Does it look like I care?
Author's Note
It's amazing what you can think of when you're on your way to the supermarket - isn't it?
Does it look like I care?
Written, translated, edited and post corrected by me: Nova Star Sparkle
*1*
Twilight was crying!
The day had begun so beautifully, why did it have to go so wrong?
The sun was shining. Spring was about to begin and the first flowers and small animals were venturing out from under the melting blanket of snow. Little butterflies were flying through the air and in general there was a slightly sweet, fresh scent of life everywhere in the air.
So why was that happening today of all days? Today on such a lovely day like this? It just wasn't fair at all.
Not ten minutes ago, Twilight had been informed that there had been a terrible accident near the centre of Cloudsdale. A disregarded fault in a main water pipe in the Cloud City weather factory had caused the cooling system of the machines responsible for producing storm clouds to breakdown. Unfortunately, the machines overheated very quickly once the pipe ruptured and the water had to be turned off as a necessity consequence. Of course, no one had given the slightest thought of shutting down production once cooling was no longer available. According to them, that would only have led to delays in delivery, and time was bits after all.
Twilight was furious, very furious at the pony who had issued the statement and made the ultimate decision.
Such a stupid and life-threatening decision.
She would have loved to have teleported the one in charge straight into the middle of the sun. But firstly, it wasn't her sun, it was Celestia's and secondly, that would be quite immoral and would only spark riots against her. Even if Twilight was feeling absolutely up for it right now and her horn hadn't sparked only once to let her alicorn magic do what her subconscious felt was right.
Well... the outcome had been predictable for her smart brain and was now laying in front of her in a hospital bed at the Canterlot Clinic. The most state-of-the-art infirmary there was in Equestria and, given the circumstances, only fair, Twilight deemed.
She deserves only the best medicine there is.
The moment Twilight got word of what had happened and that Rainbow Dash was now hospitalized, she teleported herself immediately into the middle of the large entrance hall of Canterlot's clinic. The fact that she had vaporized all the tiles within five meters of her body and left a large crater in the middle of the room as a result of her overcharged mana while teleporting didn't bother her. She currently had much more important things on her mind and could take care of the financial damage later.
Using her alicorn magic, she had seized the nearest nurse and dragged her right in front of her panicked face. Her Canterlot voice had boomed throughout the room, drawing attention to the frantic lavender alicorn princess from all the other doctors and occupants currently waiting to be threated.
WHERE'S RAINBOW DASH? I DEMAND AS A PRINCESS THAT YOU TELL ME AT ONCE WHERE YOU'VE TAKEN HER! TAKE ME TO HER MEDICAL ROOM THIS INSTANT!
Without further ado, her command had been obeyed and she had been guided to Rainbow Dash on the shortest way possible. Twilight had not even bothered to notice the confused and partly horrified pairs of eyes looking after her and the impressive structural damage the alicorn had left behind as she had followed the nurse.
Twilight now peered up with tear-stained eyes to the head of the bed and the cyan pegasus pony lying within.
Oh Rainbow Dash, why do you always have to be so devoted and try your hardest? I can understand why you flew back to save the last two foals, but we have trained professionals for that. They could have handled it. You shouldn't have put yourself in such danger... see how it turned out.
Rainbow Dash's body was badly scarred and burnt and at least a third of her fur was missing from her body. It had either been burnt off by the boiling hot steam and water or had to be shaved off to better tend to her wounds. One of her wings was also badly damaged, missing nearly all its feathers and hung bandaged in an unhealthy misalignment on a bracket to hold it in place.
After the main pressure tank supplying the storm cloud machines had detonated due to a feedback of too much pressure and heat, everything happened very quickly. Within just a minute, a gigantic storm had swept through the factory, tearing everything away in its path. Fortunately, it had already been Friday afternoon and almost no one was still working in the weather factory. Unfortunately, however, a small school class had been there to take a tour of Cloudsdale and its weather factory. Aside from a massive scare and minor abrasions, none of them were really hurt, for Rainbow Dash, the leader of the tour, had done an extraordinary job of getting more than half of the foals to safety herself.
