Reaper: Requiem's Reflection

by Ise no Kami

Regrets

Twilight and Daniel walked through a beautiful garden, filled with a wide assortment of colorful flowers. After coming all this way through a desolate wasteland, Twilight was more than glad to finally feel grass under her hooves again. She was happy to see that deep shades of red, blue, and an assortment of other colors had popped up where there had once been nothing but barren land and an overwhelming sense of evil. There was even a hedge maze further back...which reminded the purple alicorn a bit too much of a certain draconequus. All of this lush green could only mean one thing in this world: they were approaching their destination.

In front of the two stood a large palace of pure white. Gold columns jutted out from the marble surface periodically, and the window and door frames were lined with pink stone. The whole castle had a regal air about it, befitting its occupants. Although, Twilight did feel the design suited Celestia more than it did Luna. Maybe she was a bad architect?

"No way. This can't be the wreck I woke up in," Daniel mentioned in disbelief, staring in awe at the majesty before them.

"Quite a lot has changed since I was last here," Twilight noted. "Last time I saw it, this place looked dead."

"Not a lot of guards," Daniel realized. In fact, they hadn't seen a single pony since they left Sombra's castle. "Hell, are you sure anyone's even here?"

As if in response, the massive palace gates creaked open, seemingly of their own accord. After a brief pause to recover from the surprise, Daniel motioned to Twilight, as if he took the odd occurrence as an invitation. Twilight entered the palace, and her human friend followed her inside.

They entered into a large foyer, as grand and elegant as the palace exterior. The tiles were made of stunning white marble, as were the walls. A large circle of dark blue carpet sat in the middle, with two long branches heading off to connecting hallways at the sides of the room. While the color was dark, it was actually soothing and inviting, not cold like the entirety of Sombra's castle. Beyond that was a pink marble staircase, winding its way to the upper floors. Gold pillars stretched from the floor to the ceiling three stories up. Orange and blue banners lined the walls. Twilight was absolutely stunned. All of this had been built in the four months or so since all that craziness had gone down.

"It's been some time, hasn't it?" A familiar voice responded from somewhere. "I welcome you to our castle."

From a door on the upper balcony came Celestia. Only, this wasn't quite the pony Daniel met before things got crazy. Her head was covered with a blue helmet with white stripes along the sides, its design reminiscent of Egyptian culture. Oddly enough, her multicolored mane seemed to phase right through this helmet and flow freely beside her. Blue metal lined the back of her necklace, black stripes protruding off of it. Her golden slippers each extended a rod of gold up her leg to a clasp.

"Were you expecting us?" Daniel replied, a smarmy smile forming across his face.

"I'm sure you understand the severity of the situation," Celestia started her explanation. "We were hoping you could help us find a solution.

"Yeah, I understand," Daniel affirmed, "but do you? After all, do YOU know how those monsters factor into this?"

"You raise a good point," Celestia noted, her smile fading. "We know next to nothing about these Riftspawn, other than that they only attack you."

"Oh, is that what you're calling 'em?"

"They appear to be formed from the magical energy binding our worlds together, as if they were born in the rift between them. Hence the name."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Daniel responded, though he was still wrapping his head around it. Oddly enough, of all the questions he had, he never thought to ask how the white alicorn mare standing before him knew they were coming. After all the desolation he'd seen, he just took it for a lucky guess. Where else was there to go? Even so, there was one little question, a small hint of curiosity, that had been nagging at him almost since the conversation started.

"By the way, who's 'we'?"

"You do not appreciate the Royal Canterlot Voice?" Celestia answered, a wry smile cracking on her face. Daniel's expression went flat with unamused disbelief. "My sister is further inside, working to get you both home," she answered truthfully.

Her sister. Twilight's Celestia had mentioned a sister, but Daniel hadn't stayed in Equestria long enough to meet her. His eyes lit up with curiosity as he restraightened his posture, looking the tall alicorn monarch squarely in the eye.

"It seems you're eager to get going," Celestia noted, chuckling. "Luna's waiting for you upstairs."

---

Twilight and Daniel walked behind Celestia as she guided them through the empty hallways of the palace. Something about the quiet put Daniel on edge. True, the blue carpet and marble walls were beautiful, as was the view from the occasional window, but...there was no one here. Why was the palace so empty?

