Chapter 1: In Denial
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"Come, Wilkilén, sit next to me - she had told Vieja Kush -. I'm going to tell you about one who, from tonight, will be my sister and eternal companion. Don't be scared when you hear her name, or blame her for doing what's necessary. Do you know someone who likes to eat apples hanging years and years from the trees? I don't know him either. And tell me, how would new apples be born if those that already did their thing did not leave room in the branches? Could you and I be old at the same time? Who would teach who? Sister Death carries atask everyone understands but few forgive. Without it, men would not look at the sky on clear nights. They would not sing either. Without it, neither sigh nor desire would exist. Without it no one in this world would be concerned with being happy. ”
Liliana Bodoc , The Saga of the Borders: the Days of the Shadow
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The world has changed. It always changes, both for good and for bad. The universe and its laws are a dynamic system, always renewing itself, always rebuilding itself. Some beings were made to survive the centuries, while others ... jump from life to life, from death to death.
It was not very common to see so many sparrows grouped in one place; it was customary for small groups to be located in the vicinity of some houses. It seems as if they are waiting for something from the cabin on the edge of the Everfree Forest. The other animals kept a respectful distance from them, because the aura they gave off demanded it. When someone had to go through where the sparrows were, they moved away without bustle, always generating concern with their patient presence. And they certainly had to be patient.
In front of Ponyville Castle, the breeze swirled in the starry calm of the night. Lights like wildfires danced in it like dry leaves in the autumn wind, forming a whirlpool to which was added some dust from an unknown place. A strange being was formed in this way: she had pony features, but it couldn't be said for sure that she was one, given her gaunt appearance and gray, almost white eyes that stood out on her bony face. In fact his pupils were not visible to the naked eye.
The houses slept around him, but at the castle gate of the not-so-recently-crowned princess, a figure waited in the dim light. As she took a few steps forward, the dim moonlight illuminated her violet colors.
"Come on," said the cadaverous being, and the alicorn followed obediently. She was still somewhat ... well, a little ... confused by the being's visit the night before, but she understood well the reason that had brought him there, not once but several times. And until then, she still didn't know the inevitable truth she would learn that night, as did the friend she had to… help, somehow.
They walked through the solitude of the town, that Ponyville that was already distant from the one that the lavender princess had met when she first arrived. But it was still pretty and affable, and the ponies that inhabited it, the generations that generated the previous ones, maintained good customs, that good character of the people.
“I know you have many questions to ask me, but I don't have time to answer them” the creature said suddenly, and Twilight shuddered.
“How…?”
“It is very obvious. You know where I come from and who I represent, who wouldn't be curious to ask?”
“Oh ... it's true” admitted the lavender pony.
The conversation died down, leaving the silence as the only company of the walkers to the cabin on the edge of the Everfree. The sparrows flew in circles in front of them when they arrived, and perched quietly again on the tree branches. Without a word, Twilight went to the door and knocked three times, just as she had agreed with the spirit envoy, because if he knocked, they most likely would not open. Some light seeped in through the closed shutters, so someone had to be awake.
“Who lives?” asked a voice from inside.
“It's me, Twilight.”
“…”
“Okay, there is nothing to fear.”
“I won't open you, I know you're not alone. I will not allow them to take her away.”
Twilight sighed. If it weren't for the charm that guarded the door of her friend's house, she would have entered long ago.
“But you have to let her go, it's been a long time.”
“She is my only friend!”
Another silence followed as the alicorn stared helplessly at the spellbound wood. The pony from the world beyond, the "guide", stepped forward to intervene.
“How long will you prolong his suffering, Discord? You're just making his life wither more and more. Her body can no longer contain her soul. And for any creature, holding their soul in a withered body is one of the worst punishments there can be.” His voice could have made all the beasts of the forest tremble, instead the sparrows remained impassive, and Twilight tried to imitate them as best she could. “You should not force me to use all my strength to enter this house. You must abandon this madness, or you would pay a price too high.”
