The war had quickly become a disaster to the entire land of Equestria... Nearly a half of it had fallen quickly to the unexpected and fierce assault of King Sombra. Those who were not conquered yet, were struggling to keep up the fight, working day and night and doing their very best to support the most brave and skillful of Equestrian warriors, who were on the front line, lead by Princess Celestia herself. And yet... the things were not looking good for them. Every day the front line was getting pushed back, even if for the mere inches... Every day, a little bit more of Equestrian land had been falling before the assault of King Sombra's army of mind-controlled crystal ponies. An army, that was growing with every captured Equestrian pony.
The majestic land had quickly become a dark place, deprived of joy and happiness. Some ponies barely had any sleep as well. There was no more fun, no more games, no more smiles... There was simply no time for any of that, not if they wanted to cling to whatever ghostly chance there was to win that war.
One of those days, there was a knock on a door of Sweet Apple Acres.
"Wait a moment, Granny! Ah'll be right back!" the pony named Applejack shouted over the noise caused by the conveyor. She then headed to check who was at the door. After all, everypony had moved from Ponyville to help support the front line. Almost every pony... She and her family wouldn’t move anywhere else, after all. It was their home. As she opened the door, she had been greeted by the dark figure. A tall, black and rather thin stallion was wearing a cape, the colour of which was matching his coat perfectly. It covered his entire body along with a bigger part of his face. And yet, it was easy for her to recognize him.
"Howdy! Oh, wow... it sure’s been a long while, hasn’t it? What can Ah do ya'll for?"
"I was just passing by," the dark stallion's voice always succeeded in sending a shiver down Applejack's spine, "I'm leaving for the front line."
"Oh..." she couldn't help but feel sad at having to say goodbye so soon to the pony she knew, but hadn’t seen for quite some time. It was true that he never was a sociable pony, but everyone had grown used to him. They had even started to like him the way he was... before he had disappeared, and then the war had forced them all to move to the bigger cities, "Ah... understand. Is there anythin' Ah can help ya with before ya go?"
The stallion had reached to pull something from his backpack. It happened to be an old stuffed toy, and it wasn't at it's finest. However, it had caused Appljack to visibly brighten.
"I have found that in Everfree... I believe, it's still dear to your brother. Please, give it to him."
And so he left, leaving the Apple Family the only inhabitants of once nice and cozy town of Ponyville. Applejack stood there for a couple of minutes, watching him go. The wind was rather harsh that day, thrashing his cape up and down. It might have been a play of the light fooling her eyes, or, perhaps, just her imagination, but she could have sworn that from his backpacks a couple of grimly designed sickles was poking out...
The forest was dark and dangerous, but the mysterious wanderer payed it no mind. He was simply moving forward, like an unstoppable... primordial force, passing through every obstacle, sometimes literally. Nopony had ever found out where he gained that ability, neither had he talked about it himself, but it was there. Though, only a few had ever heard of it... and even less had seen it in action.
He had finally reached a village - the first kind of a civilisation on his long road to the Frozen North. It was called Hollow Shades. The dark yet beautiful place, which seemed to be a rare small village that hadn't been abandoned after the war had begun. To no surprise, however, not a single pony could be found on the streets. Everypony was busy, there was no time for them to do as much as enjoy a walk. The wanderer was walking the empty streets, paying no mind to his surroundings, not really searching for anypony specifically. One of the signboards, however, had caught his attention. It said "Tavern 'Lucky Horseshoe'".
The sound of the opening door had nearly caused the lonely bartender to jump. Quite obviously, a visitor was a rare case those days. And yet, he stayed there, tending to his tavern just in case anypony needed his services. A traveler, perhaps...
"Greetings, sir. What can I help you with?" he said, as soon as he had got over the initial surprise.
"A drink. Anything you have will do," the wanderer answered simply, "And a few rumors, please."
The bartender had raised an eyebrow at his request: it's true that ponies used to discuss the rumors at his tavern, but never had anypony asked him for that kind of information so bluntly before.
"As you wish, sir. A cup of the finest cider coming right up!" serving his visitors had always come first to the stallion, and he was good at his job. His hooves were preparing the drink skillfully, as if they had the mind of their own, while the bartender was satisfying the traveller's other request, "As for the rumors... Well, obviously, the most hot topic would be the war against King Sombra, but I'm pretty sure you've heard of that."
His attempt to make a joke to lighten up the mood caused no desired reaction, only earning a slight nod from the wanderer. Seeing that, the bartender decided to get more serious.
