//------------------------------//
// Discovered 
// Story: The Truth about Reapers 
// by MineLittleDashie 
//------------------------------//

*whoosh*

I stood up and wiped the sweat from my forehead as the siren in front of me was cut in half and dissolved into smoke.

I looked up at the giant scoreboard floating in the starry night sky. 

"Seventy-eight." I said, as another tally mark appeared on the board.

I retracted my scythe and sat down on a bench that I had willed into existence.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Seventy-eight already, huh? I wonder what I did to get this many."

Most reapers killed only forty or so monsters before they died, retired, or changed. I was one of the only reapers I knew of to continue active service after forty kills. Really, most of the time monsters only fight each other, and we let them do it, but on the occasions when normal humans are involved, well...

Reapers are like humans in the idea that a stressful job is bad, and what's more stressful than fighting monsters? Any reaper who has killed forty or more monsters usually considers themselves to have seen too much action and will act accordingly.

Dying and retiring are simple enough concepts, but changing is something different completely. You see, there are some reapers who don't like this life. They try to get simple, safe jobs like receptionist, equipment adjuster, maybe even a doctor; but even then they might not be satisfied.

You see, we are born reapers, but there is a procedure that will take away our superhuman abilities, replace our memories with a false past, and turn us human.

But I'd never take that option. Too boring for me.

My thoughts were disturbed by a noise. A quiet, faint whispering sound, but a sound none the less.

Normally this wouldn't have bothered me much, except for the fact that this noise was foreign to my mind, and if this whole scenario was in your dreams, then you'd be twice as concerned.

I slipped into an alleyway and watched the street. Eventually, the sound disappeared, only to be replaced with a more familiar sound. The sound of hoof steps.

After a few moments, the hooves stopped,

"Come out! We know thou art here somewhere!"

I was stunned for a second. Who was this? Then I remembered something very important.

'Crap! I can't believe I actually went to sleep! I have to be some kind of moron to forget about her existence!'

"There is not any use hiding! We can sense your energies, strange and foreign as they may be!"

The speed of the hoof beats suddenly increased, and the sounds of the searcher were suddenly closer.

'Crap!'

I had been caught off guard, but succeeded in jumping onto the roof of the building behind me just as my pursuer reached the alleyway.

"AHA! Huh?"

I didn't waste any time and soon found myself leaping from one building to the next.

'How could I be so stupid?! How? How? How?!'

My mental scolding was interrupted as I picked up the sound of flapping. I glanced behind me to see the one and only lunar princess of Equestria hot on my metaphorical tail.

"Halt! We command thee to stop and relinquish thyself to us!"

'Damn, she's getting too close! I need to buy myself some time!'

I began to concentrate, shaping the energy that was collecting in the palm of my hand.

I didn't really want to use any of that power yet, but I was dealing with the alicorn of dreams in her natural environment, so.......

I waited a few minutes, listening to my pursuer get closer and closer. When I felt she had gotten close enough, I turned and threw out my arm, releasing the ball of dark energy that I had been holding.

What would've normally happened was that the ball would expand into a large net, entangling the princess and allowing me to escape. However, I was not aware that she had been in the process of casting a spell of her own, and when I had thrown my sphere, it made direct contact with Luna's magic encased horn. The results were, to say the least, catastrophic.

My dream was blown apart like a house of cards and everything went black.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I "awoke" in a large hallway. From the decorations, I would say that it was the house of a noble, or someone very rich and/or respected.

If I were anyone else, I might've stayed and looked at all the portraits and decorations, but years of training had taught me that 'If you ever wake up in an unfamiliar place, immediately begin looking for an exit.'

I probably spent a good couple of hours searching before I found any sign of life, and even then I wasn't sure if what I saw could be considered living.

I had stumbled across a large, grand hall sort of room. Training taking over once again, I identified three different sets of doors. The first two were large and grand, set on opposite sides of the hall. The third set were the doors I had just entered, but they were smaller and more plain than the other two.

In the middle sat two cushioned stools. One was a dark blue with a picture of a full moon in the middle of the cushion and was covered with a starry pattern.. The second one was black, had no stars, and instead of a full moon, it showed what appeared to be a solar eclipse. Between the two stools sat a rather large chessboard, each side measuring approximately 1 meter long. 

The chess pieces were equally unusual. First of all, the top of each piece was designed like a pony head, so the only way to tell each piece apart was by what sort of hat lay on the head. (Crown, helmet, etc...) What, really caught my attention though, were the expressions on the pieces. The white set had a peaceful look, with the eyes closed and a small smile, while the black set had eyes open in fear and a mouth set in a silent scream.

"What sort of a place have I wandered into?" I thought to myself.

I might've examined the room closer, had I not been distracted by the sound of a door opening.

Instinct taking over, I leapt to the side and dove behind one of the pillars that ringed the room.

I waited for my breathing to settle, before peering out to catch a glance at what could be the owner of this house.