“Please, Discord” Twilight pleaded “Do not make it more difficult than it already is…”
“Well, you're supposed to be on my side, Twilight,” replied the voice of the draconequus “Do you want Fluttershy to leave too?”
“Is not that…! It's ... it's inevitable. I too would like her to stay with us, but not like this… she can barely see, hear, or even stop. You have to understand ... she is suffering a lot. Don't you think it would hurt to see what you're doing? You've been isolated for too long, bent on preventing that... that…” Twilight couldn't continue, couldn't say what she wanted to say.
“Whatever you do, you cannot avoid his fate. But you can do something favorable for yours…”
“Right now, I don't care much about my fate…”
“A selfish design is going to end you, draconequus. Listen to me, or the fury of the great immortals will fall on you.”
“…”
The Lord of the Chaos meditation lasted a few minutes, until he finally removed the magic seal from the door, and it opened very slowly, revealing the state of the house that for many years was the dwelling place of Fluttershy, bearer of the Element of the Goodness. Everything looked different inside under the influence of Discord's magic, who waited there in the room, crossed-legged, and looking at both of them with his white brows furrowed.
“Not you, Twilight.”
Before the alicorn opened her mouth to protest, the guide stopped her with a gesture. He gave her a look like saying "Go make the preparations, I'll take care of it." And as much as the Princess of Friendship had wanted to stay, she understood that she should not contradict the guide of souls, so she nodded and flew away.
“I would like to negotiate” Discord said when they were inside the room.
“No, souls are not negotiable.”
Both beings stared at each other, generating a certain tension in the environment. Obviously, for the guide of souls it would be difficult to reach an agreement with the Lord of Chaos, but he would fulfill his objective, no matter what it cost. Ever since the good-natured pegasus fell ill, since the time of its appointed hour began, Discord had insisted on not allowing the Death envoy to enter the Fluttershy's house, using magic that went beyond what he could do. Two, four, six ... that was the seventh time that the spirit crossed the barrier of the Erebus to accompany the soul of the mare to her dwelling, and it would be the last time, since she was empowered by the Immortals to use the prohibited powers in case that there would be no other recourse. But that rarely happened.
“I understand that letting her go is hard on you. I have seen that feeling millions of times in mortals.”
“But I am not a mortal being. Fluttershy has been my only great friend in centuries, I will not abandon her. Yes, there will be Twilight, Starlight and everyone else, but it's not the same as with her.”
“You knew from the beginning that she would not live forever, although I understand that at the beginning the beginning of your friendship with the pegasus was not completely voluntary. However, there is no way to keep her any longer on this earth. At least ... not for now.”
“Not for now?” Discord asked, surprised “What does that mean "not for now"?”
“You see, there's probably a lot you don't know about the secrets of life and death. Your powers move in the ambivalence of good and evil, and from the moment of your creation, your essence was always dynamic but concrete, a chaotic but strangely stable essence. And that does not happen with all beings, that's why there is a certain difference between souls and spirits, souls are more volatile compared to spirits, which are more likely to remain in a disembodied form, and still influence the environment.”
“Hmmmm” Discord may have thought “so if you are a spirit, you don't have a body, but you can still act on things.”
“Not as freely as you are. My function, like that of the other psychopomps, is to guide souls to the portals of the spiritual world, once their cycle has been completed in the body they incarnated. We have no power over physical matter.”
“Psycho- pomps , huh? And what are all those birds out there for?”
“They're kind of like watchers.”
“Death watchers ... hey, tell me one thing, what you were saying about the volatility of souls and their cycles, I think I heard something about that, what was it called ...?”
“Reincarnation. Therefore, it is absurd that you try to keep Fluttershy alive, his soul has already completed its cycle, and must return to Erebus until it is time to incarnate again.”
The draconequus' suspicion of reincarnation was then confirmed, something Celestia had perhaps told him a few years ago. In that new perspective, he came up with an idea to keep his best friend without interfering with the psycho's task. So she motioned to him, and led him to the old Pegasus' room.