Unfortunately, the magical storm had made sure that the stability of the part of the building in which the storm clouds were produced was literally blown away. The last two foals had escaped unharmed, thanks to Dash's help, but the cyan Pegasus itself was struck and buried by the collapsing roof of the factory. Doctors said it was a miracle she'd survived at all long enough to be rescued and taken to Canterlot Clinic.
Twilight knew it better than the doctors did. She was aware of the real reason - her!
Rainbow Dash in particular wasn't exactly known for acting cautiously or thoughtfully throughout her life. And so it came that Twilight had already started casting powerful protection spells on her friends whilst she was still a unicorn. But most of them, by far, on Dash. They had probably saved Rainbow from serious injury more than once in the crazy stunts and carelessness that the pegasus mare displayed on a daily basis. Yet even the strongest unicorn protection spells could only do so much and as an alicorn she hadn't bothered to strengthen them yet - sadly.
Oh Rainbow...I am so sorry, I could have prevented all of this…if I had taken care of the protection spells earlier. None of this had to happen.
"I am truly sorry princess, but there is nothing more you can do for your friend. Even your improved alicorn protection spells probably couldn't have saved her in the end. It was just fate."
Twilight was jolted from her thoughts by a very deep and ominous voice behind her and her body jerked slightly as a bony hoof rested above her shoulder, that she could see at the edge of her vision. Slowly the young lavender alicorn began to turn her head and averted her gaze behind her to the presence of the voice. Away from Rainbow Dash's beaten and broken body, all the tubes running inside her body to keep her alive, the respirator mask covering her snout and the many vital sign monitors beeping left and right of her bed.
"No!" Twilight's face contorted into an expression of deep disdain and she bared her teeth in aggression.
"Pardon me, but what is that supposed to mean?" the deep voice responded to her confused and dismissive.
"You are in literally no way sorry for what happened to my friend today, for you have no heart with which to even could feel such a thing." To clarify, Twilight extended her hoof, pointing at the empty chest of the personification of death standing just behind her. The skeletal stallion wore nothing but a black robe that blew behind him in an invisible wind. A deep grey scythe in his right hoof leaned against his shoulder, almost as lengthy as Princess Celestia. His black, empty eyes stared directly at her with no discernible emotion. Nor did he show any expression on his muzzle, though he would have needed flesh and fur for it to be visible at all anyway. Instead, there was nothing but pure white bone.
"Just because I am the very personification of death, and it is my job to collect departed souls and escort them to Elysium for all eternity, doesn't mean I don't have emotions."
Twilight's eyes narrowed even more and her voice was more frowning.
"So? Do you feel any remorse for what you're about to do to Dash? Any emotion, for what you do thousands of times a day? Pity for all the pain you bring on the relatives of the ponies whose souls you gather? ANYTHING?!" Twilight had shouted the last word in her Royal Canterlot voice directly into the bone stallion's face. "Besides, Rainbow Dash isn't dead, so you're here for no reason at all," she added after a second's pause defensive.
The personification of death sighed and adjusted his scythe. "No, no, no and also no. I don't have a guilty conscience for what I'm doing. That would only be more than a hindrance in my task as well. And even if you don't want to admit it, your friend is already as good as dead.” He pointed behind Twilight and the vital signs monitors that showed a heartbeat, unsteady but still existent. ”She is only being kept alive by these machines, but even that won't save her."
"As I said before, I am right. You have no emotions and that's why you can't feel sorry for me, because you don't feel anything." Twilight's reply was plain and clear, she would not be swayed from her opinion.
"Perhaps," Death relented. Knowing full well that the young princess before him would not be swayed once she was firmly convinced of an opinion. It was his job to know every single living creature to the bottom of their being. How they acted, thought, what they liked, disliked and everything else.
"But that doesn't matter either, because I only have to do my job and that is all that matters. Therefore, would you please step aside now so that I can carry out what I have come to do.”
