Dark Iron Kingdom

My mind remained void of any explanation as I continued to gawk at the spirits of Life, Death, and Paradise in their material forms. In fact the the only thing that could have even been remotely described as a thought was my slight intrigue at how the spirits of Life, Death, and Paradise represented themselves in our world.

First was Death in that he had shown himself in his usual cloaked alicorn skeleton form, scythe and all. And as an aside I imagine he did not have a true "form" per say. He was the spirit of Death and all and most likely appeared differently to different species but I have yet to fully prove this hypothesis. Regardless though, he materialized in his current get up if you will probably due to the location he was in. The other two next to him must have had a similar reaction given their current appearances, and this in turn bring us to Paradise.

And to put it bluntly she was always hard to put into a proper description from the few times that I have gazed on her ethereal form. For in simple terms, she was always painful to look at directly so I did not do so often. To elaborate on what I mean is that Paradise is the spirit of well...Paradise. The place that most worldly beings would like to go to after they leave this realm. So when one gazes at her you do not really peer at her form per say you peer at your possible calm and peaceful end. In turn the pain of such derives from the fact that need to keep moving because others depend upon you. Needless to say it was interesting to see an actual representation of her form for once for she appeared as a nearly flawless pure white alicorn with her body emanating a strange yet calming translucent white fog. But this however was the extent of my observation as I dared not stare for too long lest that pain I mentioned earlier return to me once more. And thus this leads us to the last member in this little trio...Life.

Life, to be blunt again, was a true enigma to say the least. For I had zero idea what to expect out of her "true" form. This was because in all the years that I have spoken with her she nearly always possessed random plants and animated them to suit her needs. In fact the only reason I knew it was her at all was that I could sense her giving off the same wellspring of life force that Twilight does, but obviously to a much greater degree. But regardless of this her appearance was a curiosity as she looked like she was made almost entirely of living green wood. In fact the only things that did not seem to be made of wood were her mane and tail that appeared to be a mixture of moss and vines.

However that final observation was the extent of my thoughts as it were for overwhelming dread soon took control shortly afterwards. This in turn lead me to do the only thing I could think of at the time. I very slowly stepped over to where Death was laying and poked him with the pole end of my scythe before stuttering out, "Ummm...D-Death...a-a-are you-u al-alright-t-t?

Death just lazily swatted with a skeletal forehoof in the general direction of my scythe's pole before the glowing dots in his skull's eye sockets lit up as a result. The glowing dots then shrunk and expanded slightly like as if he was attempting to focus I imagine. He then slowly looked at me before said dots rapidly grew until they took up the entirety of his eye sockets. And this was then followed by him frantically tapping the ground under himself with a forehoof before his lower jaw opened up so far as if in shock that it fell off and clattered to the ground.

He then promptly reattached his jaw only moments before shrieking out, "aaaaaaAAAAHHHHHHH I AM MATERIAL!" And this more or less chaotic howling only amplified when he looked over and found Paradise and Life right next to him. Then as direct result of this he, in complete and utter lack of grace, scrambled over to Life before he started to borderline violently shake her.

In response Life pushed him away before she slowly got into a sitting position. She then rubbed her glowing green eyes with the backs of her green wooden forehooves before murmuring out in an apparent haze, "Oh...Death...What are you doing in my domain? I thought it hurt too much to come here."

"We are not in your domain, Life...this is the material realm..." Death replied still obviously quite shaken.

"Hmm? Oh...well that makes more sense," she said before her glowing green eyes got bigger and bigger as it dawned on her. "WHHHAAAAT?!" she blurted out as she began frantically tapping the ground around her like Death did before adding, "Oak trees and compost where is Paradise?!"

Then not even a second later both of them bolted right next to Paradise before they began to intently examine her. "She is in horrid condition. We need to locate a way to stabilize her," Death spoke with heavy worry in his voice.

"Yes, but we can't do it in these forms. Who knows how much damage we're doing? We need to be contained somehow," Life replied in an equally worried voice.

And then at this point they both, in near unison, looked straight at me and Twilight. And I could already tell that I did not like where this was going to lead. For it was the same type of look that Luna and her General Black Wing had given me countless times. The dreaded "we have something for you to do and you are not going to enjoy it in the least nor do you have any say in the matter" look.

Needless to say I just clicked my pointed tongue a few times in response before I stated, "Soooooo containment...do you require an arcane gem of some sort?"

