Black as Night (Edited)
What is underneath your fur?
Skin...
What is underneath your skin?
Fat…
What’s under you fat?
Muscle…
What’s under your muscle?
Bones…
And my good fellow, which part of that truly makes pony who they are?
-King Somber the IV.
__________________________________________________________________________
His hooves clicked on the side of the cobblestones, calmly ignoring the fast paced soldiers and civilians racing around him. He was no part of this War. Sombra wasn’t his concern. The once wise and prosperous king was a goner to him. Celestia and Luna were mere conquerors. He didn’t favor Equis, nor Crystal. Gold and gems meant little to him. His job was but to collect, and there was a lot of collecting to do.
__________________________________________________________________________
Some call her mercy, others call her Demon. Her job didn’t need names though. She would always find them, no matter what technology, what grace, what skill, or magic they wielded. Even Starswirl the Great yielded to her. Though times were slow and nothing exciting was happening, she’d always need to be somewhere. So she trotted along, hooves clicking on the side of the cobblestones.
__________________________________________________________________________
The fools! They were all FOOLS to dare… To dare even laugh. She wasn’t some half-assed trick to be shaken off! But they’d pay. They always do. No one escapes her. Even as the slowest crawl, she’d find them. And how they would beg for more time. More Time! More Time! More Time! You’re not the only pony who wished they had more time! She instinctively reached for a locket she kept around her cloak, checking to see if it was still there. Shying in relief that her prized possession, the ashes of her daughter, still remained close to herself. But this was no time to wait, there was another beggar, cheater, scammer, or weeper to find. With a push, she slowly trotted along, hooves clicking on the sides of the cobblestones.
__________________________________________________________________________
Twilight shot up, eyes bloodshot. The clock read 5:00am. She gave out a heavy sigh. What is with these nightmares? For the last week, her dreams had been plagued by various mysterious figures, all dressed in a pitch black cloak. She had yet to visit any of her friends, out of fear of them just pushing it off as stress.
Twilight silently groaned as she stretched her wings in the air. She slipped out of her bed and began to climb down the stairs, each step making a soft creak as her hooves pressed against the hardwood. Twilight rubbed her eyes as she turned on the light in the kitchen, squinting at the sudden light.
Twilight grabbed a cup from the her drawer and the bottle of milk from her fridge. Lighting up her horn, she popped the cap and filled the glass. Her horn lit up for a second time and she levitated the glass up to her mouth, letting the sweet liquid sooth her troubled soul. Twilight had gotten used to this routine ever since her coronation. When the nightmares began. She silently thought to herself.
__________________________________________________________________________
A forest. She thought, trotting around. Not the worst, but yet, still boring. She began to take a step but couldn’t lift her hooves. She looked up to see a figure dressed in a plain black robe appear out of the forest. She cringed. “Who are you?” She stammered to the ever approaching figure.
“Twilight Sparkle,” The figure loomed in front of her and took off her hood, “I would expect that you, out of all of Equestria, would recognize me.”
“Sorry, Princess,” She sighed, “I’ve just been having nightmares recently.”
“I know of your predicaments, dear friend,” Luna’s voice turning soft. She stretched a wing over Twilight. “I fear even our gifts could not banish them away.” She almost whispered the next part. “I fear for your safety. Nopony has ever been able to cast me to the side in my realm before, not since Discord…”
The purple mare involuntarily shivered at the name. Even if he was reformed, she still quivered at his name. Twilight had not forgotten the time she and her friends had been ‘discorded.’
The navy blue alicorn continued, “Celestia and I have already contacted him, yet he claims to have no presence in the matter.”
The moon in her dream dropped below the horizon with a sudden shift of light. Twilight turned her head to her side to see that Luna had disappeared; the dream turning pitch black.
A noise sounded from the brush. It was a distinct click. A slow and deliberate metronome beating on cobblestone. Everything was silent in her dream, except the click. It ringed through her head and echoed throughout her mind.
“My, my,” a voice began, “I am hurt; you think of me as no more than a nightmare? I remember a particular nightmare that you now call a friend. Is all the ‘magic of friendship’ just a gimmick for Princess Celestia? Is it nothing more than an extermination device for the sinners?” The voice muttered.
“Wh-who are you?” Twilight squeaked.
“Oh, what? The Princess didn’t tell you about me?” The voice snapped, “of course not, its too grim for a peace-filled pony paradise.” The voice chuckled at the last bit. “Well, I’m going to ask you some questions; each one should lead you closer to your answer.”
“O-ok then.”
The figure stepped out of the shadows, clad in a simple cloak hiding all of his body, even his muzzle. “Number 1,” the voice began, “Who are you?”
“Um… Twilight Star Sparkle?”
“Good, good.” The pony began to circle around Twilight, his tail brushing against her coat. “Question 2: What are you?”
“An Alicorn?” Twilight shivered as she felt the cold tail.
“More detail please.”
“The P-princess of the s-stars?”
“Now who told you that?” The pony had stopped and stared at her with his yellow and red eyes.
“Princess Celestia.” The purple mare was more confused than ever. What is it getting at?
“Well, my dear Twilight,” he smiled, “who has been controlling the stars for thousands of years?”
