The First Reaper

by SquiggelSquirrel

The Beginning

The Beginning was chaos. Raw, pure, untamed. If there was a “before”, no pony could remember it, or trust the memories they had. It lasted for one eternal moment, unconstrained by mere time. Nightmares preyed on the living who were yet not truly alive, for how can anypony be alive in a time where neither life nor death holds any meaning. Logic was a lie; Sanity was suffering. Everything existed, yet nothing was real.

Yet into this time before time, from everywhere or nowhere or perhaps even beyond, there entered She Who Was Named First.

("Wait — you mean she was the first one with a name, or her name was literally 'First'?”
“Well, there is some debate on that matter.”
“Okay, nevermind.”)

And First, Her Law, on the world, she wrote
And First, by Her Word, the Chaos she smote
That dark would ever be sundered from light
That day would ever be followed by night
That death would ever give meaning to life
That joy would ever take trueness from strife

(“Is this whole thing gonna be a poem?”
…
“Sorry.”)

And from the chaos, First drew Her Guardians, to carry her law. Whether She lacked the strength, or feared the tyranny of absolute rule, none can say, but First left the world, and the guardians watched over in Her stead.

They took many forms, and wielded many magics. Guardians of balance — day and night, life and death, each carried a law. Yet born of chaos, each carried within them a paradox.

Among the guardians, perhaps none was more revered or more feared than one named Prince Eternus. His law was life; His paradox was death. For what is life without change, yet what is change but a death in itself?

Eternus, it is said, was an alicorn stallion of great stature.

(*Snerk*
“Did something amuse you, Miss Plates?”
“No boss, please carry on.”)

His coat was white as fresh driven snow, his mane as black as fresh broken coal, h-

(*Sigh* “Yes, Miss Plates?”
“Did he have a carrot for a nose?”
…
“Sorry, Boss.”)

…His eyes were red as fresh-drawn blood. His cutie-mark, the symbols of yin and yang. Twice the height of any other pony, his feathered wings were larger than carts, his mighty horn tall and curved…

(“Oh really now, Miss Plates, don't think I'm so naïve as to not know what you are thinking. Honestly, I am quite certain you have an entirely dirty mind.”
…
…
“Are you quite finished? Yes? Then I shall continue.”)

Eternus carried on himself the duty of balancing life and death. For centuries, he kept his law to perfection, never swaying, never faltering. He placed his duty before all else, avoiding friends and lovers for fear that they would influence him.

(“Wait, you're saying he never got any, for centuries? That can't be healthy.”)

He considered himself above the other Guardians, who wasted their time on friends and fun. Though the guardians were long-lived, all who lived would someday die, and Eternus himself would be the last, when all other life ended, his duty finally complete.

And so it was, for centuries, that Eternus grew more cold and distant. Fearing that others would corrupt his heart, he let none in to nurture it. Ponies worshipped him, seeking his favour, offering him riches, status, a grand castle and servants. Most, he refused. Some gifts, he accepted, reasoning that they would only enable him to better enact his duties. Believing himself above all others, he was surrounded by ponies who only echoed this belief.

Yet nothing lasts for ever, and on one fateful evening, the Prince's world would begin to change completely.