Chapter 10 – A Told Tale by the Dead

Luna walked down the hallway of… killed… past stars alongside Ace and hundreds of other guests to the theatre as they made their way toward the back of the building. According to Ace she had learned that after each show's conclusion any and all guests who have their tickets can visit the graveyard outside to pay their respects to the buried stars of the past, as well as to pay their final respects to the newest addition to the graveyard. He also said that the tickets would be taken by the Guides, upon leaving the theatre for the graveyard, after that they leave for the city via the theatre again.

However she wasn't interested in a building layout explanation, all she was interested in was forgetting what she just saw merely five minutes ago. The picture was still so fresh, so raw, and so piercingly painful to her that she was STILL just recovering from the shock. She could still see the look of joy and happiness on Izabella's face as she looked into that phantom's face. She could still hear the tone of pure innocence as she sang her response to his question. She even remembered that smile, that wonderfully gentle smile that made Luna forget her worries and fears for just a brief moment in time.

Not only did she remember those things about The Flower of the Theatre, as Dokt called her, she also remembered how violent her end had come. It was not peaceful, majestic, or heroic. It was nothing like the way she had told Izabella in that brief time between the two halves of the show, she did not get to live that long full life she had pictured. Luna realized that she probably hurt her feelings with her encouragement about becoming a better mother than her own had been, settling down with a nice stallion and raising a family, she probably made her feel terrible with just those few thoughts.

"I never want to cause pain again." She whispered sadly as they turned a corner and walked with the rest of the crowd toward a group of small wooden toy ponies, each of which carrying small baskets on their back for tickets to be placed in.

"Say something Luna?" Ace asked cheerfully as they waited in line with a bunch of other guests.

"Pain… I hurt that mare that just… died on stage." Luna whispered quietly as she moved forward alongside him as the queue moved on. "I told her she had a long life ahead of her, full of hope and love, and all that happened was… that. I basically hurt her because she knew what was going to happen, reminding her of something that she would not have or ever will have. I don't want to hurt another pony, ever again."

"Luna, what part of, she was MAD, don't you get?" He said exasperatedly. "She didn't feel pain; she felt no joy, no sorrow, no anger or regret! In other words she did not care one bit that you probably hurt her feelings. In fact now that you mention it I regret myself not talking to her, never met a mare who felt no feelings or emotions. I wonder how she would play a game of tic tac toe?"

She was still unsatisfied with his response, and the look on her face clearly told what she thought as he turned to face her. "Look Luna, you need to realize that madness is good as well as bad, painful as well as soothing. It doesn't matter who is mad or why they are mad, it all depends on what their madness does for them. It can help them or hurt them depending on how they use it and how it affects them on a personal and emotional level. Learn from Izabella's mistake for letting her madness get so deep, that she could not feel true happiness like you and I can feel. True she stared death in the face and didn't even bat an eyelash in front of it, but you have to realize and understand that she chose her path knowing its outcomes and what would happen at the end of the road. It's not like she didn't know what would happen when she became the star of the show, she knew full well what would happen. The pictures on the wall are all saying the same thing for goodness sake!"

After this little piece of information Luna nodded in understanding, and finally felt herself relaxing and feeling calmer about the whole ordeal she witnessed. Despite the horror she saw, she realized it wasn't so horrible when she saw it from the theatrical point of view, which Izabella no doubt saw it as. She started talking, somewhat excitedly, about the show to Ace, recalling her favorite parts and remembering the songs that she sang to the audience.

"When the phantom came in all swooping like that, I can't believe how terrifying he was!" She said as one of the wooden toys positioned the basket so they could drop their tickets into them. "His outfit completely fit his role Ace; I can't believe the terror he inspired in me just by dropping onto the stage like that. I should know about terror and stuff; after all I have a holiday named after me, Nightmare Night!"

"Well they have been performing the same routine when the current star finished her career at the theatre." Ace said in a matter of fact voice as they walked through the door and out into the open air of the graveyard. "The Phantom says the same opening line each time he appears to perform the final act; he calls to the newest star and tells her it's time for her to pay the price for fame. The price is always her life mind you, but before he takes his price he gives her one question to determine how she will die."

"How does a single question determine how she will die?" Luna asked curiously.

She realized as she was speaking with Ace just how far she had descended into madness. That morning when she woke up with her sister, she would not have even DARED to think about talking to anypony about death, least of all talking about how one can possibly die. Yet now she was speaking to Ace about this dark subject as though it were as normal as sipping tea while sitting in front of the fire.

