The Priest of Nalarath

by Pigrangler

Death works in mysteryious ways

Dark Void

When I awoke it was to this strange eerie sound assaulting my eardrums. The noise wasn't loud, just very constant and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it to go away. Not that I tried that hard anyway. I opened my eyes to find...darkness. Of course. I look down and am surprised that I can see myself perfectly through the darkness. My black outfit actually shined in this weird dark world.

It's as if I'm the one giving color to this dark void. I shuddered at the horrible thought. The noise seemed to disperse when I shuddered. Whatever...now that that's over I guess I'll just float around for a bit. Suddenly I feel hard floor underneath my feet. I look but I don't see anything under them. I look up and notice something that was definitely NOT there before. Standing in front of me is a dark robed figure with a skull holding a scythe.

I would have screamed but something was wrong. The longer I seemed to look into the skulls face, the calmer I became. That's not to say I wasn't scared. I almost died! I was freaking terrified!

My last thoughts came rushing back to me and I realized that this made sense. So I'm dead and this is death come to show me where my soul will go huh? Whatever as long as its not hell or a place with too much color. A hell filled with rainbow fire. I shuddered involuntarily again.

"Father Gregory." Death spoke to me in a deep emotionless tone. Huh...thought he was a non-talker and I'd just follow him or whatever.

"Ye-yes." I responded with a shaky voice. I couldn't help it. I mean, I'm having a conversation with death! How am I supposed to remain calm during that?! Looking at him was fine but his voice just sent chills down my spine. I preferred him just being silent while I stared at him. ...Ok that just sounds creepy...

"High Priest to the City of Nalarath, 38 years of age, no form of lover? Cause of death assassinated by knife? I just nodded at that.

Death the stalker...go figure. I thought to myself.

" I Heard that." he mumbled. Ok that REALLY got me by surprise.

"You can read my mind?"

"In this world I can. My world. Welcome Father Gregory, to the land of death, the place between all worlds, the place where all must go to be judged. Welcome to your new home my apprentice."

I looked to my left...then my right...nothing. Just a bunch of darkness. OH GLORIOUS OF DAYS! NO COLOR! I'M FINALY FREE OF THAT COLORFUL SPECTRUM OF TORTURE NALARATH!. But wait...did he say apprentice? "Wait ...did you just call me your apprentice?To this he nodded. Well what do you know deaths apprentice... "So uh...what does that exactly entail? And another question, why me?"

"These last few decades I've been having trouble judging correctly due to more worlds popping up. So many new souls to collect and distribute...so much work..." He started off in that creepy deep voice of his. "So I need to have someone help me with the distribution of souls. Particularly in a certain....world. To answer your other question, I think you are the perfect candidate for that."

I felt my jaw drop slightly at that. Death is having trouble with soul placement? And he wants me? I become deaths assistant? Can there even be two deaths? "Why me?" I ask. "Out of all the souls why pick mine?"
.
He sighed heavily and looked into my eyes with his...skull sockets. Ok it was hard to tell where he was looking since he doesn't have eyes but I assumed he was looking into my eyes.
"Because Father Gregory, you have something inside you that will make you the perfect candidate for this job." He said casually. "You cannot stand color for prolonged periods of time. Because of that, you seek darkness, and when you seek darkness, its easier to find lost or hiding souls." He said all this while walking away, swinging his scythe. "And I have something you might want in return."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "What could you possibly have that I would want?"

Without speaking he reached into his robe and pulled out this...thing. It was peach colored and seemed to keep changing shape. It didn't seem to be made of anything solid, yet he held a firm grip on it while it struggled.

"This is the soul of someone still living. Or more so, a copy of it. The closer someone comes to death, the more the copy looks like them. This is how I track dying souls until they need to be collected and judged. Although some will try to hide from me." Death said as I eyed the strange swirling mist blob in his hand.

"Ok...so your going to give me a living soul?" I asked.

Death seemed to chuckle at that.

"Oh this is more than just a soul dear Gregory. This is the soul of the person that killed you."

My eyes shot open at the sudden revelation. There, in death's bony hands, was the soul of my murderer. I was filled with many mixed emotions, ranging from hatred, to sadness and confusion. I didn't know how to handle this information. Just as I was about to ask death what I would do with it he said, "If you help me, then when the time comes for this soul to be judged, I shall let you make the decision.

I only stared at him for what seemed like eternity. Could have been just five minutes but I couldn't tell because of the vast nothingness I was still in. Other than the fact that I was dead I would have loved staying here.. No color he-he. Hey wait what's that thing? I focus my vision further and see...a grey mist? Thought this one has more form and looks like a human.

Death turns to where I'm looking and sighs lightly. "One second." he says while putting the peach soul back into his robe and walking towards our new guest. When death is in front of him the soul seems to scream in pain. It had a faint likeness to that weird noise I was hearing when I first got here.

