surprised to know that I knew something about this. Long story short it is a well guarded secret by both Life and Death that there have been many maaaany creatures that had attempted to "cheat death" as it were. But there is a serious problem with this. For without proper care, a creature's spirit can get fractured over time. Think of it as spiritual corruption wherein the soul gets degraded over time. It is one of the main reason Tartarus exists. While most souls ultimately go to Paradise, Tartartus on the other hoof allows for souls who wish to be reborn thus trying again in the world, as opposed to suffering the Tartarian trials, to be for lack of a better word, renewed. The heavy spiritual energies of Tartarus it was told to me again for lack of a better word, grind off the fracturing effect.

If a creature dies then is, through some other method, reborn into a new body again and again their spirit eventually becomes unstable and fractures. They often live tortured lives because the degraded soul often accelerates aging in the new body and causes them to devolve into an almost undead form which is in near constant agony. As their flesh literally rots off their bones before they die again, and thus repeating the cycle.

The more times this happens in a row, the faster the aging and thus more agony. This in turn made perfect sense as to why that "fractured soul" would seek oblivion. Not existing anymore would certainly be favorable over an existence of perpetual pain and torment. But this is where the story gets more interesting.

Most of the creatures that get stuck in this awful state somehow break free, though it may take time. In fact, nearly all had only done a few cycles except for one group, which through some unknown means, remained in this world longest. Then somehow several hundred years ago they broke free leaving just one pony left in the group. As such it would be a solid bet that this last "stuck" pony was the one Tartarus stated, "Desires an end".

However, the major problem is that tracking them down will be a difficulty. Life and Death can only really track life force and death energy respectively. This is mainly because of their "jobs" as regulators of the life and death cycle. This pony is seemingly using a different source somehow to remain in their version of "living". In fact, the only reason Life and Death know they exist is because this pony's power source seems to push out most life force and death energy in an area thus creating a strange null zone, usually around mountain ranges.

As such the best they could do is point me where the null area is currently and hope that is where said pony is. This meant that I and whoever went with me is going to have to do a loooot of searching through miserable terrain in hopes of finding them. And you would figure, after all these years I would be used to this. But in reality, I just scrunched my face up and ran my hooves slowly down my face before groaning out, "Loooovely...more slogs...I better get the others and get started..."