Luna sat in a cushioned chair, studying Rookwood, who was literally resting his bones. They had danced, spent time together, talked, he had been able to touch her, and even if he was currently without flesh, Luna wanted to be touched. Consummation of the marriage would have to wait, but this was enough.

Oddly enough, Luna still found Rookwood attractive.

He was also resting in a chair, bits of ivory bone peeking out from under his black mantle, blue flames burning infernally in his eye sockets. Rookwood had a fabulous bone structure.

Luna sipped from her punch cup, delighting in the burn. The punch was marvelous, and she had spiked it herself, loading it with enough potent alcohol to even get an alicorn buzzed. Luna was determined to have a good time, no matter the cost. There had been to much heartache lately, to much darkness.

“I feel dead tired,” Rookwood confessed in sarcastic tones. “Having to lug around a body, any body, even this body, is tiring,” he added.

“You are terrible,” Luna mused, smiling as she drank more punch.

“I’m not the one committing necrophilia,” teased Rookwood.

Luna’s eyes flew open and she sprayed punch everywhere, gasping and sputtering in shock. It took her several moments to collect herself, to find her breath again, her blood running hotly through her body. She could hear Rookwood chortling. She began laughing herself, whooping and guffawing at the revelation of what she had committed herself to.

For the moment, they were alone together, in a sea of ponies. All around them were celebrating ponies, celebrating life after the gruesome spectacle witnessed earlier. Rookwood and Luna had found a relatively quiet corner, and Rookwood had subtly increased his aura of fear to discourage other ponies from bothering them.

The unintended consequence of this was that it was causing Luna a great deal of arousal.

“Enjoy this time while you can Luna, things are going to change soon. I gain strength rapidly, eventually, I must begin my duties,” urged Rookwood.

“We shall smite our enemies together. I look forward to rooting them out. Even with things being the way they are right now, I feel hope for the future. Thank you beloved, for your sacrifice. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough,” replied Luna, drinking more punch.

“I am rather surprised that Hades allowed me to use this form,” said Rookwood. “This isn’t something I have earned yet.”

“Given what I know about the Lords of Tartarus, it does seem odd, but Hades does genuinely seem to like you,” Luna answered.

“Luna, this is a terrible thing to say, but I feel like I belong down there. I belong down there in a way that I never belonged anywhere in life. I am understood. I am respected. I am finally eager to learn something, I feel dedicated. I’ve found passion,” Rookwood said, his eye sockets blazing brighter as he spoke.

“Destinies and cutie marks are funny things,” quipped Luna. “I suppose you were meant to take this course in, well, your afterlife.”

“No Luna, you are wrong, this is my life. I came to that conclusion as I carried the souls of dead foals into the realms of Elysium and took comfort in knowing that they would never know suffering again. I delivered them from that. I carried them to a better place. It brought me peace,” Rookwood explained, his tone careful and patient. “Taking the pain from those foals who were violated on Hearth’s Warming was only the beginning, taking the pain from you showed me what I was truly capable of, but knowing that I ended pain forever was a relief to my soul. I remember them. All of them. Every soul of every foal I have claimed. They were confused, scared, wondering what had just happened. Lost. And they trusted me. I bid them to come with me, I pulled them within my essence, and I bled them of the pain they felt in life, in those final moments when the plague was eating them alive, and I took away every terrible memory of pain and placed it within my self. And I carried them, innocent of pain and suffering into the Green Fields of the beyond, unblemished,” Rookwood finished.

“You mean you took their pain into you?” Luna asked.

“The pain has to go somewhere. Pain simply does not disappear,” Rookwood answered.

“That’s horrible,” whispered Luna.

“It hurts, but there is something I take comfort in,” Rookwood replied.

“And that is?” inquired Luna.

“That when I meet a deserving and worthy soul, I get to pump all of this pain I have absorbed into them. It is known as the Reaper’s Consolation. I… I have felt it myself, Death did it to me, I had to know what it felt like so I would understand what it was that I did to others,” Rookwood said, his voice low and chilling. “His first use of it on me was to get me to let go of my love, so it could be examined. His second use of it was to illuminate me on my terms of service. I endured both times, never wavering in my course of action,” Rookwood added.

Luna found she could say nothing, she could only look upon her love and be thankful that he was here with her.

“I hate my meat suit. It itches. Feels all sticky and gross!” bellowed Hades, scratching his now bare bones. “Oh by the pantheon, living flesh is so disgusting, I don’t know how they wear that crap!”

“They manage my Lord,” Thanatos replied.

Hades turned to look at his second in command, the skeletal centaur known as Thanatos. Hades scratched his skull, his claws making sounds like fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard as he did so.

“So, how goes your mission into the outer realms? You missed a great wedding!” said Hades.

“My Lord, it is my misfortune to report that some of the Lords do not support this course of action. They move in support of Nightmare Moon,” Thanatos said, bowing his upper torso slightly as he spoke.

“So, it is to be war then,” muttered Hades.

“Perhaps,” replied Thanatos.

“Hasn’t been a war here for a long time,” Hades mentioned. “I do hope they will behave and keep this squabble out of the lands of the living.”

“I have already begun preparations and have been trying to broker deals,” Thanatos said.

Hades clacked his claws nervously upon the basalt stone floor, the bony links of his tail swishing with pent up frustration. He began to pace, prowling back and forth, occasionally looking at Thanatos, sometimes stopping to pause and think.

“I would have thought we would have learned to put petty squabbles behind us after that last one,” Hades muttered.