Death´s voice was rather friendly to the young alicorn. Even if he couldn´t feel any emotions for Princess Twilight at all he still intended to pretend at least. The alicorn mare was royalty after all and he was a gentle stallion that knew how to treat someone of her status. He also found her at least somewhat cute and knew Twilight was a kind and honorable mare to all her subjects. Gladly willing to put her personal needs aside for her ponies and take care of the problems of others first. She certainly deserved to be honored and well respected for what she sacrificed, sometimes daily, of her spare time for the benefit of others.
“The only task I have here," he underscored.
“NO!”
"Excuse me?" Death tilted his head sideways.
"I said no. I won't step aside and leave Dash's side so you can kill her," Twilight growled authoritatively. She had positioned herself more wide-legged and taller between the bony stallion and Rainbow Dash's hospital bed. Her slightly taller than usual physique for a pony, however, appeared a good deal taller than she actually was thanks to her wide-spread alicorn wings. It also caused Twilight to look quite a bit more imposing, and her appearance would probably have intimidated most creatures considerably. Not Death, though, who just looked at her with an expressionless face of his own.
"Princess Twilight, I ask you to step aside and let me perform what I must. There is nothing you can do about it." Death tried to be still as kind as possible to the alicorn mare. For even though it was physically impossible for him to feel things like grief, sorrow or pain. He knew still that such things rested heavily on the hearts of living creatures and sought to tear them apart.
"Only over my personal life. I will not move and let you steal Rainbow's soul. Don't you dare come near me and try, because I won't be afraid to do what it takes." Twilight stomped her front hoof determinedly on the ground, which triggered a small shockwave from it, thanks to her massively augmented earth pony strength as an alicorn mare.
Death laughed one of his deep, dry, sardonic laughs. The implied friendliness had completely drained from his voice and been replaced by determination, "Do you have any idea who is standing right in front of you, little girl? I am the personification of death. A trillion year old being formed at the birth of the universe itself. Sole master of death itself and destined with the singular task of ensuring that the souls of the departed make it safely to Elysium."
Twilight laughed in mock amusement, much to Death's bewilderment. Her features relaxed and she now appeared mischievous. Her wings however she didn´t fold in on her back and they remained as wide spread as they currently were.
"Oh, I know exceedingly well who and what you are my dear, and also why you are here. Because unlike you, I seem to have actually done my homework. You, however, sweety, seem to have no concept of who YOU have in front of."
Twilight took a step forward and built herself up even taller in front of the bony stallion. Her horn began to glow brightly with her raspberry colored alicorn magic and quite a few runes and complex spells now circled around it.
"You dare..." the personification of death began, but was interrupted by a magical bolt of lightning crackling right in front of his hooves.
"Oh no, no, you will listen to me very carefully. And don't you dare interrupt me, because I've got plenty more where that came from." Twilight had taken another step forward and her expression showed nothing but pure determination that she was being heard. Death tried to say something, but Twilight's eyes narrowed further, burning deeply and determinedly into his non-existent soul.
"You're the personification of death. A being as old as the universe itself. Your task is to escort the souls of the deceased to Elysium. This you have already confirmed yourself," Twilight began. "But that is also why you are a non-physical being and the living cannot in any way interact with you. Even touch, hear, let alone see you. Alone those nearing the end of their lives can see and hear you, for you have come to collect their souls and escort them to Elysium."
"That is all true, Princess!"
An additional bolt of lightning, at least twice as large and charged, landed between the hooves of Death from Twilight's loaded horn. The young alicorn's horn blazed down from the forehead of her skull now with even more both intensity and potent magic behind it. The flash even caused the stallion to take a step back in some surprise.
"What did I say about daring to interrupt me?," asked Twilight disapprovingly as her body began to sparkle with more of her native alicorn magic. Even her wings now began to crackle with magic as small lightning bolts traveled over her flight feathers and discharged themselves in the surrounding area. The mare had tilted her horn a little further forward and her horn tip was now pointing directly at Death's scalp.
Death himself said nothing at all and his emotionless, empty black eyes just continued to gaze at Twilight.
"Good! Wise decision!" Twilight nodded her head as she collected her thoughts again.