"Well Luna if the star answers honestly, as she did, then her death will be quick and painless." He said cheerfully. "If she lies, then her death is slow and brutal as he proclaims her lies before the audience. They of course don't understand the meaning behind his question; they all see it as an act, just another part of the performance. She's going to die either way, but they don't realize that her answer determines how she dies."

"So what would her death have been had she said that no, her life was not worthy of the theatre, as she put it?" Luna asked.

"Well let's see, she was a pure flower of the theatre, trained and tutored by Dokt whom she respects and admires and in turn wants to be respected and admired by." He said as they walked among the graves, walking in no particular direction. "She also spent her entire life maintaining her purity of soul and trying to avoid the fate and curse that befell her mother because of her father. Assuming she said no, that her life was not worth all of the fame, then her punishment would have been public violation, similar to what befell her mother, in front of Dokt and the entire stage crew and the audience. While being violated Dokt would yell to the audience, asking them to forgive him for allowing such a failure to the theatre take the stage and waste their time, something the theatre prides itself upon not doing. After being violated by the Phantom she would then be violated by the entire male body of the cast and crew of the stage, before being impaled upon a stake after they finished with her, in the fashion of Vlad the Impaler. Finally, she would die after a very… very… I can't stress this enough, VERY long time period of being impaled; all the while the Phantom would point out to the audience as to what type of mare she was truly at heart."

Luna cringed at the fate that Izabella was spared because she answered honestly. "Can I just say, ouch?" Luna said, trying an attempt at humor as to the painful death Ace described for her. "Was it necessary to go into that much detail Ace?"

"No, but you asked what would happen to her if she had answered dishonestly." Ace said cheerfully. "Well, what was the name of the mare we're looking for again?"

"Miss Kathermane Hoofburn, if I remember correctly." Luna replied. "She's buried here as well if I'm correct, but where?"

"Well if I remember correctly, they burry the stars based on the letter of their last name to first name." Ace whispered as he walked over to the nearest grave. "Let's see, according to this grave we are in the C section of the graveyard. Which means we need to go… that way to reach the H section!"

He pointed to their right, where Luna could see yet more graves in the far distance. "I'm guessing we have a lot of walking to do." Luna whispered dully as she contemplated flying over the graves until they fund the H section.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Ace chuckled as he started walking forward, leading the way toward the graves.

It took them roughly thirty minutes of walking through the numerous tombstones to reach the H section of the graveyard. Luna was very careful of where she stepped wanting to show some respect for the resting stars of the past. Despite what she knew was going to happen, she had some respect for the sleeping as she and her sister put it. Yet as she called them 'resting' she wondered why she did not call them the dead?

Well that's obvious Luna, because you and our sister prefer much gentler words. She thought to herself as Ace did a backflip for her amusement, while still moving forward. Yet why do we use such gentle words, why not just speak honestly about things that deserve to be spoken about? What was it that one Time Lord put it… we're too gentle a species?

"Stop talking to yourself Luna, pay attention to your surroundings!" Ace said quickly.

Luna snapped her head up and looked around, finding herself looking at tombstones with names such as Holibary Mane, and Hilton Julie. "We made it to the H section I guess?" She asked quietly.

"What was your first clue?" Ace chuckled, smiling his all too familiar grin.

"Well, time to find Miss Kathemane Hoofburn." Luna said, wishing their walk had been longer.

They started looking around, Luna reading each name carefully and taking her time with each tombstone they found and Ace simply glancing at them one at a time before whispering something under his breath. Every time he stopped to read a name he whispered that same something again and again.

"No, you're not Kathermane Hoofburn." Luna whispered as she read the name of Hilary Kimberclop, on one tombstone that lay in the shadow of a dead tree. "Where are you Kathermane?"

Suddenly she felt a shiver course through her body, as though somepony were standing on her own grave. Then she heard a sound she had not heard since she came into The Doctor's mind on the sixth level. She heard the wind blowing gently above her, but what was strange was that she felt no wind.

She looked up and saw one of the dead tree's branches blowing gently in the unfelt wind. Only that one branch shifted through the wind, seemingly pointing her to her left. Luna glanced to the left before glancing again at the tree branch, which was still waving in that direction. "Madness is a state of mind Luna; just take directions when you get them…" She told herself as she went left of the tree.

Four tombstones left of the tree; she found the grave she had been looking for. "Well hello there Miss Kathermane Hoofburn." Luna whispered to the tombstone. "I've been looking for you for some time now."

Ace meandered over to her and looked at the tombstone, somehow procuring two shovels for them to dig with in the time he spent out of her sight. She would have asked where he got the shovels, but after knowing him for this long she just accepted that he was capable of doing extraordinary things, if not improbable things.