Before I could ponder further on that thought, death reached out to the soul and spoke. "Richard Fredrick. Age 25. Wife to Patricia Sellum and Father to Emily Sellum. Cause of death, burned to death."

Gone was his quizzical matter that he used to address me. He was all business know and he knew the drill and routine. The soul didn't say anything but it had stopped screaming and looked at death. Weird...I thought he would be all burned up or something? The guy looks fine.

When you die your soul takes on the healthier part of you when you were alive.

I hear a similar voice in my head. Oh great... now he can put thoughts in my head too! I decided to continue watching to see how he would judge this guy. I kind of felt bad for him...burned to death. Ouch.

Death slowly put one bony finger to the mans forehead and made a light screech that seemed to come from deep in his robe. He sat there like that for a few minutes making that weird noise. Ok now that noise was definitely what I had heard earlier! As I pondered that thought death stopped making the noise and slowly pulled his hand away from the soul's forehead.

"I see..." he said in that creepy monotone voice. "Burned to death for kidnapping children, putting them in your basement, raping and killing. You even attempted to rape your own daughter. Your Wife was wise to warn the people about you."

I stood there with a puzzled and irritated look on my face.A pedophile and a murderer? Really?

"For your crimes against the living, I hereby sentence you to your own personal hell." He said while banging his scythe down on the non-existent yet somehow still there floor. When he stopped his banging a red portal seemed to open up. There was a strange sound coming from the portal. It sounded like...laughing children?

"You will be forced for the rest of eternity to endure the same pain that you brought upon them. You will be cut, burned scarred, and raped daily by hell demons. You will know no joy. Only pain is your salvation." Death said in that eerily calm voice.

That got me worried. I mean seriously yeah he was a pedophile and that's bad. But to suffer that kind of torture? Before I could voice my opinion though, death simply kicked the soul into the portal of laughing "children".

As he was walking back to me I swore I heard him mumble. "Damn pedophiles..."

When he made it back to me, we just made that same eye to no-eye contact like earlier. He didn't say anything. Just sat there looking at me. Was he seriously going to just ignore that? Was he going to pretend I didn't just witness that?I looked harder at him to see if I could sense any deceit in his face.The problem is that death has the best poker face ever. Probably because he doesn't have a face to begin with... Oh yeah ...I finally decided screw it.

What else am I going to do for the rest of eternity? Sit and listen do Death complain some more about the troubles of his job? Or worse. Watch him judge again. I thought to myself.

He growled. "Oh right...the mind reading thing...sorry."

"Whatever. So you accept my proposal?" I nodded and he returned the gesture. "Good good. And for your information I would have done worse then yacking your ear off while I judged souls. if you decided to say no. I would have ripped the skin from your flesh while melting your bones like hot metal and force fed you your muscles." His eye sockets seemed to glow with a red fire at that last part.

"Erhm...O-ok then." I'm not sure if that's even possible but I didn't want to find out. He laughed at my discomfort.

"Relax my apprentice. You will learn to grow a more cynical type of humor when working with me." I nodded dumbly at that. Whatever...just go with it Gregory.

What have I gotten myself into?

He seemed to ignore that last thought as he kept talking. "Now before I send you on your way, I need to give you the proper materials.

"Proper materials?" I parroted at him He just nodded while reaching into his robe to pull out...another robe?

How the hell is he doing that?

"Two ways. One, my world so my rules. Two, my robe and the one I am handing you has an infinite void tucked deep within." He responded with a smirk. I guess? It's hard to tell but I think he's just making me think its a smirk. Weird...

"You can store just about anything in there. But be careful. Since your new to this, the robe isn't used to your body type yet. So anything you choose to carry will still have the full weight to it. . Except for souls, souls don't weigh a thing. It will still fit and all, so don't worry about that. "

"Wait what do you mean the suit has to get used to me?" I asked with a bit of sacredness showing in my voice.

"Well when you first dawn it it will act as a normal robe." He replied casually. "But after time it will start to fuse into you and become like a second layer of skin." Sensing my climbing heart rate he clarified "Of course you will still keep your normal skin if you so wish it. The suit will just help you grow into a more powerful soul finder/collector.This will later include your weapon. For now just use that cane of yours."

I had failed to realize that this hole time I was holding the dammed thing.

"Also, there's really no telling how long it will take since your the first to be given something like this. Could take weeks, could be years, you could go to a new world with all of your abilities attached. However time is precious and I cant take any risks."

I decided to stop him there. "Hold up...If I'm the first person to receive this, then how do you know it wont automatically adapt to me?" He stared at me for a second before responding.

"I should clarify. You are the first person given something like this from ME. When I first took on this look I was a normal human and I didn't have a lot of my powers. That reminds me..."