"There is a strange rumor about it, however... It is believed that King Sombra sends his spies to Equestria. Now, I'm pretty sure that crystal ponies would be easily recognized, and they are no changelings, so, the shape-shifting is out of question as well. The rumors, however... say that they remain hidden, laying low, so to speak... and only act during the night, when the shadows are everywhere and it's easy for them to stay out of sight. Some even say that King Sombra had given them the powers to remain completely invisible in the shadows..." the bartender had finished on a mysterious note, yet his tale had been met with another blunt question.
"Are there any signs of them being within this area?"
The stallion stared at the wanderer for a few moments before finding the words to reply with.
"You're dead serious about this, aren't you?"
"I am."
After leaving the tavern, the wanderer continued his journey. Yet, no longer was he traveling absentmindedly... instead, he was paying attention to his surroundings much more than he did before. The bit of information he had acquired from the bartender could prove useful, there was no reason for him to just shrug it off. The road ahead laid through the... forest. Yes, once again, it was the forest. More woods waiting for him ahead. And yet, it seemed to neither scare, nor annoy him. He kept walking forward, no matter the surroundings, no matter the weather, no matter the time of day...
It was only the matter of time before he had successfully passed through the woods, leaving the Hollow Shades to it's business, the nature to it’s blooming... and a couple of fresh corpses to their rotting.
Manehattan had always been one of the most large, fancy and lively cities in all of Equestria. It was always full of life, always in trend, following the latest tendencies of fashion, food and almost every other thing. Back in the day, it was almost impossible to imagine the streets of that city empty for even a few moments. Since the Crystal War had begun, however... Emptyness had become the usual state of the streets of Manehattan. Such was their state when the mysterious wanderer had entered the city... There was nopony, yet one could tell that the city was far from dead. The noise was still on the streets, though it was coming from the opened windows. Everypony was busy working.
So, yes... the megapolis wasn’t dead. It was half-dead. The cinemas, casinos, theaters... even a park was in a completely abandoned state. It was obvious that nopony had been there for a long time. The mysterious wanderer frowned as he was walking the empty alley of once beautiful park. It felt so... dead. Killed along with the other simple joys of Equestria... by the plague-like war. Lost in those thoughts, he kept moving his hooves, step by step walking through once magnificent city. Step by step, he was getting closer to his destination, despite choosing quite a long way to get there.
“Halt, citizen!” the strict voice of a royal guard called to him. It was rather... unexpected to meet another pony on a street, but it looked like a big city such as Manehattan still had the royal guard patrols. The wanderer stopped and slowly turned around to face the stallion addressing him. Facing the dark and mysterious figure, the guard frowned, “State your business in the city.”
“None,” the answer was as short and blunt as ever, “I was passing by, currently on my way to the front line.”
“Yeah, right,” the guard had found the dark figure quite suspicious, especially since he looked and behaved rather mysteriously. Moreover, he heard the rumors about King Sombra’s spies and couldn’t let the potential one go, “New recruits get sent to the front line by the express train.”
“I am no recruit. I am going by myself,” the grim stallion’s answer had caught him off-guard. Not the answer itself, but the tone, the confidence in his voice. If he was a spy, then his tongue would surely begin to tie knots at his cover story being blown. Perhaps, that stallion was actually going to the front line, after all. Yet, the guard pony was not taking any chances.
“Prove that you’re not a spy,” he said to the wanderer, readying his weapon just in case his suspicions happened to be correct. The dark figure had raised his head, his eyes could finally be seen, staring straight into the eyes of the royal guard. The bulky stallion felt a cold shiver passing through his entire body, it felt like looking the very Death in the face. The deep voice of the mysterious traveller had made his legs shake.
“You are still alive... are you not?” the dark figure replied, causing the guard to gulp. His bravery was evaporating quickly. Somewhere deep inside he felt that he was trying to bite more than he could chew. Paralyzed by fear, he stood there as the figure stepped closer to him. Surprisingly, however, the grim stallion had simply put a hoof on his shoulder, before saying, “Believe me, I shall put an end to the Crystal War.”
The once brave royal guard didn’t find any strength to reply, staying there for quite some time, even after the mysterious wanderer had left his sight.
Death... Death and decay. That phrase was a good way to describe the state Equestria had found itself in. Once the land of joy, hapiness, rainbows and friendship, it had become a rather grim-looking place. Working day and night, ponies had no time to share a single laugh. They barely slept, barely ate anything at all. Some just couldn’t take it anymore, falling ill and eventually dying. Some were going insane... which lead them to the same result in the end. The values of the country were slipping away... along with the ponies’ hope to survive that devastating war. It was a rather depressing sight to see.
Those were the thoughts of the wanderer, who had continued his way to the North, to the front line. He had passed through the forest, which then changed to the green fields. The nature surrounding him was as alive as always... but something felt off, as if something was missing. It was rather obvious, however: the ponies no longer had any time to enjoy the nature surrounding them. There was nopony in sight. And, speaking of ponies...
