//------------------------------//
// A Royal Disaster 
// Story: Reaper Tales 
// by aapur 
//------------------------------//

A grey pony was trotting along the streets of Canterlot. He appeared to be lost, not knowing where to go and what he was supposed to do. All he knew was that it had something to do with the carved wooden box he was carrying. He didn't dare to open it, just in case it contained evil things. His cutiemark was a purple mountain with surrounding mist.
It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining and the birds singing. He took a stroll through the park, where he could look at what others did, not needing to worry about his own forgetfulness. He settled under a tree, watching as a light red and a mint green pony was working together to set up a large wagon containing a lot of weird equipment.
He sat there an hour, trying to remember what he had forgotten. He then sighed, got up and headed back into town. He was hungry, so he headed for a café to get a snack. He ordered and then he sat down at a table. 
"There you are." A pegasus approached him. She had light yellow skin and cyan and black hair. Her cutiemark was a light blue lightning bolt.
"Who are you?" The stallion looked unsure.
She sighed. Death had told her this, so she was aware of his forgetfulness. "You can call me Blue Thunder. I've been sent to assist you."
He nodded. "You can call me Haze."
Blue Thunder looked at him for a moment. "We need to talk, privately." She pushed him out onto the street and into a back ally.
"Hey! What about my food!" Haze objected.
"Forget that now. I have food at the shelter." She walked down some stairs and opened a wooden door. Haze followed her closely.
"So what's all this about?" Haze looked around as she lit up the candles in the room.
She lit up the fireplace, and a black screen became visible in the flash. "Death have been worried that you always forget your tasks. He sent me to make sure you remember them."
"Uhm…" Haze looked a bit unfocused. "What's your name again?"
Blue sighed and turned on the screen. The red burning eyes of Death appeared.
"Looks like you found him." The speakers here were of a much better quality, so Death's voice didn't spark this time.
"I did." Blue nodded. "But his forgetfulness will be an issue."
"Don't worry about that. Just make him open his box when it's time to go to work." Death's eyes shifted from her, to Haze and then to the box he had been carrying.
Blue looked at the box. "Okay. So what's the problem?"
"A threat. Three earth ponies have been threatening to destroy the castle if Discord isn't released by midnight. They are saying that this just will be the beginning. I need you two to find them and stop them."
"Are there any more info on them?" Blue asked, wanting to know more.
Death chuckled. "Well. They all had a special cutiemark. A red pentagram in a circle. Apparently have another reaper raised a concern about this, as he have faced them before."
Blue looked at the screen. "Who?"
"You'll know him as Horror Movie." The screen blurred and then turned off.
Blue sighed. She had just been a reaper for a month, and she was already getting involved in deep cases.
"So…" Haze looked at her.
"We better get going." Blue fetched her carved wooden box, hiding it away and only bringing a pendant that was inside it.
Haze nodded and followed her as she headed for the forest under the castle. They headed for a cave, where rumors had said that there had been activity inside.
Inside was it moist. Water was dripping from the walls and it didn't smell that good. The air was slightly hazy and small streams of water were flowing on the ground. 
Blue took a few steps forward and whispered. "Transform…"
Her eyes glowed white as she changed shape. Her skin became dark blue as here eyes started glowing indigo. Her mane became cloudy like a storm cloud, and her cutiemark became a storm cloud. She became an alicorn
Haze blinked.
Blue looked at him. "You may now call me Stormy Clouds." She nodded. "You should now open your box."
Haze sighed. "But what if it contains evil things?"
Stormy growled. "Do it!"
Haze stepped back. "Fine. Fine." He placed the box and opened it. A mist rose from it and surrounded him. It then pulled back, and an alicorn was standing in his place, lighter grey with a mane like fog. His eyes were indigo, and the cutiemark was a larger mountain surrounded in mist. He grinned. "And you may call me Miasmic Fog."
Stormy nodded. "We better get going."
The two reapers headed deeper within the cave. It was going a bit upwards, which made them realize that the cave was a whole system under the castle. They stopped as they heard voices.