Life and Death just seemed to half narrow their respective "eyes" at my comment. "Please do not play coy with us, Blood Moon. We need to stay active and mobile but cannot remain in these forms. Even in our current weakened state there is no telling what could happen if we delay any longer," Death stated in a cold and flat tone.

"I was afraid he was going to say something that," Twilight whimpered out before adding, "What do we need to do?"

In turn Life gave us an awkward smile before she said, "Please open your mouths."

Then in an instant they both turned into a black and green cloud respectively and bolted straight into our now opened mouths. And the only way I could describe such an experience was imagine if somepony mashed up an entire awful holiday meal and force fed it to you with a plunger and a funnel. All with the grace and gentleness of an enraged manticore. And while I was not sure how Twilight felt at this moment, I however soon felt like an overfilled water balloon ready to pop.

After which flaring pain quickly overtook my whole being as I clutched my stomach and fell over. But eventually I managed pull myself together just long enough to spit out the words, "Death...please...dial it...back a bit...or I am...going to be...torn to...pieces." And luckily Death must have gotten the message as the horrid pressure building up in my system lessened to a manageable level before my right eye went dark.

"That...hurt...a great deal," Death spoke through my mouth.

I just continued to clutch my stomach for a little bit before I snarked back, "You do not say..."

"No...no, I do not believe you understand. I felt...no....I can feel your body's pain. I do not like this sensation," Death protested.

"I am truly not a fan of it myself. But regardless can you please explain why my right eye has gone blind. Wait better yet, please explain why three primal entities are currently taking up residence in the material world? If memory serves that is not a really grand thing to do," I grumbled while trying to drag myself into a sitting position.

"In regards to your sight I do require to see. I shall however attempt to minimize the usage of your bodily senses," Death said before adding, "Now as for your second point...it is not just three primal spirits, but also over a dozen regular spirits forcefully pulled from Paradise. Though as for our reason for being here...well...let us just locate a way to stabilize the spirit of Paradise herself first before we relay the truly grim news hmm?"

I could say again that I did not like the implications of his words. It could be easy assumed that when your little portal in the center of town forcefully rips open that the proverbial "good times" type of horrid situation shall truly follow. But regardless of any of that, and after a few seconds of feeling like I was going to throw up all my internal organs, I managed to locate Twilight. To which she too looked quite awful to say the least. And given that her left eye had begin glowing green it seemed that Life was pulling the same sight trick Death was. Truly irritating to say the least but we had little choice.

But now for the tasks at hoof. We managed to locate the other spirits that flew through the portal and I soon discovered why my initial count was off. For while four of my ex lieutenants had gone through the portal separately, my mother Life Mender had brought my father and my two siblings with her. Additionally my ex lieutenant Gray Mane had been protecting the spirits of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie that went with him as well. But this in turn shifts into a bit of curiosity for my old adoptive father Dark Hoof and my former love Pure Blood were guiding a third spirit with them as well. And while I would have liked to discover who this unknown stallion was we unfortunately had other important matters to worry about so such things would have to wait.

This eventually lead to all of us trying to carry the body of Paradise back to Twilight's and my castle without the lovely use of magic. For I could not seem to use my death gates. As in I could not actually summon them for some reason. And Twilight was far too nauseous to focus on much of anything. But again regardless of such we managed to get Paradise stabilized by using the crystal she had given me for the Gateway to Paradise's attunement and anchor process. And while it was probably a bandage on the gaping wound, it did at least help somewhat. This however brings us to the part where me, Shining Armor, all the princesses, my two children, Blaze Runner, and several very very unhappy spirits began grinding Life and Death for information.

"Soooo wait wait wait explain that once again please from the top. Tartarus itself has been knocked for a loop and Paradise has been sealed off. Now how again? And why?" Shining Armor stated as his question echoed what we all were trying to comprehend.

Death immediately scrunched up my face with what I believe was extreme irritation in response before he snarled out, "Life please do explain it AGAIN to these...beings...as living creatures are more your forte. I am done with such questioning," and threw my forelegs up in the air before plopping my body down and refusing to utter another word.

Then after a few seconds I could see Twilight's left glowing green eye close before Twilight's body took a deep breath. "I'm sorry dears but we don't fully know how. The realm of Tartarus went unstable for some reason and Paradise sealed off her realm to prevent any bleed over into it. Now this awful act was bad enough by itself but her spirit was also sealed off from her domain as well," Life groaned out through Twilight's mouth before adding, "And to make matters worse Death and me are also burning up most of our power just trying to prevent Tartarus from spilling over into this realm too. But as you can probably guess we are forced to stay here until we fix this mess because our makeshift wards require a physical presence in the material plane. So once again...this is all we know."

