//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Nothing Escapes Death. // Story: The Equestrian Reaper // by Perfectly Insane //------------------------------// Darkness It was more than just all she could see, it was all she could feel. She saw nothing but darkness, she felt nothing but darkness, she couldn’t even feel herself breathing or her own heartbeat. She felt weightless, lifeless, like she didn’t even really exist.  Quite frankly, it was terrifying.  Like a sudden tidal wave, all of her senses came back to her. Her heartbeat in her ears like a drum, she breathed deeply and erratically, not realizing how much she missed being able to breathe until she couldn’t. Her ears were filled with high pitched ringing, unable to hear anything else. The air in wherever she was smelt and tasted dry and stagnant, like a forest during dry season, not having gotten rain in weeks.  Pinkie’s eyes popped open, bloodshot and her pupils constricted as she tried to see where she was. It seemed to be sometime during the night, the only light source was the moon, and it was barely bright enough for her to make out where she was. She seemed to be in an open area in the middle of the woods, a small plot of land where there were no trees. There was grass as far as she could see, but it wasn’t normal grass. It was blood red, a color that was very clearly unnatural and wrong for grass.  The trees didn’t look right either, all the trees were dark black and rotting, having no leaves on them and evidently having been dead for a very long time, but were still standing somehow. Even though there were no leaves on any of the trees, there were some being blown around by the wind, which was strange because Pinkie couldn’t feel any wind at all. The leaves were the same shade of red as the grass, which might have been fine if it were fall, but there was just something about it that felt...off.  She also noticed crows on some of the trees, they didn’t seem different than normal crows. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were watching her, dozens of them standing on the branches of the trees closest to her. She also noticed that even though the moon was out, past the circle of land she found herself, it was just darkness. She couldn’t see into it no matter how hard she tried, and something about it made her too afraid to move closer.  The scariest part was the moon.  She had heard of a blood moon before, but never seen one. Like most of the things here, it was red, but a much darker shade than the leaves and the grass, almost black. It was a full moon, and the light coming from it was normal moonlight. Under it seemed to be red streams of a liquid, the exact color and consistency of blood. She didn’t see anything like that near her, so she couldn’t tell if it was some kind of visual effect, or if that strange liquid was truly on the ground somewhere.  Everything about this place made her uneasy and filled with dread, her very presence here made her feel like something very very bad was going to happen.  She tried to stand up, not even noticing she was on the ground until she tried to move. As soon as she did, some kind of pressure pushed her back down, like the very air itself suddenly gained weight and was stopping her. She grunted as she was back on the ground, her straight hair falling onto some of her face.  *Straight? Why is my hair straight? That only happens when I’m really upset, and that hasn’t happened since the whole thing with the yaks.*   Pinkie could feel that her mane and tail were completely straight, looking back at her body, realizing that it was more than just her hair that was different. The color of her coat was dulled, not to the point of gray, just a much darker shade of pink than usual. What surprised her the most was her cutie mark, while it had the same shape, there was absolutely no color. The blue and yellow balloons had turned dark gray, as if the color itself had been drained.  Her senses also felt off, even if she could see, hear, and smell again, she couldn’t feel anything she was touching. Not the ground she was laying on, or even her own hoof as she touched herself. Her entire sense of equilibrium was thrown off, if she were to try to stand right now, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to stay on her hooves or not.  One of the worst parts about this place was the sound, more specifically, the lack of it. There was no sound of the wind blowing, the trees creaking, or even the crows cawing. She couldn’t hear any other sounds of life in the forest, the only sound was her own heart beating and her breathing. Even as the ringing in her ears began to stop, she found herself missing it a bit as it was at least something else to listen to. The silence was deafening, she felt almost desperate for there to be some kind of other sound.  She closed her eyes as she tried to recall the last thing she remembered, the only way to figure out how to get out of this creepy place was to know how she got in here.  *Let’s see….I remember talking to Fluttershy, and she asked me to come with her into The Everfree to get some plants because Harry was sick. My tail started twitching, meaning something was going to fall. As soon as it did, she walked under a rotting tree, one of the branches about to give out. I didn’t have time to warn her, so I pushed her out of the way. And then…* Her thought process was interrupted as she opened her eyes again, by what sounded like distant...thudding? She couldn’t quite make it out, it was similar to a giant boulder falling off a cliff one after another. She slowly opened her eyes to try to tell where it was coming from, but it echoed throughout the entire forest, making it hard to tell.  