"Say, where is everyo- er, enerypony?" he asked. He was beginning to hate this world's vocabulary.

"Luna and I haven't been...benelovent for very long," Celestia explained. "For centuries, we've been a plague to this world. Now that we've switched places with Sombra, we're struggling to get ponies to trust us. And even if we could, our reign of terror was long. Aside from Sombra's guards, everypony is long gone."

"They still trust him?"

"They still believe their old master is in there somewhere. It gives them hope...false hope."

The white princess of the sun stopped as she stopped in front of a set of double doors. The doors were lined with gold, and were otherwise covered in a dark blue velvet, the color of midnight. Celestia grabbed both doors with her magic, and pushed them open.

The three entered into a regal bedroom. A round blue carpet covered the center of the room. This carpet was darker than the one outside, the same color as the door. The marble floor and walls were a lighter blue, and the ceiling was covered by a mural depicting the starry night sky. To the left was a bed, the sheets and the curtains hanging above all different shades of blue, the framework made of ebony. at the back was a door of that same ebony, glass panels placed in the frame, leading out to a balcony. To the right was a dark blue vanity, black splotches decorating the frame, with a rather large mirror, adorned with a crescent moon at the top.

In front of the mirror, her horn glowing, was another alicorn like Celestia. Her coat was a dark blue, almost dark gray, save for a black splotch along her flanks. Upon each flank, sitting upon the splotch, was a crescent moon. her mane was a deep blue, and her tail had a light blue streak through this same hue. She wore a headdress and scarf of the same light blue, and the scarf had a yellow and black pattern near its edges that was once again reminiscent of Egyptian culture. Her light blue hoof slippers clamped to her legs. She turned to the group, her blue-green eyes falling on each one as she smiled.

Daniel was speechless.

"Sister, is the spell ready?" Celestia asked.

"Not quite," Luna answered. "We need the boy."

"H-huh? Me?" Daniel asked, surprised and confused, as he was gently pulled toward the vanity.

"May I ask your name?" Luna queried as she let Daniel go.

"Daniel. Daniel Hayes," he replied. His composure had returned to him, and he responded in the same calm, serious manner as always.

"Well, Daniel," Luna began, turning both him and herself to the vanity's mirror, "we have a spell in this world that allows us to use a mirror to look in on our friends, and communicate with them from a long distance."

"That...would explain a lot," Twilight noted, only now wondering how Celestia had kept tabs on her pre-alicorn adventures. Her impression of her mentor suddenly darkened.

"We were hoping that," Luna continued, "since you were able to come here because of your dimensional sensitivity, your power could allow us to contact ponies from Twilight's world. Perhaps, if your sensitivity's strong enough, you could use the connection to bring Twilight home."

"Anypony you have in mind?" Daniel questioned in reply. "It's a communication spell, right? Somepony's gotta be on the receiving end."

"We should contact my Celestia," Twilight answered. "She needs to know what's going on over here. And...she needs to know we're safe."

"Very well," Luna responded, her horn still glowing. "I already have the spell prepared. Daniel, could you please touch the mirror?"

Daniel put his hand to the mirror's surface. A second later, he and the vanity began to glow, and then stopped, the light fading away. The mirror's surface turned cloudy, but soon cleared to reveal a room in a familiar castle. It was a bedroom, arranged similarly to the one they were currently in. The walls were white marble, and the floor was black and white tile. A red carpet lay on the floor, and a bed with sheets and drapes of similar colors sat over to the side. A window across from the vanity revealed that the green sky had invaded Equestria as well. Pacing around the room was the Celestia Twilight knew. Suddenly, she noticed the figures in the mirror, and sped to her own vanity.

"What!? But how?" Celestia asked, confused.

"Sorry, my bad," Daniel responded nonchalantly.

"Apparently he's sensitive to dimensional portals," Twilight explained. "Even though the mirror was broken, he was still able to cross through to this world."

"Can't get back, though," Daniel continued. "These freaking monsters smashed the exit statue."

"They're on your side, too!?" Celestia exclaimed, alarmed. She calmed down a bit. "No matter. They appear to be harmless."

"Not quite. They'll attack me," Daniel mentioned.

"What!? Why?" Celestia asked. "Well, don't worry. Once we fix things, you'll be safe."