“New Lords have risen to power since that time,” replied Thanatos.

“Bah, at least war is never boring! I’m sick of being bored,” exclaimed Hades.

As dawn approached, a new visitor appeared in the great hall, causing quite a bit of distress with his sudden appearance. A skeletal figure, shrouded in black robes very much like Rookwoods, had appeared near where Luna and Rookwood were sitting, now resting after more dancing and a bit of socialisation.

“Reaper of Donkeys, what brings you here? You missed the ceremony earlier,” said Rookwood. “Luna, this is Reaper of Donkeys, and I suppose he is a friend of mine, if in my position I can have friends,” exclaimed Rookwood, introducing his friend.

Reaper of Donkeys bowed low, dropping to one bony skeletal knee, and then rose, blue fire flickering in his skull. “I apologize for failing to come earlier, I had pressing issues to attend to, and I continue those pressing issues even now. I have come with a proposition that I wish to discuss with you right away, so that I may go and discuss it with Hades as soon as possible.” the skeletal donkey said, his jawbone creaking as he spoke. “Luna, the pleasure of meeting you is all mine, I’ll spare you base flattery so I don’t make myself a jackass…” the skeletal donkey’s skull seemed to be almost smiling.

“All of you have terrible senses of humour,” mused Luna.

“We’re all damned, most of us likely for our humour,” replied the Reaper of Donkeys.

The crowd had retreated far, far away from the two reapers. It was late, almost dawn, and many of them suddenly found the need to go home and go to bed.

“And this cannot wait?” asked Rookwood.

“You and I both know our common enemy does not take time for celebration, but instead spends every moment preparing for the coming conflict,” replied the Reaper of Donkeys.

Rookwood sighed.

“And this is for both of your benefits,” added the Reaper of Donkeys.

“Well then, speak,” commanded Luna.

“It is my intention to go to Hades and make a proposal for a new type of Reaper. I am going to suggest Rookwood for the position. I’ve been speaking with the Reaper of Griffons a great deal about all of the dead foals because of the plague, and how much Rookwood has been able to comfort them. Rookwood also has experience as Wookwood, from your tutelage in dreams Luna, which places him in an unusual position. There is also the matter of his love, a vital part of his own essence, something which has been stripped away from the rest of us. He can comfort foals in a way that none of us can. I plan to propose a Reaper of Lost Foals, and have Rookwood take up the mantle, if Hades will allow it. Hades has been acting weird lately. Rookwood seems to have set him off,” the Reaper of Donkeys said, never once needing to draw breath, his words unbroken by mortal need.

“Rookwood, you should consider this, it must be so difficult to be a foal of any species and die. Think of your own experiences with Violet,” said Luna.

“Rookwood’s experience with Violet is unique. I’ve spoken at length with my fellow Reapers. None of us had any idea that such a magic existed that would allow, well, the horrible events that happened to happen. Trust me, all of us as Reapers know suffering, it is what we are made out of, but all of us felt something when we learned of the events that took place and the magic that allowed it to happen. Hades gave the Accuser and the Defender free reign to deal with those horrible events however he saw fit. Because of those events, Rookwood was spared the Year of Lamentations that most of us who are bound in service in some way must undergo. It takes a lot to make a Reaper pause and reflect,” said the Reaper of Donkeys.

“And Rookwood drew strength from it,” replied Luna proudly.

“Which is why he should be the Reaper of Lost Foals. Those lost must be brought back into the fold and comforted. They cannot go into the Endless Pastures knowing pain and suffering,” said the Reaper of Donkeys.

“Dawn approaches,” announced Rookwood. “Luna, I love you, I had a wonderful night. I shall return as soon as I am able, and I will visit you in dreams,” promised Rookwood.

Luna kissed Rookwood on the skull and pressed her body alongside his, leaning on him.

The three of them awaited dawn together, pondering the future.

The guests were gone. The sun had risen. Violet had vanished. And Celestia pondered the condition of the massive hall. Rotten bits of flesh remained on the floor. There were still maggots strewn about from one end of the hall to the other, and much of the mess had been ground underhoof. The stench of death lingered on. The hot sweaty smell of fear also hung in the air, no doubt permeated into the walls.

In all of the history of Equestria, there had never been a wedding like this. The seeds of myth and legends had been planted and Celestia knew that she would live to see them grow.

Inspite of all the horror, the weirdness, Celestia had to admit that she was happy about it all. Luna was finally happy and had found worthy company, she would never find the nights lonely again. The Lords of Tartarus seemed friendlier, a blessing really, given how things had been in the past. Her little ponies had their public spectacle, something they loved dearly, being the gregarious social creatures that they were. Nothing too terrible had happened, Blueblood soiling himself was quite possibly the nicest gift the Lords of Tartarus could leave behind for her as a hostess.

Discord had been acting strange as well, spending his time apologising to ponies for his pranks, and Discord had even made a heartfelt apology to Celestia, asking to be forgiven for a long incredibly detailed list of things.

The only disconcerting thing that really bothered Celestia was that Hades seemed to be snapped out of his funk. The undead draconequus had seemed unusually animated.

Hades was the most troublesome troublemaker in existence, and Celestia knew him a little too well.

Author's Notes:

Wedding chapter, part two.

I promised to pull back the camera, well, metaphorically speaking, so you could start seeing the larger world. I hope the view is fascinating. Still more to reveal.

And now, we begin to ease into the war arc, which is going to be long and require a lot of effort on my part. First up, those responsible for Violet's creation.