As it got closer, she thought she could hear other sounds, but wasn’t sure what they were. One of them sounded like chimes hitting each other, but without the actual noise that came with it, and just the sound of them hitting together. These were lower pitched than that, like whatever was hitting together was extremely dense. There was also something akin to whistling, close to when sharp winds blow through a narrow tunnel. These just added to the mystery, Pinkie couldn’t think of what could possibly be making all these noises.  As the thudding got closer, she saw the trees were shaking in sync with each thud, more than they normally were. It also allowed her to more or less tell the direction of it, it was coming straight in front of her, somewhere deep within the darkness she was scared of. She wasn’t sure why, but as it got closer, the feeling of dread inside of her got stronger, until she could focus on nothing but it.  As soon as the source of the noise came into sight, she had immediately regretted her curiosity at what it was.  It was huge, it had to be the size of a hydra, if not larger. However, it wasn’t in the shape of any creature. In fact, it was pony shaped. It had no skin, no coat, no mane, not even a cutie mark. It was just the skeleton of a pony, the bones were pure white and nothing had rotted away, it looked like it was in extremely good condition. It didn’t have a horn or wings, so she guessed it was an earth pony. She now knew the sound of what she thought were chimes was actually it’s bones as it walked, the whistling was the wind going through it’s ribcage. It didn’t stop walking until it was a few feet in front of her, the thuds of it’s bare hooves hitting the ground strong enough to make her body bounce a little each time. It craned it’s neck downward until it was above her, having no eyes so it’s eye sockets were peering down at her, nothing but absolute darkness behind them. It’s mouth wasn’t in any kind of shape, a blank expression staring back at her.  Pinkie’s mind went empty as she stared at the skeleton pony in front of her, barely able to comprehend what she was looking at. Her ears lowered behind her head and her eyes shrank to pinpricks, her mouth slightly agape as she tried to speak, but no noise came out.  “Interesting, most vomit at the mere sight of me, I should not be surprised you wouldn’t be as fazed by my appearance as most.” It spoke, it’s voice distinctly masculine and deep.  It had no tongue and it’s mouth didn’t move, but she could tell it was speaking. It’s like it was talking directly into her mind. She closed her mouth as she tried to calm down, her mind functioning properly again as thousands of thoughts ran through her head. She had a very strong desire to get up and run away, but something deep inside her told her she wouldn’t get very far.  “W-what,” She swallowed nervously as she tried to speak, finding her throat was suddenly very dry. “Are you?”  It seemed to stare at her for a few moments, her question hanging in the air as it’s dark sockets stared directly into her very soul. “Death.”  “D-death? But…then shouldn’t you have a black coat and a scythe?” Pinkie asked, she tended to talk a lot when she was afraid or nervous, more than she did normally.  “No, those are the agents of death, what you ponies have come to calling Grim Reapers. I am impressed, not many even know of the myth of the Grim Reapers, I thought they were lost to time long ago.”  It was true not many knew the legend of The Grim Reapers, the only reason she knew was because of Twilight’s obsession with collecting books. Whenever she got bored, she’d walk in and grab a book that interested her. One of them was a very large book that held very nearly every myth and legend known to Equestria, she read it out of mindless interest. One of them was The Grim Reapers, skeleton ponies who had a black cloak and a large scythe, who only show up to reap somepony’s soul and sent them to the afterlife after they die.  “Ok...so, they work for you? You’re Death itself?” Pinkie asked, still trying to work out in her mind how she got here and how she was going to get out.  “That is correct. The Reapers send the souls of recently deceased to the afterlife, leaving me to forward their souls to Tartarus or Nirvana. Normally, after the last bits of life have left them, they get sent directly there. In special cases, they get sent here instead. This place is known as Limbo, the void between the afterlife and the living world, a place where you are given a moment’s respite to think back on your life and gather your thoughts.”  “S-special case? Do you mean…” Her blood ran cold as she stopped breathing for a moment, her stomach dropped as she felt her heart cease beating as realization hit her like a train.“I’m dead?”  Death did not respond, his body remained unmoving as he stared at her. He didn’t need to say anything, his silence was answer enough.  “No! I can’t be dead...I just can’t!” Pinkie said as she tried to get up again, the same pressure from before pushing her back to the ground. She lowered her eyes to the ground, refusing to believe what she was hearing. “I still have so many parties to throw! I haven’t gotten married or had cutie patootie little foals! Hay, I haven’t even had my first coltfriend yet! I need to spend more time with my friends, and as The Element of Laughter, I still nee-” She stopped talking for a moment as she realized something, a small triumphant smirk coming onto her face as she looked back up at Death. “That’s right, I’m an Element of Harmony, you have to send me back! The other elements are useless without me, I need to be alive to save Equestria when it needs me!”  