The mysterious wanderer looked around as he stepped into the village. It looked small, cozy and... completely abandoned. There was only one street. The houses were lined up in two parallel rows, and only one of them was located in a distance from the others. And yet, all of them were boarded up. Wait... one was not. Out of curiousity, the dark figure had tried knocking on it, but as soon as he touched the door, it fell off, rising a cloud of dust.
“Ah!” the startled pony’s scream had caught the wanderer’s attention. It was a light blue unicorn stallion, with a messy dark blue mane. His cutiemark was... some sort of a figure made from a balloon and accompanied by the streamers. On the closer look, the pony was in a terrible state. His ribs could be seen through his skin, it was obvious that he hadn’t eaten anything for a long time, “W-who are you...?”
The mysterious wanderer was taking his time, carefully looking the poor pony over. The pregnant silence filling the air in the house seemed to be taking it’s toll on the unicorn’s nerves as the tears began running from his eyes.
“A-are you... D-death? H-have you finally come to put me out of my misery?”
Surprisingly, the comparison seemed to amuse the dark wanderer.
“You could say that,” he replied in his usual deep and threatening voice, “But I have not come for you. Speaking of which... who are you?”
The pony didn’t know how to react to those words. Had Death just confirmed that his time had not come yet?
“I-I’m Party Favor. I’m good at making parties... Well, used to be...” the glimpse of a memory of the happier times seemed to brighten up the poor pony’s mood for a bit, but the thought of reality had made it deflate like a balloon. The wanderer reached into his backpack, pulling out a bag.
“Take it,” he said simply, “You are in a greater need for it than I am.”
Slowly opening the bag, Party Favor couldn’t help but wonder what was inside, until the scent of still fairly fresh food had hit his nostrils, almost causing him to fall back. The primal instinct had taken over the starving stallion, making him pounce at the food like a predator at a prey. But a hoof on his shoulder had brought him back to his senses.
“Eat slowly,” the dark wanderer insisted, “Rushing it will only hurt your starving stomach.”
Taking his advice, Party Favor had proceeded to enjoy his meal. All the while, the wanderer was there, patiently waiting for him to finish. It took a while at that pace, but after being done with that improvised lunch, the poor pony had turned to him, the tears were present in his eyes again, but for a different reason.
“I... I don’t know how I can repay you. You saved me...” he squeezed the words out, through the tears and shaking breath. The dark figure noded to him, then stood up, getting ready to leave, “Where are you going?”
“To the front line,” the mysterious wanderer replied. A thump heard from behind had made him turn his head back, only to witness Party Favor standing on his knees, a glimmer of hope shimmering through the tears in his eyes. For the first time in a long while...
“Please... I beg you... Put an end to this war!” he cried out to the wonderer, who had resumed his walk towards the Frozen North.
“I shall.”
Step by step, he was walking forward. Mile by mile, he was getting closer to the Crystal Mountains... to the front line. As always, he was calm and collected. He knew his goal and he was marching forth to it, like an unstoppable force. It wasn’t long before he reached the local military base. And, quite expectedly, he had been noticed.
“Halt, citizen!” the familiar voice called to him. Did each stallion in the Royal Guard possess the same voice? “You are trespassing!”
“I am not,” was the wanderer’s reply, “I am going to the front line.”
A couple of royal guards had exchanged glances, before pressing on.
“The recruits are arriving here by the express train, after going through at least minimum training course,” one of the guards stated, “We can’t let just anypony pass to the front line.”
“Neither can you stop me,” the dark figure’s second reply was even more blunt than the first one, successfully catching those two bulky stallions off-guard. He hadn’t even stopped walking.
“Halt!” they shouted, after finally recovering from their surprised shock, “Or we’ll have to use force.”
They were preparing for a fight, already having their spears in their hooves and taking a battle stance, when a voice from the skies had called to them.
“What’s going on here?” the female pegasus warrior had descended to the ground. That mare seemed to catch the wanderer’s attention for some reason, causing him to stop in his tracks. She had one metal wing. A prosthesis, obviously. She had most likely lost it in a fight, along with a half of her ear. In one of many, actually. Just from looking her over, one could tell that she had a lot of a battle experience. Everything about her, from her look to the tiniest of her movements, described her as a true warrior, the one that would never back off from a fight. Yet, one of the most noticable details about her was the colour of her mane. It was a pure rainbow. The royal guards had immediately stood at attention, saluting to their superior.
“Mam! That stallion was trespassing, mam!” they replied in unison. As expected, her attention shifted entirely to the stallion in question. She looked him over... He was a dark tall figure, unusually thin. The black coat, the white tail... it rang familiar to her.