Having said that he reached into his robe with is other hand to pull out...a pair of gloves? Wait, not gloves but gauntlets. Long looking leather gauntlets with strange symbols on them. They looked like they would reach almost to my shoulders. The weirdest thing about them though was that one was a bright white that seemed to glow light and color while the other was a dark black that looked like it absorbed all color. Though they were touching it didn't seem to matter.

"Your training gauntlets." Death said, sensing my confusion.. "Until you can judge souls without them you will need them to help. I designed them when I first started to help me with the judging while my powers grew. There simple really, just touch a soul ready to be judged with the white glove to grant them favor into heaven and with the black glove to send them to hell. If you cant make a decision, touch them with both gloves and they'll be sent to the void of your robe to judge for later.. To view a souls former life you will have to find a different method." So he does acknowledge that happened! "I suggest prolonged eye contact. That worked for me until I lost my eyes... Also, I'm giving you the ability to judge without having to keep coming back here. Trust me...it gets annoying."

While he was talking I was already putting the robe and gauntlets on. The robe was too big and the gauntlets' fingers were too loose. Just after I had that thought I heard something pop and suddenly everything fit so well. "What the heck was that?" Death just stared at me.

"Your clothes need to fit otherwise they'd be pretty useless." Death replied. "Ok so now that all that's out of the way we can begin with sending you to your first world to start claiming souls. Oh and don't worry about not seeing them. Once you get there you will see the souls of all living and dead things. Their kind of hard not to miss. Don't forget to look in the shadows for the lost or hiding souls. And be careful, some of those souls are just scared things waiting to be collected."

With that he opened a portal and turned to me. "This world doesn't seem to have a lot of souls to collect because its mostly peaceful. I've been trying to collect here for a while but... never mind its not important. What is important is that you are now going to collect the souls. Ill be in touch with you soon so...Have fun Gregory!" Before I could ask what he meant he shoved me into the portal.
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Fast! So fast! Way to fast! I cant make out anything and my eyes are stinging with tears. My stomach hurts and my flesh is burning.Suddenly I see something coming into focus. Its...green! A solid green! I never thought Id be so happy to see such colorful green!

And of course the second that thought comes into my head I black out from pain as I slam into the bright green grass.

Ponyville

( During Gregory's meeting with death.)

As Spike and Twilight sat at Sugarcube Corner waiting for Pinkie to finish a batch of cookies, Pound decided it would be a good idea to start knocking at the table they were at. This surprised Spike who then shot up about ten feet. Twilight laughed lightly at his antics and put Pound in her magical grasp. She then lifted him over to where Pumpkin sat in a corner chewing on a wooden spoon. She giggled at him floating and dropped the spoon to go play with him.

Shortly afterword's Pinkie came bouncing from behind the counter saying she was ready to go. They trio all exited the bakery to collect Rarity from her Boutique. But not before Pinkie made a bunch of silly faces at Pumpkin and Pound who giggled at her in return.

"Ooh my gosh I'm gonna miss them so much! But that's ok because Mr. and Mrs. Cake assured me that they don't need a sitter because they're not going anywhere tonight!" Pinkie said while bouncing along with Spike and Twilight.

"That and you wouldn't miss a sleepover party for anything. Right Pinkie?" Spike asked with a slight smirk.

"Oh silly dragon! I wouldn't miss any party! Not on purpose anyway." Responded Pinkie with her cheerful attitude.

When the group made it to Rarity's they saw that Fluttershy was already waiting there with a torn sleeping bag under her wing, trying her best to conceal it. As they approached Twilight spoke up,

"Hey Fluttershy!"

The timid yellow Pegasus eeped at the unexpected voice and turned around to find some of her friends. Sighing with relief she greeted them back. Unknown to her, the sleeping bag she was carrying had fallen to the ground with a soft thud.

"Oh hi Twilight, Pinkie, Spike. Are you here for Rarity too?" asked the shy pegasus.

Twilight eyed the sleeping bag lying next to Fluttershy. "What happened to your sleeping bag? Did one of your animal friends get into it?" asked Twilight with a chuckle while levitating the bag.

"Oh no. Well yes. You see, I was just about to head out the door ready to leave when Angel grabbed my sleeping bag. He said there was something in there that he was hiding and forgot to retrieve before I left. I was about to reach in and get it for him when he just started tearing at my bag! He eventually got what he was after, a chewed up carrot. I gave him a light scolding and told him he needed to be carful with other peoples belongings. Honestly I don't know what had gotten into him." Fluttershy sighed before continuing her story.

"So anyway I went to wash the bag to get rid of the carrot bits. But I didn't know that angel had caused some tears during his search. So I decided that I should see if Rarity could patch up my bag." Finished Fluttershy with a gentle smile.

Twilight smiled back, "Well I'm sure Rarity can fix up in time. And just in case I have a few spares should they be needed. Right Spike?" She said while looking back at the dragon in question.