Negotiation
The very old mare lay in her bed, in a kind of lethargy, in a very deep sleep. The coat that in her youth was yellow was now almost pale, like the color of old bones, and crossed by hundreds of wrinkles. At the sides of the senile head hung languid, graying locks, which had completely lost their pink hue. It breathed so softly that it gave the impression of being dead, yet there was still life in it. Faded blankets covered her skeletonized, weakened body. In fact, for weeks she no longer got out of bed, spoke, or made any sound.
The guide snore in disgust.
“It's one of the most pitiful states to which a creature can be reduced. It's really cruel of you to let her wither away like that, and you're supposed to be her best friend?”
Discord did not answer, but went to the side of the bed, and stayed there, caressing the forehead of the Pegasus with much tenderness, as if it were a filly, without disgusting to touch a forehead that had the texture of raisins. To a certain extent, it seemed as if the pony had stayed too long in a sauna.
“Look, the deal I'm offering you is this: I'll let you take her, but I'll go too. That way, every time Fluttershy reincarnates, I'll come back with her.” said the Lord of Chaos, making a blackboard appear where he illustrated all the phases.
But the spirit envoy shook his head flatly, and answered sharply:
“No, Discord, you can't go with her. Sorry, it's the rules.”
Angry, Discord snapped his eagle claw, and the two appeared again in the room.
“And why not?” he asked indignantly, crossing his legs and adding a black scowl over his eyebrows. 'I promise I will be good, and cause as little chaos as possible “Agh, it's amazing that there are rules even for the dead!”
“Rules are rules, Mr Draconequus. I don't make them, I make sure they're followed.”
“Pfff, you're more boring than Celestia...” shrieked Discord, giving the guide Celestia's characteristic four-colored mane, and even her crown.
“Your function here, Discord," the guide interrupted him, with a lower tone in his voice, and fading the decorations, "while you are the opposite of Order, is to maintain the essential balance of forces. Your magic is part of one of the currents that flows in this world, the other being the current of Harmony, of whose magic it is subsidiary, for example, the Tree of Harmony.”
“So if I leave this world, the scales of magic will become unbalanced and everything will get out of control?”
“Hmmm, sort of... I'd have some influence, yes, but not to make a big mess.”
“So I am not indispensable to the world of the living anyway..." said Discord, disappointed.
“It's that the main problem is crossing the barrier, in the middle dimension, some call it ‘Limbo’.”
“Oh, yes, I've heard of Limbo and the story of seven ponies that were trapped there for a thousand years, and then, thanks to our clever Princess Twilight, they returned to the world of the living. And how is that possible? Couldn't they have crossed over into the Erebus without any trouble?”
“Ah... that's not my thing. It is problematic to lie in body and soul in an immaterial dimension, irremissibly cutting off the cycles of incarnation of the souls. But as I said, that's not my business.”
“So what's the problem with me going to the Erebus? Who's supposed to keep the balance there?”
“That's not relevant to our discussion. Listen, the boundary between the worlds has an essence that is difficult to describe, what happens is that it is designed to be crossed by simple souls and spirits, that is, beings like me. You are a more complex and stronger spirit, and your magic is too heavy for the barrier; to get too close to it could cause incalculable harm, and if you go in, you could cause it to collapse. This would be a terrible catastrophe, especially because on the side of the Ereb it acts as a protection against... certain beings, who are not allowed to enter the world of the living.”
“What kind of beings are those? Devils, succubus, elves...?” asked the draconequus, as all sorts of imaginative representations of such entities came out of nowhere.
“I don't have time to explain to you what they are... I can only tell you that what makes them dangerous and inadequate, in most cases, is their ability to absorb souls.” When he saw the draconequus' face of amazement, he added “Yes, absorb souls. And the body is left as an empty shell. Would you find it amusing if in Equestria there were beings capable of taking your friends' souls?”
“Hmmmm, no, certainly not...” admitted the draconequus. "It's no fun appreciating chaos if everyone is undead...”
“And besides, souls are neutral, they don't possess magic. They are lighter than a bird's feather. Magic is repelled by the barrier, especially because it is not compatible with the magic in the Erebus.”