“Dismissed,” she addressed the guards. They had saluted once more and hurried up to leave the area. It appeared, the rainbow-maned pegasus was truly respected and fairly feared among the military ranks, “Who are you and what are you doing here?” she had adressed the mysterious wanderer.
“I am going to the front line,” his reply to her was short and blunt as always, yet his deep voice had reached something inside her, making it feel like she actually knew that stallion, “To put an end to this war.”
“Bah!” the sheer indignation at his words had shook her out of those thoughts, “You think you can put an end to this war just like that?! Look at this here,” she pointed at her damaged ear and metal wing, “You see that? This is what a war is like. I have no idea whatever ridiculous heroic fantasy you have created for yourself inside your head, but it’s nothing, I repeat, nothing like the things are at the front line! You hear me? NOTHING!” the further she went with that thought, the more frustrated she seemed to become. The distress of the non-stopping battles was catching up to her. By the end of her little speech she was practically panting, “That’s why you’re going to turn around now, and go home,” she continued, trying to calm herself down, “You will look for the other way to help the front line. And if you really want to get there yourself, you will sign a contract and become an official recruit. Do you understand?”
After she had finished, her eyes were set dead on the wanderer, looking him over and analyzing his every move. To her surprise, after calmly listening to everything she had to say, he stepped towards her. The display of his approaching tall and dark figure would make any other pony back away. Be she wasn’t just anypony, she held her ground.
“Captain Rainbow Dash,” when the wanderer spoke again, she couldn’t help but experience a chill running down her spine. Both at his deep voice and at the fact he knew her name. Did they know each other? Was that why that stallion seemed familiar to her? The stallion raised his head, his cape uncovering a bigger part of his face. When their eyes met, Rainbow instantly knew who she was talking to, “Do you remember me?”
The surprise was too big, even for her. Her hind legs suddenly felt weak, causing her to sit on the ground.
“Grim... Is... is that you?” after spending a few seconds recovering from the initial shock, she had found the strength to form the words again.
“Correct,” Grim replied, his answer short and simple, as always. He decided to take a seat as well, for the third time during his long journey.
“It’s... been such a long time. I... never thought I’d see you again,” the fierce pegasus warrior had suddenly sounded much softer, her mask of a heartless battle machine was visibly falling apart. The dark pegasus stayed silent, feeling there’s no words he needed to say. He simply let her continue, “Where... where were you all of that time? I heard you were moved to Ponyville, but by the time I moved there, you were already gone.”
“I did many things: travelled, observed, learnt, developed...”, he replied shortly, but the confused look on the mare’s face prompted him to get more specific, “Travelled across Equestria, observed the cycle of life and death, learnt more about the world, developed my own... talents,” that seemed to be specific enough, judging by her nod. She stayed silent for a few more moments before continuing, looking away from him.
“You know... it’s you who teached me bravery. To stand up for myself. To defend what I hold dear. I... still remember that day. When I heard miss Windghast’s scream, I rushed to the classroom, only to witness the image that would remain forever stuck in my head, that would... motivate me to work on myself. I remember how you were just sitting there, doing your homework. I haven’t even noticed what was off about it until I looked at the floor. The three of them... those three bastards were laying around you, totally knocked out! The same ones that bullied the entire class. They caused us so many tears and distress... And you had kicked their sorry asses without even making it look like it was something significant. I... was astonished. You’ve made the dream of our entire class come to life that day! You’ve made what we thought was impossible... happen!”
“They thought calling me a ‘rock’ was funny... The joke was on them,” the dark stallion’s reply had confused Rainbow Dash at first, but the look of realisation was quick to dawn upon her face.
“Oh... that’s right. Are... are you still, you know...” she was struggling to ask the question that could hurt her childhood friend.
“I have never been flightless. There is a reason why I kept my wings shut all the time,” Grim’s answer had caught the experienced warrior off-guard.
“B-but... why would a pegasus ever want to stay grounded on his own free will?” she asked, completely confused.
“You will see why... today,” he replied, standing up.
“What? Wait, no! You can’t go there!” Rainbow jumped, quickly blocking his way. After standing there for a few more seconds, Grim was the first to break silence.
“Rainbow Dash... Do you know my name?” his question came out completely unexpected, once more leaving the mare confused.
“I... Of course, I do! It’s Grim,” she said, collecting herself again. The dark stallion then took a step forward, their bodies touched... before he simply walked through the pegasus warior. She had never experienced anything like that, a cold chill ran through her entire body. She slowly turned around, feeling herself over and trying to understand what had just happened. Grim stopped and turned his head to her.
“My full name...” he said, in a voice even deeper than before, causing the poor mare’s heart to skip a bit as the wave of chill had passed through her once again...
“...is Grim Reaper.”