//------------------------------//
// A Hearts and Hooves Mightmare 
// Story: Reaper Tales 
// by aapur 
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Director Cut was pulling his wagon as he once again, a few months after the Cloudsdale incident was heading back to Ponyville. Things had cleared up there, and a memorial monument was made for those who had died, as it was clear that the storm was unnatural.
He stopped to take a breather, studying the landscape as birds were singing and the sun shining. The wagon was heavy as always, but he had been getting used to it by now. He had walked by several of the men who had survived the incident, but they didn't recognize him. Normally would this have been weird, as he had interviewed them when the rain had stopped, but for him was it usual. Nobody would remember a Reaper for more than a month. This was to prevent people from getting suspicious.
He turned as he heard hoof steps. 
A mare was approaching him. She was light green with blue and white hair, and she had a yellow scarf with a flower charm hanging from it. Her cutiemark was a wing with a star hanging from it.
"You need any help? That wagon looks heavy." She asked him.
"Erh…" he looked at her. "Not really. I'm used to pulling this wagon anyways."
"You look exhausted." She pushed him away and started pulling.
Director was about to object, but he sighed and started walking besides her. "So who are you?"
"You can call me Mintie Star. And you?" she looked at him.
"Director Cut. You can call me DC if you want." He looked ahead, as they were approaching Ponyville.
She looked at him. "So what are you going to do here?"
"Well. I was going to interview people here." He nodded. "That's normally what I do."
"Sounds interesting." She chuckled lightly.
It took them about thirty minutes to reach Ponyville. Director then set up the wagon like he always did and prepared the equipment.
Mintie watched as he worked. "I have to go now, but do you want to meet up somewhere tonight?"
He nodded. "Maybe. We can meet up at the Sugarcube Corner around seven?"
"Sounds good." She smiled and headed off.
He turned and headed into the wagon. He had to work fast, as it was around mid-day already. He closed the openings and flipped up the lid of the carved wooden box. The screen flickered a bit again and the red eyes appeared.
"Ah. Horror. Good of you to call." The dark voice sparked a bit as usual.
"Anything new on the issue?" Director looked into the small camera.
"We know that the parasprites they've tinkered with are lethal and hungry for flesh. They were tested on someone. One of the other reapers only found the bones, and a note for us."
Director sighed. "Great… Flesh-eating parasprites is the last thing we need right now. You know where they are?"
The voice was silent for a bit. "I think they are planning on hiding them in the cake, but that will happen when the cake is out and ready, so you have to find them before that."
"Will do." Director smiles and the screen went black. He then fetched a special camera, secured it to a body mount rig he had for all his cameras, using the stick from the box as the locking pin. Except that this camera wasn't meant for filming. It had a few magical crystals inside it, which made the camera into a scanner where he could make it mark of any creature he wanted. He set it to highlight parasprites, and then he headed into the town.
It was really crowded, with people everywhere. The sun was shining and it was clear that love was in the air. Couples were walking together, chatting, and others were flirting with each other. He took up the camera and turned it on, starting to scan the area. He moved the camera, looking for yellow dots. Nothing. Not even a hint of yellow. He sighed and walked a bit away, now filming the park. No yellow at all.
"Damn." He didn't like it at all. Had they been able to hide the parasprites? No. That was impossible. They must be hiding somewhere, making a tunnel. The Evergreen Forest maybe? 
He moved himself back to his wagon and took a new scan. He got a result.  They appeared to be in a box as there were many spots making a box shape.
"Gotcha." He changed the filter to show other ponies. There were three of them, and one underground, obviously returning.
Director sighed once. He had to be smart to approach them and not cause suspicion about the fact that he was a reaper. And he had the perfect idea.

There were three of them, all unicorns, with a large wooden box behind them and a hole in the ground in front of them. The guy in the middle, who was the leader, grinned. He was pale, with no color except on his cutiemark, which obviously was a pentagram in a circle. "It's ready. The cake is there too, and the first bait is put in it."
The other two were both dark blue with black and cyan hair. They had the same cutiemark.
A fourth guy popped his head up from the hole. "We're ready to release them." He was brown, with orange hair and he also had the same cutiemark. He climbed up and they pushed the box over the hole. 
"All set for some parasprite mayhem?" the leader grinned a pale and really creepy grin. That was when Director stepped in, acting like a lost nature photographer. 