What I saw was not at all what I had expected. Through the doors on the right, nearest the black chess pieces, drifted a dark blue trail of....something. It was too graceful for smoke, but had no form like a spirit would. I guess one might call it a trail of, magic?

The magic drifted over to the chessboard and sat itself on the black stool where it seemed to hunch down, as if getting comfortable.

But it didn't stay there. 

Almost immediately it straightened, while the upper tip seemed to scan the room. Then, without warning, the being slipped off the stool, and began to snake its way towards me!

I pulled my head back until I was flat against the pillar. How had it sensed me?

Slowly, I closed my eyes and held my breath, before silently and calmly releasing it. My hand reached for my holstered scythe.

'If I'm going to die today, I'm gonna give that thing one hellava fight before I go.'

Despite the creature being able to float, I could hear it coming closer. But as the creature closed proximity, I noticed something else that seemed to be growing.

Fear.

This was impossible. I had never been afraid.....of anything. Why was I scared of this little thing?

I glanced to my right and saw the shadow of the creature begin to appear around the side of the pillar. I had raised my hand to strike when suddenly, the doors on the other side of the room blew open.

"We ARE HERE, SO LET US PLAY!"

The 'smoke' jerked its 'head' up then shot back to its stool.

I relaxed my arm and breathed a silent sigh of relief. But that voice sounded familiar.

I peered from my hiding place again, and sure enough, there was Princess Luna. She had taken a seat on the opposite side of the chessboard from the smoke. So on the side with the white pieces, if you didn't remember.

The princess appeared frustrated, possibly from our chase earlier?

Without another word, the game began. Luna moved first, then the smoke and so on. 

I watched carefully. There was something more to this game than met the eye.

My suspicions were confirmed as the game progressed. Every time Luna captured a black piece, the smoke being began to fade, but by the same token, every time The smoke captured one of Luna's white pieces, the princess of the night began to fade and the smoke began to develop a shape similar to that of an alicorn. 

Over thirty minutes had passed since the start of the game, and Luna appeared to be getting the worst of it. She was halfway gone now, and her face and mane were drenched with sweat. Meanwhile, the smoke had taken on a more recognizable shape. It appeared as a black alicorn with dark blue armor, and had sharper teeth than other ponies.

"T-Thou shall not w-win..." Panted Luna, her fading away seemed to also be draining her powers.

"Oh, but this time I shall," the black alicorn gloated. "Look at yourself. Almost too tired to move your pieces."

"We still have strength enough to keep you at bay." Luna growled, moving another piece.

"Barely, and once you're out, It will be a piece of cake for me to repossess this body!"

'Hm....seems like we've got some kind of a spiritual power struggle here. I thought to myself. 'Where's an exorcist when you need one?'

All joking aside, I knew a potential bad-to-worse situation when I saw one, and this was one of the most obvious examples yet. I didn't know who Luna was fighting, but based on their current conversation I would guess that she was worse news than Luna.

I might've continued to analyze the situation and search for a way to help without giving myself away, which probably would've been impossible, had the black alicorn's next words not made me freeze in place.

"Hah! You claim to still have strength, but it's so obvious that you're weakened. Why, you can't even sense an unexpected guest in your own dream plane."

"What is this nonsense?! exclaimed Luna, seemingly thrown by the somewhat ridiculous claim.

The black alicorn smirked. "They've been behind that pillar the whole time. I almost saw them, but you entered and distracted me with our game."

She then called out towards me. "Come now, show yourself. If you're hiding from myself or Luna, I promise that neither of us can hurt you currently."

I was tempted to remain in place, but my position had been revealed. It would be a blunder on my part to keep myself hidden and possibly annoy these clearly more powerful beings.

And so, silently cursing myself for my lack of cautiousness, I stepped out from my place of hiding, but not before conjuring up an item (I'm still in a dream) to aid me. 

"You!" Luna exclaimed upon seeing me. "How did thou get here?"

She was clearly angry, and I didn't blame her. First she was chasing me and probably got thrown off from my attack, then came here and struggled against her evil counterpart, and now here I was again in her own dream plane, as if mocking her.

"My, I wasn't expecting someone so...ominous." 

The black alicorn's comment wasn't uncalled for. The item I had conjured up had been a skeletal mask that covered practically the entire front half of my head. It did look somewhat creepy. (Sometimes stereotypes are the only things you can think of.)

"Perhaps," I said, the mask muffling my voice somewhat. "But I have a feeling you know what I am."

"Luna swallowed silently while the black alicorn's smirk widened.

"Naturally. It's been a long time  since I've seen a Grim Reaper."

I frowned behind the mask and nod in Luna's direction.

"Well, you know who she is and both of you obviously know what I am, but I only know one of you. Might I get a name from one such as yourself?"

The black alicorn stared at me, as if she were studying a specimen. 

"Very well," she said. "You may call me Nightmare Moon."