Chapter 2: Requiem
“No way...” Rainbow Dash could not believe what was happening. And who could blame her? At first, she met her long lost childhood friend where she least expected to. Then he demonstrated the ability to walk through the others like some sort of an incorporeal ghost. And after that, he revealed his full name that nopony ever knew he had, “You... are Grim Reaper? As in... the Grim Reaper?!”
“Yes... and no,” his reply didn’t bring any clarity to Rainbow Dash’s rising thoughts, “I am no god, no eternal being... not even an alicorn. But I am blessed with the powers of Death... and it is my duty to unleash them only when it’s absolutely necessary.”
The gears inside Rainbow’s head were slowly beginning to connect.
“Your wings... is that why you kept them closed all of that time? Even as a foal...?” she asked, her voice beginning to shake. When he replied with a single nod, she had realised it all. The thoughts about what it was like to know that you can fly, but willingly become what had always been considered a shame to the pegasus race just to fulfill the duty and keep the powers of Death under control... and all of that while being just a foal... It was not long before she had let her tears run freely from her eyes, unable to hold them back.
“This is why I have chosen the long way to get here. I hoped that the need for my powers on the front line will pass. But... it looks like that’s just not meant to be,” his reply had earned a silent nod from the mare who were still trying to fight back the tears, “I’m going to put an end to this war. Today. May I ask for a favour from my childhood friend?” he asked, to which Rainbow was eager to reply.
“Anything!”
“Tell everyone to hold the line... but not to move forward,” the dark pegasus said, resuming his walk towards the front line. In just one skillful move he pulled his grim sickles out, discarded his backpacks and fastened the sickles on his back. They seemed to remain there, held by some unseen force, “Death comes to the front line.”
The battle was as heated as it always was. The fierce attacks of King Sombra’s army, the desparate resistance of Equestrian bravest warriors... It was like nothing ever changed there. Not until a mysterious dark figure had appeared among the fighting ponies. It had caused a small pause as neither side knew who that pony was. The stallion had slowly stood up on his hind legs, his forehooves took two darkly-designed sickles that he kept on his back. Without saying a word, he disappeared.
A mere moment later he was already behind a couple of heavily-armored crystal ponies. Everypony’s eyes followed him there, a few surprised gasps could be heard on an unusually quiet battlefield. Only those two crystal ponies remained motionless... before their heads fell off. An unleashed fountain of fresh blood was quick to follow that scene, as their bodies soon had joined their heads on the ground. A few screams of terror came from Equestrian ponies: even though the battles there were serious and intense, there was no killing... It was mostly about getting a mind-controlling helmet off of the crystal ponies’ heads, or getting captured and having it secured on yours. A few ponies had fainted at the gruesome sight, a few others had lost their lunch. The mindless army, however, did not lose time. Having switched their priorities, the enslaved ponies had surrounded the mysterious figure, viewing him as the main threat at the moment.
The dark pegasus spread his wings and took to the air, dramatically crossing his sickles on the chest. At that exact moment, a strange fog had broken free from underneath his wings, filling the area around him. The crystal ponies took a defensive stance when the fog surrounded them, but soon a strange combination of moans and screams had filled the air. Equestrian ponies watched in horror as the bodies of King Sombra’s soldiers were quickly decaying alive, helplessly thrashing around, no longer understanding what was going on... An even bigger horror filled the brave warriors’ hearts as they witnessed the souls leaving the crystal ponies’ bodies, getting sucked into that mysterious pegasus while the fresh, yet completely rotten corpses were falling on the ground. And yet... the dark figure looked like he had only begun. Spreading his wings further, he unleashed the weird fog upon the crystal ponies, directing it strictly forward. By that time, it was clear: that was no regular fog, but a death shroud. A portion of it seemed to form some shape from his every feather, creating a ghostly extension of his wings. And the larger those ghostly wings were becoming, the more intense the Death Shroud attack was getting. The mindless slaves simply did not have enough time to react, and the fate of those who got caught in it was sealed. Their bodies decayed just like the ones of those before them, their souls getting ripped from them. The fog was like a river... the River of Death, and the souls were drowning in it, hopelessly thrashing around, screaming and trying to break free, much to the rising horror of the Equestrian warriors. The sounds of screaming, moaning, the blowing winds of Death Shroud, the thumps of falling corpses... they all have come together into the one dark... wicked symphony of Death that was dominating the battlefield.
“Attention!” the voice had called from the skies, shaking the horrified warriors out of their trance, “Everypony, hold the line! Not a single pony gets through, not a single pony moves past the line. Not a step back, but also not a single step forward!”
It was the voice of Rainbow Dash, the respected and feared captain, known for her bravery on the battlefield and loyalty to Equestria. Yet, the power of fear was taking hold on the hearts of Equestrian soldiers. Noticing that, she yelled in a hope to snap them out of it.
“THAT’S AN ORDER!!!”
At that phrase, the military reflexes had taken hold of their minds, causing them all to salute and reply in unison.
“Mam! Yes, mam!”
Satisfied with the result, she returned her attention to the dark figure of Grim Reaper. Even she had a hard time believing what she was witnessing, but she had to stay strong for her fellow warriors, to give them a boost of bravery. A familiar voice had shaken her out of those thoughts.
“Captain Rainbow Dash!” it was the voice of another pegasus captain, who was flying towards her. After getting close enough, the orange mare had stopped, and both had saluted to each other.
“Captain Spitfire!” Rainbow relpied, already anticipating the upcoming question.
“What’s going on here?” the mare asked, looking around and then focusing her attention on the gruesome scene on the battlefield beneath them.
“It’s a long story...” the rainbow-mane pegasus replied, earning a raising brow from Spitfire.
“I’m all ears,” she insisted.