"Back to the topic at hoof. I am an alicorn and that is the only reason I can both see and hear you even as a living being. My magical abilities also allow me to visit Elysium and talk to the souls of the deceased but not physical interact with them as I´m in fact not dead. By the way, Elysium is a place that was born from the most powerful and pure form of energy that exists and has been protected ever since. Do you have any idea what that might be? Go ahead, I'll permit you to answer me." Twilight's voice was mischievous and her eyes sparkled with a sly spark.
Death still showed no emotion, towards Twilight's statement and obvious hidden threat. However, he still responded directly to the lavender alicorn.
"Well, I'm not an idiot. After all, and I've been performing my job for more years than the mortal mind can even begin to imagine. It is the alicorn's natural energies that created and now protect Elysium. They alone were capable of creating something as peaceful and harmonious as Elysium. Final resting ground for the souls of all departed beings in pure bliss. A location that lacks absolutely nothing and fulfills every possible desire to ensure the best possible after-life a being could have. A place to which I must now take your friend, unfortunately, as sorry as I am.”
Death leaned his head sideways as he thought threw his own words. ”Well would be sorry, if I could feel emotions." The stallion took a step forward, whereupon he was again greeted by a glaring bolt of pure alicorn magic between his front hooves.
Wordlessly, he stepped back.
"Very fine. You may have some idea after all. That does make it a lot easier for both of us, and puts us on the right trail I want you to follow." Twilight completely ignored what she was doing and didn't waste another thought on it, but seemed very pleased with what she had received in response. "But now to what I truly am.”
Twilight folded her wings down onto her back and rotated her body so that her winged barrel and flanks came into focus.
“As should be fairly obvious, I am a physical, living being in the quadrupedal form of a lavender female equine. An alicorn princess of Equestria more specific. One of the four that rule Equestria together in harmony and live on Equus. And as far as I know, the only alicorn's in the universe's existence. But that's far from all, because these are just some points that every foal genuinely knows."
Twilight confidently took a step forward, her hindquarters swaying left and right in loose swoops. "An alicorn represents the opposite of death, for our very being represents vitality, safety, and fertility within the universe. Any further explanation?" Twilight didn't even wait to see what she would receive in response, for her query was rhetorical and she had uttered it only out of courtesy.
"Each of us, with our essence – our very soul – incarnate critical fundamental aspects of reality and sustains them so that they may still exist into all future days. In some cases, even for thousands of years so far. Celestia is attuned to the Sun and all that lives beneath the light in general. Her younger sister Luna, is her counterpart, attuned to the moon and all that dwells in the beautiful glow of her moon each night. My old foal sitter Cadance attuned to love or less specific emotions generally." Twilight set her left front hoof determinately farther forward. " While I, for one, may be by far the youngest of the alicorns, am attuned to even four celestial systems. The one of magic, friendship, knowledge and stars."
"That in itself already is an incredible amount of power we wield, but it is by no means the end. As you have already correctly analyzed yourself, our powers being the purest form of energy in the universe are also the reason why there is any afterlife at all. Each of us four empowers Elysium with our alicorn magic, is bound to it by soul and the possibility for the last one I´m about to mention is also very, very high. The fact that it was us, who created Elysium in the first place with our very being trillions and trillions of years ago.”
“Yet all that no longer makes us simple ponies, but rather goddesses to the very core. For an alicorn is always attuned to at least one fundamental aspect, and as long as these celestial system still exists, so will the alicorn. It grants us both immortality and eternal longevity.
"We are so immensely all-powerful that we can be considered nothing other than benevolent deities by our ponies and all the other creatures that have known us. For our magical reservoirs are always oceans compared to the cup of water that the average unicorn has as a reservoir."
Twilight's grin grew even wider. "But there is still a single point that's far more significant than anything else I've just told you. As a non-physical being, the same laws apply to you as they do to us living creatures. In the same way that the living cannot interact with you, you cannot interact with them. It is not possible for you to touch them or influence them, no matter what you do. Only when they are on the verge of death are you able to appear to them so that they may see and speak to you.”