"Well Ace, let's get this over with!" Luna said as she offered a hoof to take one of the shovels from Ace.

Ace however slapped her hoof away, and gave her a disappointed glare before he spoke up. "Have you no concept of respect?" He whispered as he stood before the tombstone, being careful not to stand on the actual grave itself. "In his name, the name of the King, the Queen, and Ace to the three, please forgive us Miss Kathermane for what we must do to thee."

He said those words with deep respect, making four hoof shaped marks in the soil around the grave. After he said his words and mad those four marks, he lifted his hat and allowed two Daffodil flowers to fall onto the grave. Finally he handed Luna one of the shovels and started digging himself. Luna started digging as well, slightly appalled that she was actually defiling the grave of a past star, but not as appalled as she figured she would be. After all, she thought to herself, this is The Doctor's mind, they aren't really alive.

She dug for about ten minutes alongside Ace, taking huge amounts of dirt and flinging it off to the side in a large heap where he was putting his. Finally after she had dug a good quantity of dirt off, she found an excuse to ask him a question. "Ace, what was that saying you said before, and what was the significance of those hoof marks?" She asked him.

Ace looked up, slightly less cheerful but still not upset at the question. "The words were a phrase to speak to those not among the living, and to ask them for forgiveness for what you have done or are about to do." He whispered. "The marks represent the four corners of the upper levels of Up, him being at the top, The King and The Queen being on the sides, with me the Ace being on the bottom. Now let us continue digging little mare, for we haven't the time to waste talking if we wish to find the key without being found."

She nodded as she took the hint and resumed digging. Another fifteen minutes of digging her shovel her something hit something very hard with a resounding thump. Quickly she used her magic to lift the last layer of dirt and threw it on the pile. There lying below nearly fifteen feet of dirt, judging from the amount of dirt surrounding it, was a large oak coffin with the insignia of hoof shaped mark surrounded by fire. "Kathermane Hoofburn I guess?" Luna whispered in awe and shock.

Ace nodded as he reached down and with both hooves pulled the coffin out with help from Luna's magic. They propped it upright and stood before it, Luna unwilling to open the coffin to reveal its content, both because she didn't want to be disgusted by what was inside and because she was so afraid of taking the next step in defiling this grave.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ace asked calmly. "Open it."

"Why me?" Luna whispered nervously, though she knew the answer before he said it.

"Because I don't need the key, you do." He replied.

She nodded quietly then reached forward and, with a very deep breath that she held, opened the coffin of Kathermane Hoofburn.

The first thing she did, was gag and cough so violently that she had to take fifteen steps back to vomit and recuperate. The smell was horrible, and the sight was disgusting, just to say the least. Luna had no time to prepare herself, or to steady herself before she vomited yet again. The remains of that dead mare would forever imprint on her mind as long as she could remember, and she couldn't even describe them because of how revolting she was after seventy five years of decaying. That didn't even include the smell, the smell alone made her want to vomit.

She continued to vomit and otherwise recover from the sight and smell, for about five minute before she recovered enough to look again. What she saw was both, incredibly scary and incredibly strange. She was watching Ace as he talked animatedly to the dead body of Kathermane, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was dead. At least until Luna noticed that the dead body moved its head as he spoke to it.

"Wha… the…" Luna stuttered, lacking any words to describe what she was seeing. Could Ace somehow have the power to bring the dead back to life, was he able to talk to the dead somehow, was Kathermane even dead to begin with?

"Oh finally recovered did you?" Ace called to Luna as he beckoned her over. "Come, come, meet Kathermane, she's quite a lovely creature when you get to know her."

Luna took a few steps toward the coffin, trying her best not to gag at the smell. She would have tried to describe the apparently deceased Kathermane Hoofburn, but it was taking everything she had to just keep from vomiting at the sight of the decaying or decayed flesh and the smell. Still she managed to at least smile a small smile at the undead mare.

"How… do… you do?" Luna whispered quietly.

Kathermane turned her head to look at her, before turning her one good or at least in better condition, ear to her. "What was that, I can't hear you?"

"She said, how are you?" Ace replied.

"Oh that's what she said, why didn't you say so?" Kathermane shouted as she stepped out of the coffin and landed on all four hooves, one of said hooves falling off and rolling toward Luna. "Oh sorry about that, darn thing falls off everytime nowadays!"

Luna gagged as she, pushed the body part toward the rest of Kathermane and watched as she picked it up and reattached it with a loud squelch and crack. "As I was saying before, it's nice meet you Kathermane, we've heard a great deal about you." Ace said cheerfully, acting as though he were talking to an old friend. "My friend here though just came to ask about something you have in your possession that we need."