Though it’s face didn’t change, she couldn’t help but feel like what she had just said made it upset. The entire forest seemed to get more tense when she spoke, she didn’t even notice the wind stopped blowing.  “Are you familiar with the concept of equality?” It said in a monotone voice, she was sure if it had eyebrows, it’d be scowling at her right then.  “Yeah...it’s when everyone gets treated equally, no matter what race or species they are.” She said hesitantly, her confusion couldn’t be more obvious. “And do you know what the most true form of equality is?”  Pinkie wasn’t sure what answer he was expecting, so she chose the safe one and just shook her head.  “I am the only true form of equality. Good, bad, right or wrong. Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, or alicorn. Griffin, changeling, dragon, yak. These things do not matter, I do not care about who you are or what you’ve done. If your death would save others, or cause the downfall of a country. If you were a rich noble, a petty thief, or a commoner. None of these things make any real difference, how you lived your life is inconsequential. You all die the same, and are all treated the same when your life inevitably ends. The Reapers are merely escorts, they are just there to make sure nothing happens to your soul on it’s venture. I don't know the process of how it is determined where you will go, I am just sent the knowledge of where to take you. I am not the jury, the judge, or the executioner, I just am.”  It’s voice spoke with a very strict sternness, as if it were trying to put the very knowledge of what it was saying directly into her brain. Pinkie’s mind was going faster than it ever had before, trying to figure out if this was all just some dream or elaborate prank. This seemed too real to be a dream, and far too complex to be any kind of prank. Even so, there was something it said that bothered her, something that didn’t line up with what she knew.  “Alicorns? But...the princess’ are immortal, I thought they couldn’t die?” Pinkie asked in a panicked tone of voice, trying to think of any loophole she could. She couldn’t die yet, she was too young and there was still so much she needed to do and ponies she needed to make smile! “They are ageless, yes, but not immortal. Their hearts will never give out from their bodies growing too old, but they can still very much so be killed. As long as there has been life, there has been death. I have been there before they were, and I will be there after. During all of eternity, something will kill them. When that day comes, I will be here to take them to the afterlife, treating them like any other I have escorted before. There is only one thing that will never fall into my grasps, and that is those entities born of concepts. The being you know as Discord is the very concept of chaos, concepts cannot die. This is why I as well cannot die, I was born from the very concept of Death, so I will always be.”  Pinkie began to hyperventilate as it’s words reverberated throughout her mind, forcing her to come to terms with the truth. She was dead, this was no prank or dream, this was reality. She could feel tears in the corners of her eyes, unable to stop her heartbeat from getting faster and get her breathing under control. If she wasn’t already dead, she’d be worried about having a heart attack.  “However, you are a special case even among special cases. You may be the most interesting pony that has ever existed, certainly the most unique.” It said as it further lowered it’s head, it’s neck creaking and cracking like a falling tree as it came face to face with her. “You were meant to die many years ago, and many times after that. Yet, you lived for so long. Preventing not only your own death multiple times, but the deaths of many others. Your ability to see into the future, even if just by a few seconds, is nothing that has ever existed before you. It is new, and when you are as old as I am, you do not see new often. This may be a once in an existence opportunity, so I am willing to give you an offer no one before you has ever gotten, not even the princess’ will get such treatment when they unavoidably pass. But you may not want it, and as disappointing as it would be for you to turn it down, I must still give you the choice.”  Pinkie’s breathing began to slow down, her ears flicking slightly like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “A...choice?”  “As you know, there are special places reserved in Tartarus for certain individuals, like Tirek. I do not make these judgments, I simply carry them through. What most do not know, is the same applies to Nirvana. For you and your friends, who have saved your country and the lives of countless others multiple times, there are places reserved for you and them there, with very little you could do to get them taken away from you. If you choose this, I will take you there like the many before you, and you will have passed on.”  Pinkie hung on every word he said, remaining silent as she debated with herself at what to do. Yes, what he was saying sounded really nice. But it couldn’t have been better than being with her friends and throwing parties, there was no way. If there was another option that included her living again, she had to take it.  “What’s the other option?”  While it’s entire body stayed still, and it might have just been her imagination, she could have sworn she saw its mouth curve into a slight smile.  “I will make you into a Grim Reaper.