“You’re seeing what I'm getting at, don't you?" Twilight´s head cooked to the side and her eyes rested directly on Death.
The incarnation of death looked unsettled, somehow he had an uneasy suspicion of what the young alicorn mare was implying.
"Uhhh..." was all he could get out between his fleshless lips. Twilight rolled her eyes, but took pity to enlighten. The magic around her long horn began to flare increasingly brightly as she stepped closer, step by step, with each sentence.
"Alright, I'll do it for you if you can't get it together”, Twilight deadpanned. “No matter what you try to do, it is impossible for you to harm me in any way. You cannot attack me because, as the aspect of death, you are not a physical being, but" – Twilight raised her front hooves, making quotation marks in the air in front of her –"'only' the aspect of the fundamental power of death. You are incapable of physically interacting with a living being's body, mind, soul, and everything else that composes a living being as long as they are still alive. Your task is to deal with the already dead or dying after the end of their life in Equestria and to take their souls to Elysium.”
Twilight smiled a cheeky grin. “And you see, I'm in fact not dead. Plus I have eternal life and everything that defines my very being to the core is immortal, so... it negates everything else that you, me, or anyone else could think of. No matter how immensely powerful you may be as the aspect of death, your powers can't harm me at all, as long as I'm still alive."
"No, no, that can't be!," the bony stallion tried to coax himself out, while the lavender alicorn slowly trotted further and further towards him, full of optimism. At the same time he backed away to maintain a safe distance to the Equestrian princess. All of a sudden, he found himself thinking that this young alicorn mare was far more threatening than he would have liked.
"Oh yes my dear, haven't you listened to me about what an alicorn fundamentally is?," chuckled Twilight gleefully, and had any other pony overheard her, it might well have received the opinion that the young princess had gone completely bonkers.
"Here's the summary again: An benevolent, eternal, immortal goddess; gifted with powers bonded to fundamental concepts of existence involving their souls and minds; empowering them and granting an alicorn its supernatural powers in the first place. In return, we, like magic in my example, uphold those concepts and allow them to continue to function."
Twilight was now almost directly furry snout to bone snout facing Death, now that he had reached the opposite wall of the hospital room and could no longer back away from the alicorn mare. She looked deeply and hauntingly into the dark orbs that were to be his eyes. Deep into the infinite misery, hopelessness and despair that only the loss of a lover to death could give without batting an eye. She then stepped back a few paces to allow personal space for the aspect of death, turning her rump to him and trotting carefree back to the edge of Rainbow Dash's bed seating herself. A sudden freedom that the bony stallion immediately embraced, breaking away from the wall, slowly following the alicorn mare uncertainly.
As he approached Princess Twilight, however, the mare slowly turned her head around again. Granting him a look over her shoulder that merely proclaimed, "One step closer to my friend and it will have been your very last." Somehow, Dead was fairly certain that this was not as empty a threat as one might initially assume when thinking about what he was representing.
"Take this as a sincere warning! –", Twilight's voice rang out a second later so coldly that even the iron grip of death itself couldn't come close to it. It sent a shiver running straight down Death's spine, even though that shouldn't be physically feasible at all. "– but don't you ever dare to even try to get close to one of my friends again."
Twilight's horn now glowed threateningly bright as she stood back up. Starting to pace again and heading towards the stallion. Positioning her front hoof squarely on Death's chest as she had reproached him.
Horrified and frightened, Death stared down at the lavender alicorn's hoof resting in the middle of his chest, then back up to Twilight's cold eyes and down again. Then back up to the young alicorn´s face and a last time down to the hoof resting on his chest.
"Impossible!", he voiced in fright. Twilight just glared at him in distaste and raised her eyebrow disapprovingly.
"Does it look like I care?"
Using her remarkable earth pony strength that she had acquired upon ascending to a godly alicorn, Twilight began to slowly shove the Aspect of Death away. Slowly further away from Rainbow Dash's bed and the rest of her friends surrounding the cyan pegasus lying within it.
Her voice was still as cold and menacing as before. "If I catch you even trying to get near her one more time. Or if you have the temerity to show up with the intention of stealing one of my friends' souls again, then by all the gods known you'll wish you had not tried."