"Is that so, well what do you need Miss?" She replied, looking at Luna with one rotting eyeball. "Go ahead it's not like I need anything anymore at this point, you disturbed my nap, not that I mind, mind you. After all I get to walk around for a few minutes. YA HEAR THAT JENETTE, LOOK WHO'S STILL STUCK IN THEIR COFFIN NOW YA POMPOUS PRAT!"

From across the field came a muffled thumping sound, as though somepony was knocking heavily on a door. "Yes well, I just wanted to aaask you…" Luna gagged, trying not to vomit as she looked at Kathermane. "Do you have… a key… that the King gave you, seventy five years ago?"

"That old thing, yea I got it, somewhere in my coffin." She growled as she turned and walked toward the coffin where the dress she was buried in was still stored. "Let's see is it there, no not there, maybe there, no not there either."

Luna took the time while Kathermane was distracted with her coffin to run several steps away to vomit out of hearing range. When she was finished, she came back and found Kathermane just finishing her search when she slapped her face with a hoof, which caused several maggots to fall out of what remained of her mane. "Of course now I remember, I swallowed it!" She bellowed, then she started to push at her stomach, pushing something up toward her throat, and judging by the shape of what it was, Luna could guess what it was.

Two minutes later, and after Luna resisted the urge to vomit again, a very slimy rusted looking key in the shape of a heart was now in her hooves. Wrapped around the key was a golden string that Luna recognized as a memory; however Luna wasn't concerned about that at the moment as she took the key and put it in her cloak's pocket for safekeeping and so she didn't have to touch it anymore. "Thank you… Miss Kathermane." Luna said as respectfully as she could. "Though, may we ask, why did you just give us the key without arguing about it? Didn't the King give it to you as a symbol of his love for you?"

"Symbol of his love, hah, now that's a good one!" She laughed happily as her eye fell out of her socket, still attached by something that kept it from falling to the ground. "His majesty gave me that key by force, I wouldn't have accepted it if he didn't convince me to take it! The fat son of a…

Ace clapped his hooves over Luna's ears to prevent her from hearing the next few words, then she was allowed to listen again.

"He tricked me into keeping that key and swallowing it, told me that if I did that he would take me from the theatre before the phantom would take me. I should have known that he wasn't intending to save my life. He only wanted me to keep the key for him so that I would take it to my grave. That royal pain in the rump lied to me and made me answer falsely to the phantom when my time came, and because he filled me with false hope I was painfully killed, look at me I'm not this ugly usually. I was so pretty, but when the phantom took my life he poured acid over my body so that I would never again look the way I did in life."

Kathermane yawned loudly, and her eye looked very tired. "It's been fun you two, but really now I am not in the mood to talk about my past." She said sleepily as she pushed her coffin back into the hole and let it plop right in. "I'm going back to sleep if you don't mind, we undead don't like getting up when we're taking a nap. Oh before I go in, would you be a dear kind sir and sing me a lullaby before I go to sleep again?"

Ace nodded and moved forward to help Kathermane into her coffin in the dirt now. "Hush, little mare, don't say a word." He sang in a singsong voice. "Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird, and if that mockingbird won't sing. Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring."

"And if that diamond ring turns brass, daddy needs to buy me looking glass." Kathermane sang in a beautiful voice that eased Luna, despite the source of that beautiful voice. "If that looking glass gets broke, daddy needs to buy me a billy… goat."

"And if that billy goat won't pull, daddy's gonna buy you a cart and bull." He sang as he motioned for Luna to help him, pointing at the dirt. "And if that cart and bull turn over, daddy's gonna buy you a dog named Rover."

"And if that… dog… named Rover…won't bark." Kathermane sang from within the coffin, her voice getting sleepier and sleepier each second. "Daddy needs to… buy… me… a horse… and… cart…"

Ace nodded to Luna as she used her magic to lift a good portion of the dirt as his singing became softer and softer, the sound of Kathermane snoring becoming prominent now as he closed the coffin shut. "And if that horse and cart fall down." He sang softly. "You will still… be the sweetest… little mare… in town!"

At his cue Luna let the dirt fall on the coffin, covering it up and stifling the snoring from within. Five minutes later they repositioned all the dirt where it had been, they left the grave of Kathermane and walked toward the theatre, where in the distance other guests were walking toward to leave the graveyard as well. "What, in the name of all that is right, was that?" Luna finally shouted after they put some distance between them and Kathermane's grave.

