Bravado was attempting to scream.

There were spikes sticking into him everywhere. There was even a spike in his eye. Augh!

This wasn't fair! You were supposed to stop feeling pain when you died! Why did it hurt so much? Oh sweet Celestia

Come to me, Bravado.

Huh? Bravado tried to look behind him. It was like there was a small, soft voice in his head… and yet at the same time it sounded so far away.

Come to me.

Bravado felt his pain grow fainter.

Come. Come. I've been waiting for you.

Bravado could move again. He pushed himself off of the spikes and floated up into the air, giving a cry of delight as he did. It felt sort of like he was shedding a piece of too-tight clothing, but better. Every last bit of pain was gone and he felt light as a feather.

Then he saw his body still impaled with spikes.

He felt like he was going to throw up. Sweet Celestia, there was so much blood. He looked horrible.

And if his body was on the ground…

…then he was dead.

A small whooshing noise made him turn around. Sebastius fluttered up above his body. He was white and translucent, and his hooves- actually, his whole legs- were gone. Well, not exactly gone. They'd just turned into wisps of a smoky white substance trailing from his body. He was very small- about the size of a hamster.

Bravado looked down and saw the same white smoke trailing down from him. And he also appeared to be the size of a hamster.

"Well." Sebatius Mareton looked around. "This has never happened before."

"What hasn't?" Bravado asked.

"I've never done the out-of-body experience thing," Sebastius said, sounding puzzled. "I mean, all the other times I died, I just lay where I was until Swinn and Dell brought me back."

"Well, maybe because they aren't here to bring you back this time?" Bravado said. He was floating around, trying to get used to this new form. It almost felt like he was swimming through the air, except that movement was completely effortless.

"You look like a fish," Sebastius Mareton said. "With little rippling fins." He waved his smoke trails around a bit. "Like this.

His legs did look like the fins on a fish- that is, the long frills on the top and bottom of some fish, not the fins on the side that actually wave around to propel.

"I don't get it," Bravado said. "Where are the guards?"

"Don't tell me you believe in angels," Sebastius scoffed.

"I mean the guards who died with us." Bravado flicked a wisp of smoke towards the bodies of the two Marabian guards, still stuck to the spike. "Why haven't they followed us?"

"Because this is not their journey to make."

At this new voice, Sebastius and Bravado whirled around. Behind them was another ghost, his smoky trails rippling softly. He smiled at them. Bravado couldn't be sure, since he had no colors and looked older and more tired than the pictures, but…

"Dad?" he and Sebastius whispered at the same time.

"My sons," Rodolphus Mareton said, hovering close and nuzzling first Sebastius, then Bravado. It felt nice, but a little weird- a bit like a breeze had blown past Bravado's face.

Rodolphus pulled back a bit after nuzzling Bravado. "I… understand you were upset to… to learn that you were related to Sebastius," he said, his voice catching a bit. "I hope… you weren't upset to learn about… me?"

Bravado pulled Rodolphus into a hug. "No. No, I'm sorry. I couldn't see… I didn't know…"

"You're not going to start crying, are you?" Sebastius said, his voice loaded with disapproval.

Bravado ignored him.

"Mom still talks about you," he said. "She misses you, and wishes she hadn't…" Bravado struggled not to cry. Not in front of Sebastius.

"My precious, precious Ruby," Rodolphus said with a sigh. "I hope she doesn't blame herself. I don't blame her…"

"I do," Sebastius Mareton said. "I blame her for everything. If she had just shut up about those stupid mental institutes she wanted to ship me off to…"

"She only wanted to cure you," Rodolphus said, spinning lazily around to face Sebastius.

"Uh huh," Sebastius said. "Do you have any idea what they did to me in those places? Me? A little colt?"

"I saw," Rodolphus said, tears in his eyes. "I saw."

"And you still love your precious, precious Ruby," Sebastius said. "Even after all her efforts to get me in that place, even after you witnessed the horrible tortures-"

"We just want you to be healthy," Rodolphus said. "That's all we ever wanted. We wanted you to know right from wrong, to… to love. To find a relationship with the God who loves you."

"Speaking of which," Sebastius said, "how's the afterlife treating you? Were you right about heaven and hell after all?"

"I am right, Sebastius," Rodolphus said grimly.

"Too bad," Sebastius said, shrugging. "I'd sorta prefer fading to nothingness to eternal torment by fire and brimstone." He sounded oddly nonchalant, but was also a bit shaky.

"There's really a hell?" Bravado said, stunned.

Rodolphus floated in a circle and faced Bravado again. "Didn't… didn't Ruby Rust teach you about this?"