The talk was becoming somewhat interesting, so Discord decided to make tea for the two of them, even though the psychopomp refused, since beings like him had no physiological needs, such as feeding or sleeping. The draconequus snapped his claws and made a kitchen appear with a kettle of boiling water, at the same time as a small table (rustic style although a bit effeminate) with two cups, and in passing a tray with biscuits. The guide found this a strange gesture, perhaps just a ruse to keep him distracted while he thought of a new plan.
“So, when a pony dies, his magic doesn't go with him? How sad for the unicorns who spent a lifetime to learn it and use its full potential... only to have the magic fade away when they die.” lamented Discord.
“Magic doesn’t fade away, but when the soul leaves the body, it becomes energy, and that energy spreads around.”
“Oh, I think I’ve heard Twilight or Starlight talking about that a long time ago..." commented the Lord of Chaos. "There was a theory by an old sage, he said that depending on the conditions in which death occurs, and the emotions, feelings and thoughts that cross the pony's mind, the magic he leaves behind turns into dark energy... or something like that.”
“It is a correct theory, it also influences the level of corruption of the soul and whether the bearer has used his magic for evil. It is almost impossible to obtain that energy, although there are secret sects that are dedicated to the subject.”
“Hey, another thing I find interesting: is it possible for a soul to be trapped in this world before passing into the Erebus?”
“Sometimes very rarely...”
A kind of very sharp whistle shook both spirits; it was like a kind of call from the depths of the earth. The guide rose, exasperated at having lost so much time.
“Discord, time and my patience are running out. I'll give you one last chance to let her go easy. You can't go with her, and that's final.”
“Can't I even go and visit her? Isn't there some secret door that leads to the Erebus without risking its so precious barrier?”
“No, none. Anyway, even if you went, you wouldn't be allowed to see her. The souls spend some time together with those of the ponies that accompanied them in life, but after a certain period, and the ground for their new incarnation is ready, they are baptized in the River of Oblivion, and guided to what will be their next life.”
“Wait... Will Fluttershy forget me when I return to this world? How long is that supposed to take? How will I know what body it's going to take? Hmmm, your granddaughter is about to have a child...”
“She will remember you in Erebus until the time of her return, but I cannot assure you that she will be reincarnated in her great-grandson, not even in someone from her family lineage. I don't know how many years you'll have to wait, but I'm telling you that those who have led an exemplary life have a better chance of reincarnating soon. But there is no way of knowing, the destiny of a soul and its reincarnations is not written, but is being written continuously. Something important is that some of the ties built with others become so strong, that, for example, the soul of Fluttershy and her husband can meet again in their next lives. It is even possible that in previous lives, the souls of her and her friends have followed this path.”
Discord snorted at the memory of her friend's late husband, father of her three daughters. He never liked that steed, he thought it was an earthly pony, somewhat imbecile and possessive, good at heart but cowardly as a rat... It was something like the Angel bunny (father of five generations of bunnies, and currently resting in the heaven of the little animals) in pony version. He got along best with his daughters, two Pegasus and a land pony. Except for one of the Pegasus, which was more attached to the father, the other two adored Uncle Discord, following him in his madness, participating in many of them, so they often earned the scolding of their parents. The memories of those good old days gave the draconequus a mixture of nostalgia and joy, and softened his stubborn and hardened heart.
“And that would work on me, too? I mean... Fluttershy would forget me, she would become another pony, but that pony would somehow become my friend in the near future, and all because there is such a strong bond between us, right?”
“That's right. I suppose even if you are an immortal being, the thread of fate would be favorable to the ‘continuity’ of your friendship. The downside is that you prevented Fluttershy from passing into the Erebus when it was his time, and that may not be well received by the judges.”
“But you can't blame her for my mistake.”
“Certainly not. All that remains is to trust in the thread of fate.”
“Ah, all right, all right...” Discord finally surrendered “we'd better get this over with, before your friends down there ring the bell again. Please just let me say goodbye first.
Meanwhile, outside, clouds of white cotton were covering the starry mantle, and a light rain of petals of all colours was beginning to fall.