“Princess Luna.” She answered.
“She’s done quite a good job with that don’t you think?”
“I-i guess so.”
“If Luna’s been doing such a great job, why would they need another alicorn?”
“I-i… don’t know… maybe she... got tired?” Twilight suggested.
“Why, my dear Twilight, that would be impossible for her. Every part of nature has a spirit to represent itself, even chaos does. Nothing can change that, even the spirits themselves.”
“How-w do you know so much about them?”
“Well, you manage to pick up some information from spending three hundred years with my occupation,” he chuckled. “Nature is the beginning, the middle, and of course, the end. The one of them, the most ironic for the longest of time, hasn’t had a permanent holder. At least until a week ago. Connect the dots, my dear, for I will be seeing you soon… ” With the final words, he turned and began walking again. His hooves clicking against the cobblestone path as he faded into the darkness, leaving Twilight alone to ponder what just happened before she, too, disappeared.
______________________________________________________________________________
Her eyes cracked open as she yawned and began her morning routine. Shower, mane, breakfast, checklist, tiara. She marked off her mental checklist for her morning. She didn’t even have to open her eyes for it, it was just engraved into her memory like the top of her horn. Now time to make a checklist of what I need to- She paused. Oh never mind, its not like it ever gets done anyways.
As Twilight made her way down the stairs, something felt off. She slowed her trot down, listening to an uneven clop as he put her leg hoof down. Slowly, she peered down and quickly, her eyes shot back up. She rushed over to the bathroom door, slamming the oak shut with a bang.
She might have screamed, had there been pain, but instead it was an all too pleasant feeling. It sent a chill down her spine and yet it felt refreshing. It was soothing, and scary. It felt like a weight was being lifted off her shoulders, all the stress and pain disappearing. It filled her with horror and dread, but filled her with comfort, like a voice was saying this out be alright.
Even now, as it slowly spread up her leg and to her body, she could hear a voice or two or three or… hundreds assuring her it would be alright. Her eyes grew tired and she stifled a yawn. Slowly, reluctantly, she rested her head on her hooves, letting the warmth course through her ever changing body. And the voices, the sweet, harmonic voice, comforted the scared filly, bringing her a calm and restful sleep… the first since her ascension.
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Whatever you do, do not stop with this story. Please?
3190536
O.k. I'll try!
Great job, I love the concept and the execution is fantastic
3190636
Thank you very much!
Twilight sparkle: Ghost Rider. Starring Nicholas Cage.
so twilight is the alicorn of death?
if yes then it is of most importance that she speaks in CAPITAL LETTERS.
3190636 The execution. You're so punny
Well that was abrupt. I realize the desire to get to the 'meat' of a story quickly but here it was a bit quicker then perhaps it should have been. Why would she need to physically change to suit her powers? She should already represent her powers I would think. Also, isn't she the Princess of Magic - her special talent? Why would she be in charge of death? Why'd she check the thermostat, why would that of all things be part of her routine?
It's not bad but those are some of the questions going through my head. I would have liked a longer 'pre-change' section dealing more with her growing concern about what Celestia said (and maybe more dreams to convince her of this), a bit more characterization of her-as-death before she knows it, maybe a change in thought processes to be more fatalistic - that's a bit OOC for Twi though. Something though, something that shows this isn't just 'author's will' to make it happen, something that shows it IS what she is supposed to do. Again, while it's not a BAD idea at all, you'll have to explain why she's the Princess of Death and why she suddenly changed into the Grim Pony. I suppose that last one is easily explained as 'growing into her powers' or something but it doesn't feel like it was set up for that with the extremely sudden change.
All in all, I'm neutral to this.
3193214
Go sit in the corner and think about what you did.
3194611
fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/145/a/9/nicholas_cage_troll_face_png_by_nfc_by_ninetailsfoxchan-d510lm7.png
3194585
While most (or all, for that matter
) of your statements are true, Twilight's last 2 weeks I hope to reflect on later on in the story. About the Princess of Magic though, I would like to note the Alt. Universe tab on it..o and yes, the last sentence is from about 10 different authors saying the same to me. 
So from them to me to you, there is an alt. universe tag. 
3195212
shrug
Still need to explain it - alt. u means you can change things but it doesn't mean you can just change them willy-nilly. They need an explanation that's better then 'author's prerogative' or you'll get people bitching. Trust me, it happens to me all the time.
And I got two notifications you replied to me but ... oh. Ohhhhh. Uh.
Good luck.
I want to read more of this?
I am quite intrigued by the story thus far. I do hope you come out with more soon.
This is a very interesting story, I hope you update it soon.
3214899
I'll try to write it in two weeks, I'm still getting used to college, so I make no promises as I do want it to be good.
3215661 Take your time. I know from experience just how hectic the first few weeks of collage can be. I would much prefer to be patient, and get a good chapter, rather then getting a quick chapter that's rushed, and full of mistakes.
A good story is ALWAYS worth waiting for.
3215883
How ironic, the one who will force others to wait is the one of them for about 15 other stories... I'm typing on my phone at the moment so no emotes for me... *sad face*
There was a story, wherein Rainbow Dash became the embodiment of death, and had to send Applejack off to the great beyond, after she was killed in a cart accident.