Mix two colors of life and death, in and out with every breath [Visual, Private to Kreutzer]

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Zecora looks deadly serious as she activates the scroll, a frown on her face and her usually warm tone solemn and almost hesitant.]

Strange things are at hoof in this land
And even I do not understand
The changes that keep taking place
But you may be a saving grace.
I need to know more of that story
Of the other me in all her glory.

Comments

[ponykreutzer]

I will tell you all that I can.

What troubles you, Zecora?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Again I am connected to death --
I assumed a form that drew no breath.
No matter my fear or wrath
I am being drawn down that path.
Tell me of the other world
To help this mystery become unfurled.

[ponykreutzer]

(The reaper nods.)

The other world...the Reaper's Game...it gathered the souls of the dead so they could take part in the game. It wasn't the only Reaper's Game, however; apparently, several different variations exist, depending on the location. I don't sense one in this world, but the one I hail from could reach across the multiverse.

The Reaper's Game is what the dead play to earn their chance at resurrection. The players completed the day's missions while fending off Noise and Reapers. Reapers, such as myself, work to slow the Players down...to test them, if you will. The Players must prove themselves worthy of resurrection through strength, intellect and willpower. The ones who completed these challenges moved on to the next. The ones who failed were erased...death for the dead.

Our game wasn't as simple, however. After each week, winners were chosen and they could either become Reapers or come back to life. Ours didn't work that way. The living couldn't return home and the game changed location every week. It hopped across time and space and proceeded down its uneven path for months until the game was suddenly cancelled. It all fell apart and we scrambled to uncover the truth and finally solve this mystery. In time, we did.

You were there from the very beginning, just as I was. Every week, you were a Player. You accomplished every mission before you and became the champion...and eventually, the leader of this game: the Composer.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

So the Zecora that you knew
Was not at first like you.
Instead she had first died --
A state she could not abide.

[Zecora makes a thoughtful little noise in the back of her throat.]

[ponykreutzer]

I died as well, actually; I just chose to become a Reaper instead. Let's just say I have no home to return to.

(Mostly metaphorically, but yeah.)

Still, the Zecora I know fought valiantly and succeeded. She had the chance to return home after the mystery was solved, but instead chose to stay behind and run the Game as it should be run.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

The important thing that you have said
Is that, although she was led.
But in the course of this dark hour
How did she gain such power?

[ponykreutzer]

She took the previous composer's place. Things became...complicated near the end and the previous composer broke down. Literally. She shut down the game completely and left us to fend for ourselves. As you can imagine, shutting down a fundamental part of the afterlife isn't without consequences. The dead needed somewhere to go after they die, so you remade the game and swore that it would be run correctly.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[She wishes, privately, that Kreutzer would stop referring to the other Zecora as 'you'. She isn't that one. Which is a pity, since it sounds like that other Zecora could do a great deal more good than she can right now.]

'The dead needed somewhere to go when they die'.
If that is true, then I wonder why
The Pale Pony's malicious machinations
Have produced no similar underworld demonstrations.

[ponykreutzer]

Equestria could have a different system of its own. After all, you can walk right into Tartarus without much trouble. Then again, if the Pale Pony could swallow an entire Equestria, then perhaps things are different there. Those who die or disappear from this Equestria get taken to the Pale Pony, don't they?

(She rubs her chin in thought.)

Perhaps that in itself is a matter worth investigating...

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Indeed, that is what I plan
If it is something that I can.
I inquired about your tale
To see if it could help me not fail.
I am not sure I gained any hints
But perhaps a shining hope still glints.

[ponykreutzer]

That it does. After all, there's something to be said of a combined effort.

(A pause.)

There's a very clear reason why I came to Equestria, you see. The Zecora I know never learned what caused her death. With her blessing, I took it upon myself to learn the truth and put her at ease. I managed to retain my reaper abilities and though there's no trace of the game, there is an aura of death in this world. It's lead nowhere so far, but with the recent discovery of a world inside the Pale Pony, there may be another trail to follow.

I'm not assuming her death is connected to you, but I feel there will be answers for at least one of us.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Zecora goes very quiet for a moment at Kreutzer's words, the sort of ominous silence that's all the worse coming from the zebra.]

I dearly hope, as I breathe and rhyme
I am not your Zecora from an earlier time.

[ponykreutzer]

Actually, I was thinking from a later time.

(Like a certain future that's been eaten by a certain goddess.)

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

In either case I
Would prefer not to die.

[ponykreutzer]

I will do everything I can to keep that from happening. You have my word.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

The though I hesitate to voice
Is that I may have no choice.

[Being turned into a weird ghost creature had affected her more strongly than she usually let on...]

[ponykreutzer]

Then let's confirm that there's a choice to be had.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

So many questions to first be addressed.
All I can do is give them my best.

[ponykreutzer]

Precisely. Take on what you can and give it your all. We'll figure things out as we go.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

If I am to count this as one of my wins
Can you tell me how your Game begins?
After all, before I tease death apart
I must figure out where to start.

[ponykreutzer]

Certainly.

The Game began simply enough in Shinjuku. It was clearly the first week of the game since many new players and reapers arrived at once. They gave a quick debriefing of each of the roles and sent us out for the first mission. It was very to the point, as you might imagine; let everyone figure things out as they go. Reapers set up their first walls, players found partners and the mission proceeded smoothly.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Let me rephrase, to seek this thing:
From whence did this Game spring?