"How?" Daniel replied flatly. As he paused, the room went still, as everypony realized the implication behind his question.

"The only reason the boundary between your worlds was fixed in the first place was because Sombra became evil to balance stuff out or some crap like that, right? Well, news flash! I'm not from any Equestria. There's no other me, so there's nothing TO balance out. That's why the Riftspawn are here: because both of your worlds realize that the only way to fix this mess...is to take me out of the equation entirely." At that, he moved to the back wall by the door, a cold and somber look spreading over his face as he leaned against it.

The alicorns were dumbstruck. Luna and both Celestias were busy trying to process what they just heard, trying to come up with a possible alternative. Twilight, however, was still struck dumb by the horror of Daniel's implication. He doesn't really have to...DIE, does he? she thought, trying to reassure herself, hoping in vain that, if she kept telling herself the answer was no, then it would be true. Finally, driven to her last nerve by the thought, she changed the subject.

"So, uh, how's everything going in our Equestria?" She had hoped Celestia would cheer up and break into small talk. Instead, she began to share her own grave news.

"Immediately after the sky turned green," she began, "the Cutie Map sent Rainbow Dash, alone, deep into the northern mountains. There, she encountered another human. Unfortunately, this one was hostile, and she barely survived the encounter."

Twilight's pupils minimized with the shock. "Is...is she okay?"

"She's at the hospital getting surgery," Celestia replied. "Her assailant stabbed her in the stomach. Apparently, he had the ability to open holes in the fabric of space, and he just thrust a knife through one of these into Rainbow. She said his name was-"

"Faris Elfriede."

Everypony turned to look at Daniel. His face was still cold and somber, but had shifted slightly to show that different emotions and reasons were behind it. "For give me, Your Highnesses. It appears that I've brought a far greater threat to Equestria than any of us had realized."

"Daniel...you know Rainbow's attacker?" Twilight asked tentatively.

"Know him?" Daniel replied. "I thought I killed him. He's one of the underlings of the monster that ravaged my world...of evil incarnate, Lucifer. And if he's alive, so is his master."

"You said you killed Lucifer," Twilight mentioned. "Maybe Faris was just here on his own. It could be just him."

"Not even him anymore," Celestia mentioned in reply. "Rainbow told me she killed Faris in the struggle."

"Uh, bullcrap," Daniel replied. "I wouldn't expect you to know this, but Lucifer's lackeys don't die. He's tied their souls to his, so they need him to survive...but as long as he lives, they can never truly die. I'll believe that your friend defeated him by some miracle...at which point he just rematerialized elsewhere."

"You seem to know a lot about these people," Luna noted.

"Well, yeah," Daniel responded. "I must have killed Faris and his friends at least three times each on my own world."

"Still, tied to his soul?" Twilight questioned. "That sounds like torture."

"Tell me about it," Daniel answered. "Lucifer is a monster. He sees others as nothing but meat or tools...even his own son." He moved to the ebony doors and walked onto the balcony as the room fell silent. After some time, Luna decided to follow him. Before Twilight and Celestia could do the same, the other Celestia spoke up.

"There's one more thing I think you should know."

---

Daniel stared out into the desolate wasteland, ruminating on the events of the last couple of days. Night had fallen, dimming the sky's glow to a dark green. Next to nothing else could be seen from the palace to the horizon. It really gave him a sense of how empty this part of the world had become. He was so lost in thought that he barely noticed Luna had joined him until she spoke.

"This evil that has followed you to Equestria, this Lucifer.... He's your father?" she asked.

"Yep." Daniel replied flatly. "What do you think? Son of the Devil himself, at your service." He chuckled slightly, more out of pain and disgust than amusement. "You must hate me."

"Why would you say that?" Luna wondered. "You haven't done anything wrong." She looked out at the glowing green sky. "...intentionally."

"Thanks," Daniel replied sarcastically, though he understood her intentions. This time, they both chuckled happily.

"You know, though I regret it, I was evil once," Luna mentioned. "Thinking back to what my sister and I used to be, I think I understand how you feel about your father."

"Thanks for trying," Daniel replied, "but whatever you were back then can't compare to what he is...and what I am." He looked down at his hand, wispy shreds of shadow emanating from it.