"PLEASE DONT MAKE ME CHECK AGAIN!" He yelled in surprise at her.

Twilight just rolled her eyes. "I'll just take your word for it. So anyway, how long have you been waiting her Fluttershy?"

"Oh not too long. A couple of minutes maybe. Rarity said she needed some time before she was ready. I guess she thought we were already heading out." Fluttershy said.

Just then the door opened to the boutique and standing in the center frame, was none other than Rarity. She had on a pair of ridiculously big pink sunglasses and a big decorative sun hat, with a small purple ribbon on one side. She was also carrying several bags in her magic. They looked heavy. Upon noticing Fluttershy and the others she smiled.

"Greetings girls! Oh and my little Spikey WIkey! Would you come here and give me a hand with these bags?" She asked in a slight accent that sounded like Canterlot nobility. Spike of course wasted no time in rushing towards her with his arms spread out to receive the bags. She let all of them go on top of Spike who only faltered slightly. With a grunt he turned to follow Rarity towards the others.

"Hey Rarity! I love love love your new hat!" Said Pinkie Pie while observing the hat with a look of fascination.

"Oh this old thing? Just something I haven't warn in a while. The good news is it hasn't gone out of season yet!" Responded Rarity with pride in her voice. Twilight then took this as her opportunity to speak.

"Well I hope you've got everything ready Rarity."

"Me too..." Groaned Spike as he touted Rarity's supplies.

The girls just laughed that off politely. Twilight then turned to Rarity. "You do know were only going for the night right? Why do you need so many things?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rarity just scoffed lightly and said "Well a lady must be prepared for anything to happen! And in that regard I think I am prepared for a most wonderful night! Now lets go get Applejack and Rainbow Dash from Sweet Apple Acres."

Twilight kept her eyebrow raised. "Rainbows at Applejacks? How do you know that?" She asked.

"Well earlier today Rainbow crashed in front of my house. She said something about a stunt going wrong and that she needed to do a dare with Applejack. Before I could ask further she just bolted off. I only assume she's still there." Said Rarity nonchalantly.

"Well I hope she's got her things" Twilight responded. Just then Fluttershy spoke up.

"Oh that reminds me. Rarity, Angel got into my sleeping bag before I could get here so its a little torn up. Do you think you could uh?..." Rarity just smiled.

"Of course dear." She said while taking the bag from Fluttershy in her magical aura. Rarity made quick work of the little bag and handed it back to Fluttershy for inspection.

"Oh it looks brand new! Thank you Rarity!" Fluttershy said with a genuine smile.

"Not a problem at all dearie. Now we should hurry and gather the others. We don't have very long until the train leaves and we will only have so much time to be together before the long train ride." Said Rarity as the group made their way to Sweet Apple Acres.

Sweet Apple Acres

(Shortly after Gregory's meeting with Death)

Applejack sat across from Rainbow Dash with a determined look on her face. The daring pegasus had made another bet with Applejack about who was the best pony. Not one to back down from a challenge, Applejack accepted almost instantly. The contest? Be a statue. The first pony to blink, talk, or move would be eliminated. Applejack was confused at first as to why Rainbow would issue such a silly dare. But she was confident that she could easily beat her.

As the minutes ticked by it didn't seem as if either one would give in. It was like watching a Metapod Vs. Metapod fight. Suddenly Rainbow had the sudden urge to sneeze. She tried to hide it to the best of her abilities but eventually the inevitable happened.

"AAAAACHOOOOO!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she sneezed all over Applejacks face. Applejack didn't seem to mind as a smile grew on her face.

"Ah Win!" She said while wiping the snot juices from her face not caring.

"No fair! You made me sneeze!" Rainbow complained.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at her. " Ah made ya sneeze?" To this Rainbow nodded. "And just how in tarnation did you come up with that conclusion?" Rainbow rolled her eyes and made a face.

"I don't know how you did it but I know you did! I want a rematch!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Applejack just slowly shook her head. "No can do Rainbow. We ain't got much time left before the others get here."

A devilish smile came across Rainbow Dash's face. "What's wrong Applejack? You Chicken?" She asked hoping to strike a nerve and get a rematch. But it was in vain as Applejack just smiled at her.

"Nah I just know to quit when I'm ahead. Now come on and grab your stuff you left in the barn. We gotta get ready before the girls get here."

Rainbow just sighed and started to fly off towards the barn when she heard a strange noise. She couldn't quite identify it and started looking around for the source. She noticed that Applejack had heard it too. It sounded like-

BOOOOOOOM!

Both ponies turned there heads in shock to the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres. There, laying just past the front entrance in a newly made crater, was some strange creature neither of them had seen before.

Author's Note:

So now Gregory will meet the main six

What hilarity will ensue?

What dangers?

Stay tuned to find out!