"You three will never even be strong enough to do this." It was a male voice, and it was quite confident and slick
"You sure?" this voice sounded scared.
"Yeah." This was a female voice.
Then the unsure voice laughed.
Stormy peaked around the corner. She saw Horror Movie, and Darth Star facing three earth ponies. They looked like they were already defeated, but something didn't feel right. There was a disturbing feeling in the air.
Miasmic looked at her. "You feel it too? We should warn them."
Stormy nodded in agreement and the galloped in.
Horror was the first one to turn. "What the…"
Stormy stopped. "We're reapers, like you."
Miasmic stopped besides her. 
Horror sighed. "And?"
Stormy looked at him. She was about to speak when a dark harsh laughter filled the cave. 
"Well look what we have here. FOUR reapers? That must be a record." And alicorn landed. He had burning white hair and red hair. His skin was pitch black. He had the same cutiemark as the rest.
The four reapers turned.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself." The black alicorn grinned. The grin was the grin of an insane lunatic. "I'm Blood Fangs. I'm the leader for the Discordian Cult."
Horror narrowed his eyes. "The Discordian Cult?"
Blood growled. "Haven't any of you ever heard about it? Damn. I guess my followers didn't do a good job in Cloudsdale or Ponyville."
Horror growled. "They were all your guys?"
Blood laughed. "Yes, and you, my friend, have been a major thorn in my flank. You destroyed both my plans, and now I have to find more followers."
Stormy took a step forward. "Too bad your path ends here."
The four reapers prepared themselves to attack Blood.
"Oh no. I don't think so." Blood grinned, and the ground started shaking. "Because I'm now going to make the castle fall out, killing everyone inside."
The ground and walls around then started cracking. Large rocks fell down. 
Meanwhile was the silent night in Canterlot disturbed as the ground started shaking. Ponies looked up at the castle with fearful expressions as the mountainside around the castle started cracking. Large rocks started falling down.
Inside was Blood Fangs laughing. "Well suck on this, tiny reapers!" he took flight. "But I must be off. You all should just enjoy this nice chaotic mayhem." He then vanished in a flash.
Horror looked at the others. "We have to stop this!"
"How?" Darth Star looked at him.
Stormy growled. "First task is to get out, alive!"
They all agreed, and they headed out through one of the cracks.
Horror nodded. "Okay. Darth star, and whoever you dark blue are, you have to protect the town no matter what. Me and the other one will be trying to stop the castle from falling!"
Stormy nodded. "Call me Stormy Clouds. The other one is called Miasmic Fog."
All four nodded and headed in their own direction.
Stormy and Darth headed down the side, quickly catching up with the boulders.
Darth sighed. "So what should we do?"
Stormy looked at the boulders. "We should blow them into tiny bits and spread them out."
Darth nodded. "Good plan." They then started blasting the falling rocks with magic, blowing them into gravel so nopony would get hurt.
Meanwhile was Horror and Miasmic heading for the castle.
"Now what do we do. Reverse time?" Miasmic asked sarcastically. 
Horror laughed sarcastically back. "Nope. We have to stop it from falling, and the patch it back up…"
Miasmic just stared at him.
"Just cast some damn magical chains around the base." Horror was already setting up the fist ones, giving them some slack so they wouldn't break.
Miasmic sighed. "Like this'll ever work…" he then joined. 
A deep rumbling sound was heard as the magical chains tightened and then the castle stopped tilting outwards. It was already off 30 degrees. The ground had also stopped shaking. The four reapers landed by the crack, looking at the damage.
"This is quite a show." Stormy looked at the castle, and all the glowing chains.
Miasmic sighed. "And what happened to the code? To never be seen or operate in a fashion that would get us or our operation noticed?"
Horror looked at the castle. "Sometimes are there exceptions."
Stormy looked at the castle too. "I wonder why nobody in there did anything…"
"They're probably sleeping. The earth ponies said something about contaminating the drinks with a slow sedative." Darth Star sighed.
Horror nodded. "Oh well. They're starting to wake up again, so we better be off."
The four reapers took flight and vanished into the forest.