"I take it that being the 'son of the Devil himself' wasn't easy?" Luna queried.

"Tell me about it." Daniel paused, and then began his story. "As Lucifer's child, I was born with dark powers, and a purpose. I was intended to be the Grim Reaper. But my mother didn't want Dad's influence to warp me, so she abandoned me. Fair enough, I would have done the same thing in her situation...but it led to a rough childhood. Not only was I an orphan, but my dark powers were feared by everyone. For 18 years, I was ostracized everywhere I went. Fighting for my life was just Tuesday to me. And things got so much worse when Dad finally found me. He tried killing off a whole village just to get to me, and when he did.... I could see it in his eyes. He didn't want a son. He wanted another killing machine. Thinking back, those 18 years made my decision easier. Choosing to fight Lucifer was easy enough, but when I found out we were linked, that killing him would supposedly mean my death, too, I didn't hesitate at all. I'd be saving my world from evil, and if I died in the process, eh, no one'd miss me.

"But then I woke up in Equestria. I wasn't in Paradise. I was alive, in a place where no one knew me, where I could start fresh. I thought the world was giving me a clean slate, a chance to be happy for once in my life." He looked down and grimaced. "Now I know it was all just 'cause I didn't finish the job."

Luna put a comforting hoof around Daniel's waist. "Whatever trials may come, I'm sure you'll be able to overcome them."

Daniel paused. "Back on my world, I was willing to trade my life for peace. Oddly enough, now that people actually value me, I don't think I could make that commitment again. I don't want to die."

"We'll find another way," Luna reassured him. "You deserve to live just as much as any of us."

"Thank you," Daniel replied. "It means a lot to me."

Just then, Twilight walked onto the balcony. "We might have a way out of here," she blurted out.

"Seriously?" Daniel asked, part surprised, part hopeful...part disappointed.

"According to Rainbow," Twilight started, "Faris used his power to send an ancient treasure called the Chalice of Reflections to another dimension. That chalice's enchantment is based in dimensions, so you might be able to take us home if you touched it. And Celestia believes it was sent to this dimension."

"Wait, why? And how?" Daniel asked. "Last I checked, Faris' power didn't transcend dimensions. And remember, my world was four dimensions on top of each other. I think he would have used that power there if he had it."

"True," Twilight answered, "but your world's dimensions seem to have been linked, but separate. As things are, this dimension and my dimension are starting to overlap and merge. That's why Celestia thinks the chalice is here: given the extent of Faris' power, this is the ONLY other world he could have sent it to."

"Makes sense," Daniel noted, slightly worried about the implications behind that explanation. "So where is it?"

"Apparently, he just dumped the chalice in the room where it was found. Well, this world's version of that room."

"So we're gonna be freezing our butts off in the mountains," Daniel realized, a flat expression covering his face. "Can't wait."

"Wait." A dark blue hoof reached out to Daniel. "Once you return Twilight to her world...will you return here?"

"I'll see what I can do," Daniel answered. "My next priority after getting her home is finishing what I started with dear old Dad. I don't know what either of your worlds have been through, but I doubt they'll last long if he sticks around."

"Then I wish you luck," Luna replied. "Just know that there will always be a place for you here."

---

Fireworks flared from a little wooden cart, sitting in the center of the green Canterlot courtyards. Jutting out from the side of the cart was a small fold-up stage, around which a small crowd of ponies had gathered. Upon the stage, her horn glowing purple with magic exertion, was a light blue unicorn with a silver mane and tail. Her cutie mark depicted a wand swirling with magical energy, and arrogance swirled in a similar fashion behind her purple eyes. She wore a purple wizard hat and cloak, both speckled with stars of varying hues of blue and yellow.

Trixie was happy to be back in business. Her traveling magic show had taken a dip-well, more like a downward spiral-in popularity when an incident involving a certain purple unicorn and-more importantly, she now realized-a couple of overenthusiastic fans had ruined her Great and Powerful reputation. Months later, she had returned to Ponyville to punish Twilight with the Alicorn Amulet, a source of powerful dark magic. The fallout from that mistake brought her popularity to rock bottom, and this time, there was no one to blame. Now, however, fear had spread throughout Equestria, as the sickly green sky implied dark times for the world. Realizing that dark times would turn people toward entertainment, Trixie thought now would be a good time to restart her show. Sure enough, ponies once again flocked to her stage, eager to forget the madness above their heads.