Of course Ruby Rust was a devout Christian and had raised Bravado to be a Christian, but when Bravado got out of the house and started thinking for himself the whole thing seemed more and more ridiculous. He'd never officially stopped being a Christian but when he visited his mom one time, he realized how different they were, and how Ruby Rust's faith just wasn't for him. He just didn't have enough belief.

That was part of the reason he never visited his mother any more. She was convinced that he was going to die and go to hell any minute and considered it her mission to make sure his soul was ready. (Although, given his profession, it hadn't been entirely unreasonable to assume that he was going to die young. She'd turned out to be right about that.)

"I just…" Bravado gulped. "I-I thought it sounded silly." He quickly reviewed what he remembered about the Christian God. "But, hey, I've lived a great life. I've saved Equestria multiple times and I help ponies all the time and I-"

Tears streamed down Rodolphus' cheeks, and he hugged Bravado tightly.

As though he expected to never see him again.

"Oh, Cornelius Bravado Mareton," Rodolphus sighed, "it's not about the good you do. You know that you've sinned. You know it. And how can God forgive you if you've never asked?"

Bravado felt cold. "W-wait, I'm not nearly as bad as Sebastius! Don't tell me we're going to the same place!"

"You're both headed for hell," Rodolphus said with a shudder. "Maybe you won't receive the same punishment, but- but-" he turned away from both of them. "I-I have to leave you now," he whispered, fading away.

Bravado stared at the spot the ghost of his father used to be. He was too stunned to move.

No, he couldn't go to hell! He couldn't! He wouldn't!

Bravado struggled not to break down crying. He was dead. It was all over. There was no more escape. There was only hell.

Please, God, please!

Suddenly the air felt cooler. The two Mareton brothers turned around, driven by some instinct, and saw another pony ghost. This one was wearing a black cloak and carrying a scythe.

The cloak snickered. "Hey, Sebastius!"

Sebastius Mareton turned pale and backed away. "No- no-" he muttered.

The pony threw its hood back. It was another earth pony stallion, like Rodolphus Mareton, but there the similarities ended. Rodolphus had had a slight build, a gorgeous long mane, and a handsome face. This earth pony was huge and bulky with a short, spiky mane and a hideous, wicked grin.

"Hey, Sebastius!" he repeated, swinging his scythe back and forth. "Guess who gets to be your reaper?"

Sebastius and Bravado fled.

They soared up the edge of the hole and took off across the deserted pinball field. They kept climbing into the sky, so that by the time they reached the edge of the stadium they were in the clouds.

"Who was that pony?" Bravado asked. Normally he wouldn't be trying to talk while running for his life, but he wasn't at all out of breath from flying. His speech did not seemed to be linked to his exertion anymore.

Sebastius' eyes were wild with fear. "It's Winchester Tock!"

"Who?"

"The explorer who murdered our father!"

Bravado looked over his shoulder. Winchester's scythe was about two feet away from their tails.

"You idiots," Winchester snarled. "You think you can get away from me? I've been doing this for much longer than you!"

"He's right," Sebastius whispered in Bravado's ear. "When I count to three, soar straight up. Okay? One, two, three!"

Sebastius and Bravado both dived downward.

"You didn't listen!" Sebastius said.

"You weren't trying to help me escape Winchester Tock," Bravado hissed. "You just wanted him to know what my next move was going to be so that he could follow me instead of you."

"You should be willing to take a fall for me," Sebastius whined. "Isn't that what brothers are for?"

"I don't think it would work anyway," Bravado said. "I think he's only after you."

"You think?" Sebastius said.

"You bet, you creepy little colt," Winchester snarled. "You know I can hear you, right? But why would I care about little Cornelius? I hardly knew him. Whereas you…"

"What did you do?" Bravado asked.

"W-well, you know I said I watched my dad getting stabbed to death back when I was seven?" Sebastius said as the two of them streaked above the rooftops of Marabia.

"Uh-huh."

"Winchester didn't exactly want any witness," Sebastius said. "And I sorta didn't want him to leave no witnesses, given the circumstances, so I sorta-kinda stabbed him to death with his own knife."

"What?" Bravado turned around to face Winchester, flying backwards. It didn't really matter what direction he pointed; he passed through solid matter anyways, and he flew backward just as fast as forward. "You mean a daring explorer like you got killed by a seven year old colt?"

Winchester scowled. "Not just any seven-year old," he said. "Still, you understand why I can't stand the kid."

"I'm, like, thirty you know," Sebastius said. "Considering when you died, I'm only about a decade younger than you."

"It doesn't work that way," Winchester said. "You'll always be that little seven year old. Why do you think I'm bigger than you?"