My head still continued to swim over the sheer size of the issues at hoof but I could not help but feel like there were several puzzle pieces missing. So to try and rectify this I moved myself away from the roar of discussion going on in the war room we were in and into the hallway for a walk. Well a walk and small chat with a certain primal spirit that is.

And needless to say it did not take long before Death began to get wise to what I was doing. 'Any particular reason we are removing ourselves from that...delightful...discussion?' he said in my mind

I just poorly feigned ignorance before I replied in my mind with, 'What? Can I not go for a walk in my own home?'

In turn I could feel my right eye half narrow as Death stated, 'Again with this hmm? I know what you are trying to-' before I interrupted him.

'What I am trying to do is get to the bottom of this. And if I know you like you know me not only do we both loathe large crowds but we keep much of our own thoughts close to the vest if you will. As such I do not believe we are being told the whole story here. Now for the sake of everybeing involved I implore you to speak what you know or have deduced,' I firmly spoke in my mind.

Death let out a cold chuckle in my head before I could feel that awful internal pressure from before build up and release moments later. 'Fine, if you desire to know everything I shall tell you, but know that much of this is speculation or what you living creatures call a "hunch,"' he grumbled in a resigned tone before adding, 'Tartarus went unstable shortly after that lovely member of your species forced herself through the veil. And that instability alludes to somehow the spirit of Tartarus was either captured or restrained because it is not one large spirit that is attempting to push their way into the material plane, but a horde of smaller spirits. I in turn can sense this more than Life due to my nature in helping to regulate the veil between worlds, but I cannot understand how this could take place.'

Death then went quiet for a few seconds before he spoke in my mind again. 'Unfortunately the only lead I currently have is right before Paradise sealed her realm and went into a spiritual dormant state she said, "Take these spirits with you. They will aid you and your advocates to push back the tide. One especially so." Now being that I have little doubt that she required our protection while she was in her current state we dragged her into the material realm with us when our wards went up. And in case you were wondering your little Gateway to Paradise was merely just the easiest method for us to materialize in this realm, and I would advise locking it down. This is however the extent of my current knowledge on the matter,' he said in what appeared to be equal in both frustration and confusion.

And in turn more puzzle pieces fit into place. But still there were numerous pieces missing. As such I sat down in a quiet place of the courtyard attempting to figure out a few things as I mulled over Death's statements. Firstly it explained why my Gateway to Paradise was torn open for short period of time and why Life, Death, and Paradise were here. Secondly it also explained why there are around a dozen pony spirits currently haunting this castle's war room. However what it did not explain was why all of them were chosen by Paradise. For it was easy to determine why my old lieutenants and Twilight's deceased friends were picked. Even my father had some fighting experience and both him and my mother must have dragged my little siblings along as to not leave them alone. But why did she pick my adoptive father Dark Hoof and my old colthood flame Pure Blood while she did not select Twilight's parent's as well. All four of them had little to no fighting experience and were on relatively equal hoofing in terms of importance. However it was at this point when something had finally dawned on me.

'Death, who was that one fellow that my adoptive father and old lover were escorting?' I inquired in my mind.

'Hmm? I do not know actually. I had assumed you did,' Death replied.

Needless to say with this newfound thought in mind I more than briskly trotted back to the castle war room. The others were still in heated discussion and Twilight along with Life were nearly huddled in a corner while everypony else continued to badger them for information. In fact even both Luna and Celestria's generals Black Wing and Dawn Bringer respectively had arrived to add their input into the fray. But luckily they were all so engrossed in said conversion that they did not notice a certain black furred stallion sneak back into the room.

I in turn weaved my way carefully behind all of them until I found the spirits of Dark Hoof and Pure Blood. And while I would have loved to chat with them for much longer I soon had asked and discovered that they were told by Paradise herself to locate the fellow they were watching over. The reason for this she had mentioned was that he was important to the matter at hoof but she did not tell them why. But regardless of this, I thanked them for their efforts and continued to weave my way passed them to where they said the unknown spirit stallion in the room was.

And to this fellow's credit he seemed to noticed me far sooner than I did him. For his ethereal eyes just side glanced me the entire time I walked to him. He then shifted in place and crossed his forelegs before he said, "I was wonderin' how long it'd take one of you to slink over to me. Mind tellin' me why I got dragged out of Paradise and into this joint?"

I merely gave him a small sly grin before I replied with, "I was actually going to ask you the same question."