“And I would very much like to hear it as well,” voice from above them had joined in, causing both mares to raise their heads.
“Princess Celestia!” they said in unison, immediately saluting to their superior.
“At ease, both of you,” she had commanded, knowing there was no time for formalities. She then turned to the cyan mare, “So, Captain, what kind of story do you have for us?”
After taking a few moments looking away and a rather deep breath, Rainbow Dash had openned her mouth to reply.
The grim sickles cut through the heavy black armor of crystal slaves with ease, separating their heads from their bodies, cutting some of them in half, sometimes landing a strike at the very heart. More and more of them were suffering a gruesome fate. Death came to take their souls, to make their bodies rot, and... to free them from King Sombra’s grasp once and for all. And some of those souls happened to realise that, to understand what was going on... Such souls fell silent, patiently waiting for whatever would come next for them as more and more of their enslaved friends were forced to join them. Their falling bodies, cut, decayed and deformed... were no longer a property of their dark King. The Death itself had taken hold on them. And none of the souls could tell what plans it had in mind... until one had gathered the bravery to ask.
“To end the war, to bring down the dark king,” the deep voice of the reaper had answered, getting the attention of the rest of the souls he had collected so far. The thought of bringing down their enslaver had shaken them out of whatever trance they were in after going through the agony of their last moments. The mysterious pegasus kept moving forward, like an unstoppable... primordial force he represented. No one could stop him... no one could stop Death. Having their King’s orders, the mindless slaves tried their best to attack the dark figure, but all who tried perished, having their souls freed from their sad life. That kept happening, the gruesome display repeating itself over and over again... until one dark figure had finally met another.
“Who are you?” King Sombra asked. Judging by his face and the tone of his voice he was rather irritated by losing so many of his slaves so quickly. The mysterious figure did not reply to his question. Instead, he simply moved forward to him, preparing for an attack. The dark king raised his defences, summoning the dark magic. He decided to attack first.
In the mere seconds, the large and sharp black crystals had risen on the battlefield, devastating the area, leaving no escape. A wicked smile appeared on the dark mage’s face, but before he had any time for an evil laugh, his eyes had caught the sight that he didn’t expect to see: the mysterious pegasus was phasing through the crystals, completely unharmed. And, as if it wasn’t enough on it’s own, the deadly shroud was surrounding him. The master of terror had found himself completely aghast at witnessing the souls of his former subjects staring at him from that thick gray fog.
After getting over the initial surprise, he had collected himself, getting more and more irritated at the unknown force he was facing. Clenching his teeth together, he suppressed a deep growl and began to gather his dark powers, switching his physical attacks that appeared to be completely useless against that creature to the magical ones. As his horn gathered enough of the dark energy, he fired the black beam at Grim Reaper and hit... nothing. The mysterious pegasus was already not there. He turned his head, quickly looking around and trying to find the dangerous being. It was only thanks to his dark powers that he was able to sense the mysterious force approaching him from below, and jumped off the crystal the mere moments before the reaper phased through it, swinging his sickle.
He had a hard time understanding what exactly he was facing. It was as if Death itself had come for him... The notes of fear began to play a quiet tune in his black heart, for the first time in a thousand years. Grim Reaper didn’t waste time, launching the other melee attack at the dark king. He blocked it by raising a crystal, and moved away when the sickle had broken through. It was his turn, and he fired another black beam at the mysterious pegasus, only for him to block it by crossing his sickles on it’s path. Slowly but surely, the dark figure was moving closer and closer to King Sombra, while still blocking his magical attack. Seeing that it was to no avail, the tyrant had changed tactics, quickly casting a spell and taking his massive shadow form, becoming completely immune to any sort of a physical attack.
Grim Reaper was fast to react, taking to the skies and unleashing a massive cloud of Death Shroud, which was quick to match the size of Sombra’s shadow. Those two massive and ghostly shapes began to push against one another, both were trying to reach into the very essence of the caster and bring him down. And yet... none of them seemed to be making any progress... until the sudden ray of sunlight stroke from the heavens, dispelling the shadows and returning King Sombra to his physical form.
“Damned sunny bitch!” he growled and was quick to get back on his legs, preparing for another attack when the Death Shroud had enveloped him. Since the dark magic had given him some power over his own death, he called upon it, protecting his body from decaying, but against such a fierce onslaught of the fog, it took all he had just to keep his defences up. Through the fog he couldn’t see where the reaper was, until...
“You may finally be free,” the deep voice called from behind the Shadow King. He didn’t have the time to even turn his head.
The dark sickles had sliced through his body.
Coming next...
“Epilogue: Legacy”.
Date: 10.06.2017
Grim Reaper’s Requiem:
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... What the fuck... That shit was amazing I mean I don't usually swear but this time I'm gonna make an exception.
Dam that was god damn intense the attack from grim was so OP yet it felt real, so real it looked like something the real grim reaper would do cutting down swarms of crystal ponies slaughtering them while making it seem like a art my death and fighting hunger is sated if this is the start I can't wait for what happens next!!! Keep writing my dude this shit is off the hook!
8221955
Thank you for your comment. I'm really pleased to hear that my story has been enjoyed so much. But I have to disappoint you... the only remaining chapter is the Epilogue. Yet I can tell... you're going to enjoy it.
As for the battle... make sure that you have seen the character Grim had been inspired by.
8221975
Aww last chapter makes me sad... but everything has to end and plus this is the first out of about 50 or more story's on this site which has made me think and feel that the character is real without being too underpowered.
Also I know this is a side note but you know the slender story? Is it going to be updated in the near future because if it is I'm going too look forward to it.
8222169
That's hard to tell... If I suddenly feel like it, then sure! But the truth is... I'm not.