"What, you make it sound like I didn't know what was going to happen." Ace chuckled again. "I'll give you the short version of what happened back there though, just to simplify things. You see Luna when the stars of the Opera Phantom Theatre die, two outcomes befall their dead bodies. If they were allowed a quick, painless, and overall peaceful death then they forever sleep peacefully. However if they suffered the fate that Kathermane suffered, a brutal savage death, they are considered undead, not allowed to pass on into the next life, if there is one that is. They end up just sleeping under all that dirt for the rest of their lives."

"I'll just pretend I understood what you just said and move on." Luna said exasperatedly. "Be prepared for anything, The Doctor sure didn't lie about that little line."

It took them about one hour to return to the Endless Staircase, that's when Luna decided to examine her newest acquisitions. After she cleaned the key she took the memory strand and held it out for Ace to examine.

"This is a memory fragment, not the entire memory, but there's maybe a good three or four seconds of memory if the length is anything to judge by." He explained as he looked at it. "If you want to see it all you need to do is take the memory fragment and touch it to your forehead. That's all there is too it."

Luna nodded and took the string to her forehead, a second later she found herself looking through the eyes of The Doctor as he was making his way toward the Tardis. I remember this; this was where the memory Rogar gave me started not making sense. She thought.

Right on cue, the sound of somepony rushing toward him occurred, and before The Doctor could turn and see who was behind him, something struck the back of his neck very hard. The whole world started spinning and he collapsed on the ground, his vision blurring and everything going dark. Yet just before his vision became blurred she saw something that changed her entire opinion about what happened in the memory.

A blurry image of a mare with a chestnut coat and silver mane.

The memory faded and she was back to staring at Ace. "The Professor… what's she doing in his memory?" She exclaimed as the memory fragment seemed to have disappeared.

Ace smiled as he pointed at the key she was holding. "Why don't you let your… madness figure that out?"

Luna nodded and put the key on the ring with her magic. Instantly she felt the sensation that she had felt before when her mind started working again. Thoughts raged and rampaged across her mind, trying to get her attention and being pushed around by other thoughts as well. Finally her mind began to sort everything out and a trail of thoughts started connecting themselves together, forming a chain of thoughts that her madness was telling her, was the most correct.

The Professor is still after The Doctor, she still wants revenge so she must have ambushed him when he was alone and distracted. She thought as her madness wove a web of lines for her to examine in her mind. She ambushed him when he was alone, just as his family was all out for the day and he was distracted with thoughts about work and lunch. Her attack was swift, and brutal, as well as surprising because he had absolutely no warning before it happened and no time to react. That has to be the reason, there's no other way she could have caught him off guard, distracted by his family and thoughts of the day and all alone, he was clearly at his most vulnerable.

If it's true that The Professor ambushed him and she caught him completely off guard, then the rest of the memory after that point is completely fake, just like I suspected because nothing made sense after that. So this is why the King chose to hide the key here, he had hide the key with Kathermane because he KNEW that her last day performing would be her death as well. It was the perfect chance for him to make sure that nopony would find it for a very long time. A clever plan I must admit, making her swallow the key and then leaving her at the theatre with false hopes and dreams. This way no matter what happened she would have taken it to the grave with her! Her being killed brutally because he changed the way she thought was just an added bonus to keep her from giving the key to anypony.

So what does all of this mean, The Professor ambushed him and must have captured him if that fragment has anything to say. Yet The Doctor managed to escape, and defeated her clearly because he's alright today and this memory took place five nights ago. So what happened, what happened between the time he gets captured and gets back home?

However her madness seemed to have told her everything it could, because she felt her thoughts unable to answer her question anymore. Without any more information that was the best she could come up with. Excitedly Luna explained to Ace what she had discovered for a good five minutes before he nodded in approval at her discovery.

"Not bad little Luna, you've come far in the time you've been here." He whispered as he walked over to the Endless Staircase with her following behind him. "Well in any case, our next destination is one that will test your perception to the absolute. The third level of Up is the domain of an acquaintance of mine, The Duke of Lust. We aren't friends so don't expect the same treatment from him as Dokt and Rogar gave you because they knew me. In fact I haven't seen him since he took over the castle of Toradorapora. I'm going to give you one bit of advice, watch what you say and where your cloak is traipsed."

"What does that mean, that this Duke has the same stipulations about clothing like the citizens of Memoir and Fantasia do?" Luna asked dully, she was getting really tired of having to wear clothes every single minute of the day just so she could fit in.

"You could… say that." Ace said through his grin. "I'll just say this, there is a reason he is called… The Duke of Lust."

Luna didn't know what the word Lust meant, but the way he said it and was grinning at her gave her the sense that it wasn't a very friendly word. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, making sure it covered as much of her body as it could when she took the first steps down the Endless Staircase toward the Third Level, in the Kingdom ofUp.