Twilight vigorously knocked the boney stallion far away from her, whereupon he staggered backwards to the ground, staring terrified at the alicorn mare towering superior before him. Twilight bared her teeth as a wide dangerous predatory grin graced her muzzle. “Shoo, shoo better disperse before I have second thoughts. No amount of universal law's physical infeasibility will spare you even remotely from my wrath if you dare come near Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, or Applejack again. Oh and that also goes for my family and rest of my friends too. "
The Aspect of Death continued to look at the alicorn mare in front of him for a few seconds, completely horrified and speechless. Then, his form broke away without a trace in an implosion of negated light with a sound of a thousand dying orphans.
Satisfied with herself, Twilight grinned as she lazily bobbed her head and rejoined Rainbow Dash. As she approached the bed, Applejack and Fluttershy stepped aside to clear the way for their dear alicorn friend. Giving Twilight a side-glance as she stepped between them. The moment Twilight's front hooves made contact with Rainbow Dash's blanket, the pegasus began to stir slowly with a groan.
"Uhhh! Where am I?," moaned Rainbow Dash quietly and hoarsely as she brought her front hoof up to shield herself from the harsh light of the fluorescent lamps in the room. As her eyes slowly began to focus and she saw all five of her best friends smiling in relief before her, her expression changed to confusion.
"Uhh hi?" she began quietly and sheepishly as she began to peer around the room. She was clearly confused as to where she was and it took her a few seconds to realise exactly where she was lying. Soon her eyes shifted back to the other mares, wide in fright and confusion as she tried to raise herself. Raw physical alicorn strength however pressed her carefully but determined back down into the soft pillow under her head. Letting her muscles go limp, Rainbow Dash yielded to Twilight's indomitable will with a huff.
"Guys what happened?“, her eyes had shrunken down to pinpricks and her body trembled in mild fright of her unknown situation.
“What am I doing here? Why am I lying in a hospital bed? Why are all these beeping machines in here and what do all these cables on me serve of a purpose? The last thing I remember is a gigantic storm, then a loud crash, screams and...silence. Nothing, there's nothing after that."
Twilight's horn began to illuminate as she seized fragments of reality in her magical grasp, willing them to bend to her pure will and began infusing Rainbow Dash's body with them to help her heal. The young alicorn princess meanwhile smiled reassuringly to dispel Dash's doubts and fears as she moved her hoof away from the other mare´s chest.
"It's all right Dashie. You just had a little accident trying to be the most heroic pegasus once again. No one was seriously hurt and you'll be able to leave the hospital very soon, once your wounds have healed."
"Applejack, Rarity?" The two mares addressed jerked their heads around at the sound of Twilight's determined but friendly voice and looked from Rainbow Dash directly over to Twilight.
Twilight gave both her friends a kind smile. "Would you two please be so kind as to fetch the supervising doctor for us to have a look at Dash? Best try the front desk, that's where you should have the best chance of finding him as soon as possible. Oh, and if they try to turn you away, tell the 'nice' mare behind the reception that she's welcome to come and tell the princess of friendship and magic herself. That will be all."
The two mares nodded wordlessly at their alicorn leader of their little group and let Twilight know that they had understood her command. Both of them then slowly began to head for the door. However, while doing so, Rarity and Applejack cast glances back at the others every now and then, but mainly at the alicorn mare and among themselves. One moment Twilight had been weeping and her heart-wrenching sobs had filled the room at the imminent loss of their mutual friend. But suddenly it had looked like Twilight spaced out. When she came back from it a few seconds later, a wide grin had graced her muzzle as well as an amused twinkle sparkled in her eyes. Where had this abrupt 180 degree change of heart come from all of a sudden? Both mares were completely clueless and just shook their heads at each other. Letting the other know that they didn't know what had just happened in the last few minutes either.
As the door locked behind the unicorn and earth pony with an audible "click", Twilight turned her eyes fully back to Rainbow Dash.
Honestly, what does death think he's doing?
*End of the Story*