Bravado hadn't really thought about it. He'd just assumed it was because Winchester was heavily muscled, but come to think of it, Bravado and Sebastius were also unusually large and muscular. There wasn't any better explanation for why Winchester towered over the two of them.

"Anyway, my quarrel is with your brother, not you," Winchester said to Bravado. "So be a good boy and trip Sebastius for me, will you?"

Sebastius scooted to one side. "There's no way I'm going to-"

Winchester Tock flung his black cloak at Sebastius. In midair, it transformed into a net of thick black strings with black rocks tied to the ends to weigh it down.

Sebastius tried to duck, but the net wrapped itself around him. The black objects that Bravado had assumed were weights didn't seem to obey normal laws of gravity; they pulled in all different directions, preventing Sebastius from flying away. He jerked around wildly.

One of the weights smacked against Bravado. The string wrapped around his neck. It didn't choke him and wasn't painful, but it pulled him to a stop nonetheless.

Winchester Tock examined them grimly. He circled them slowly, then stopped to stare at Sebastius, whose thrashing was growing weaker and weaker.

"The boss told me to bring your soul back," Winchester said with a shrug.

Then he grinned wickedly and swung his scythe in an arc in the sky. "Of course, he didn't say your soul had to be in one piece."

He reared up on his hind legs and slashed the scythe through Sebastius Mareton, from the top of his head to his stomach, cleaving him in two. The scythe passed straight through the net as though it wasn't there, but when it reached Sebastius it started moving agonizingly slow, like sand in an hourglass, and made a high pitched whine. The scythe didn't seem to be leaving a mark, almost as though the scythe were just an illusion. But judging from Sebastius' reaction, it didn't feel like an illusion. Sebatius screamed and writhed in pain- so much that Bravado felt embarrassed for him.

Finally the scythe finished its journey, and Winchester brought it back for another swing.

Sebastius fell to the ground, clearly too weak to stand or float back into the air.

"Having fun yet?" Winchester Tock slashed the scythe through Sebastius again, this time holding the scythe parallel to the ground and slashing through Sebastius' body.

At the end of the swing, the blade nicked Bravado's cheek. Bravado gasped with shock and pressed a wisp of smoke to the spot. There was no mark, but there was also no doubt in his mind where the scythe had hit him. It felt icy- ice so intense it crossed the line twice, from feeling like fire right back to feeling cold. It was impossibly cold.

It also made everything around the mark ache horribly. That ache slowly spread across his face and down his neck. When the pain reached his legs (or where his legs used to be), Bravado crouched to the ground instinctively. All from one little cut. Bravado did not envy Sebastius one bit. He almost felt sorry for him.

Winchester had slashed at Sebastius Mareton a couple more times. Sebastius had started crying- choking sobs mixed with screams.

"Had enough?" Winchester asked. He sliced his scythe through Sebastius' head.

"M-m-mercy," Sebastius sobbed, slowly folding two wisps of smoke into a pleading position. "Please. Please."

Winchester Tock scowled at Sebastius for a few seconds. Then he broke into a huge grin.

"You know what I like about mercy?" He lifted his scythe again. "I like that I don't have to show any."

Bravado stopped watching. He turned away and put two wisps of smoke resolutely into his ears.

He was in enough pain as it was. No point in sticking out his neck to help Sebastius. That jerk wouldn't even be grateful, even if intervention did work, which it wouldn't.

No. He'd just lie here and hope that Winchester was only interesting in avenging himself. Sebastius deserved everything that was happening to him.

His screams were kind of hard to block out, though. They got louder and clearer.

Eventually Bravado realized the reason the screams were getting louder: the wisps of smoke in his ears were fading away.

He quickly checked the rest of himself. The other wisps of smoke were fading fast. Slowly, his body began to dissolve.

Sebastius Mareton was likewise starting to disintegrate. Winchester wasn't.

Bravado screamed in spite of himself. What was happening? Was this the part where he died for real?

Winchester jerked the scythe out of Sebastius with a rapidity that made Sebastius shriek. The earth pony turned grim reaper looked at Sebastius in shock.

"No, it can't be!" he said. "How did this happen?"

Bravado's senses started blurring, but he could make out Winchester flinging his scythe down in anger.

"You can't do this to me!" he was shouting. "I've hardly even begun!"

Then, for a few moments, everything was black. The pain from the scythe mark faded quickly until it was gone.

Feeling slowly returned. Bravado had his legs back.

They were strapped down, holding him in a splayed-out position.

"Wh-where am I?" he said, his voice sounding strange in the eerie silence.

A hoarse whisper in his ear answered him:

"Hell."