The new monsters were rather interesting to her. Since they seemed to be harmless, Trixie thought that she could use them in her tricks. Maybe that could even reassure ponies that they had nothing to fear from these new arrivals. Unfortunately, that didn't quite go as planned. It wasn't just violence that the monsters didn't respond to; they ignored anything Trixie did. Before long, she realized that she wasn't the problem, that they ignored everypony. No, that was too simple an explanation. More like everypony physically didn't exist to them.

The crowd asked for more, and Trixie obliged. Lifting her hat with her horn, she transformed it into a bouquet of flowers. Standing on her hind legs, she pulled the bouquet in and embraced it, hiding the buds with her head. When she lifted her head, the buds were replaced by doves, which flew up into the air before landing on Trixie's head. After resting there as a flock for some time, the doves scattered, revealing that Trixie's hat was intact and now back on her head. The crowd gazed in awe, too stunned to applaud.

Finally, someone clapped, catching Trixie's attention before the rest of the crowd followed suit with hoof stomps. Normally, Trixie would have just lapped up the praise and adoration in her usual smug way, and she still did some of that...but that first applauder stayed in her mind...because he was human. She could only see his face through the crowd, but his face was clearly not that of a pony. She was fascinated by this chance encounter, and also confused as to how no one else had noticed this supposedly mythical creature just sitting in the back of the crowd.

Suddenly, after having apparently moved far enough away from the crowd to avoid notice, he got up and began to leave. Trixie took this as her cue to close up for the night, eager to meet this person. After she had finished packing her supplies and folding her stage, and after the crowd had cleared out, she headed down the hill in the direction the human had left.

She found him sitting on the side of the grassy hill, looking vacantly out to a horizon tinted dark green by the warped sky. He wore a black suit, the edges of the top half lined with gold trim. His silver hair flowed in the wind, a clump of it forming a crest in front of his face that stretched off to his left. The ends of his suit coat covered over a belt, with one loop attached to the outside on his right. Resting in that loop was the handle of a katana, though it bore no blade. His cold blue eyes were filled with bottled up sorrow and regret.

Trixie sat down next to him. "Like the show?" she asked quietly, seeing that the man was in no mood to be treated casually.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," the man replied absently. "It was...nice."

"Nice?" Trixie asked, noting the pause. Was this human insulting her?

"Yeah, I liked it," the man answered. "Made me feel happy for a bit. I'd give anything for that feeling."

"Life is rough?"

"You could say that."

"I could give you a private show, if you want."

"Thanks, but I can't stay."

"Say, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Stalling. Preparing myself. Either works."

"Whatever your job is, it sounds tough," Trixie mentioned. The man chuckled at this, but the laugh was obviously out of pain instead of amusement. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Alex. Alex LaFelle," the man replied.

"Well, Alex, you're welcome to stop by again anytime," Trixie told him. "The Great and Powerful Trixie shall make sure you get in for free." Easy enough. All of her shows were free. Suddenly, she started thinking about charging for admission for once.

"I'd like that," Alex replied with a smile, though his reply was tinged with sorrow. He got on his feet, and turned his gaze back to the horizon. After a long pause, he spoke again.

"I have to meet with a friend of yours soon," he mentioned. This confused Trixie. Trixie has friends?

"She doesn't know it, but she could bring ruin upon Equestria if she continues what she's doing," Alex continued. "I have to convince her to stop, but I doubt she'll listen." He looked to the ground in pain. "If she doesn't...I may have to hurt her."

Trixie reached out to Alex, his pain so great that even she could feel it. "Hey, if you think it's the right thing to do, then do what you have to. I understand."

Alex stared into her eyes for a second, before closing his own in understanding. A smile spread across his face, though sorrow still seeped through his expression. When he opened his eyes, his sorrow and guilt were mixed with determination.

"Thank you, Trixie," he said. "I needed to hear that." All of a sudden, he disappeared in a flash of cold white light. And just like that, he was gone.

Author's Note:

Sorry this chapter took so long. Took forever to sort out the exact events at the palace in my mind. I'll be on track again soon. Also sorry this chapter is so long.