"Who's there!" the left blue unicorn took a step forward, acting threatening.
"Oh my…" Director looked up. "Oh forgive me. I'm lost. You can call me Director Cut."
"The leader took a step forward. "Well you just stepped into the wrong part of the forest." He prepared to cast a spell.
Director grinned. "I'm actually not lost…" the stick holding the camera in place slid out and landed on the ground in front of him. "Transform!"
The four just stared as he changed his shape, growing a horn and wings. The leader then growled. "I should have known that a reaper would be sent…"
Horror laughed. "Call me Horror Movie, or just HM for short."
The leader laughed. "But even a reaper isn't immortal."
"The same goes for you guys." Horror smiled, as the stick had become his dual-bladed scythe and it was now spinning in the air.
"Get Him!" The leader took a step back as his three companions attacked. They didn't stand a chance, as they didn't know what type of magic to use, and the scythe was too sharp for them.
"Oh my. It's only you left."
"It's over." The leader laughed and stepped on the release, and the underground tunnel was soon filled with hungry parasprites. "They'll cut the cake in ten minutes." He laughed and walked into the box.
Horror growled. He had to reach the cake before it was being cut, and that would be impossible as a normal pony. The leader was not his highest priority now. He had probably been eaten anyways. The only chance was to break one part of the code, which was to never be seen by normal civilians in his reaper shape. It was either that or bloodshed. He sighed and took flight, gaining altitude fast. He then headed for Ponyville.
On the ground was people having a great time, celebrating. Music was playing, and people were chatting, flirting and enjoying the evening. A couple had won the contest earlier and was the ones who were going to cut the cake. They were about to cut it. A loud crashing sound was heard and the ground shook, making them drop the knife. As the dust settled did the staring eyes of a large Alicorn meet the crowd. She was dark green/black, with several gold stars on her body and her hair was misty green filled with minty green glowing dots.
She growled. "Don't cut the cake!"
Horror came in for landing, crashing down on the other side. "Someone have been tinkering with it to fill it with deadly monsters!"
The mayor walked up on the stage where music had been playing on. "Who are you two?"
Horror sighed. "Nobody here are supposed to know it, so I won't tell."
All around were people getting upset. The other mysterious Alicorn was also looking at him a bit upset, and angry. "Whoever you are, back off. This is my task."
Horror growled. "Is this supposed to be a joke?"
They both growled. The crowd had gone silent now and formed a large circle around the two. This would only end with a battle.
Then the cake moved.
Horror growled. "They are breaking out!"
The mysterious one looked at him. "Then what do you suggest we go, after you stopped me from actually preventing this…"
"I have an idea, but I need you to help me out." He sighed. He could feel a hundred staring eyes all around them. "We need to teleport it into space, far away from here…"
"You got to be kidding me…" she laughed.
"Enough… All I want you to do is power the spell I'm casting now." He closed his eyes and a glowing circle appeared over the cake.
"Fine." She used her magic to power the circle. It changed into a vortex and opened as a portal. The cake vanished within a second.
Horror opened his eyes and the Vortex vanished.  There was still the hole in the table that the unicorn group had used to get the parasprites inside. He then looked at the scene, where the mayor was. "We were never here, so don't tell others about this." He took flight and vanished fast. The unknown mare chose to follow him.
Horror landed in the Evergreen Forest, and the mare landed not far from him. "Who are you." He looked angry. "I know you're a reaper…"
She stared at him. "Call me Darth Star. I've been a reaper for twenty years now."
Horror sighed. "I should have guessed. An amateur." He shook his head. "You can call me Horror Movie. Have been a reaper for a hundred years now."
"I see…" she sighed.
Horror sighed too and changed shape back into Director Cut. "You obviously have a lot to learn."
"So you want me to accompany you?" She stared at him.
Director nodded. "I know your other identity already. Your cutiemark reveals it."
She sighed and changed down, into Mintie Star. "You got a sharp eye."
"Well yeah." He checked the time. "Oh. And it's almost seven. Remember that we have a meeting now."
Mintie nodded.
"But we're gonna hear this next time we see Death. I'm one hundred percent sure." He looked at the sky.
"I hope we'll be fine."
"We will." He nodded and the headed for Sugarcube Corner to get something to eat, and the next day were they heading off to Manehattan.