A reaper is sent to Equestria to combat the multitude of monsters that hide there. However, he must overturn the legends ponies have created about his people, lest he be branded as a monster himself.
Grim Reapers are not what you think they are. I know, because I am one.
None of us look like how you describe us, skull head and black cloak. We look how humans do (though some don't have the fashion sense of one).
And we don't reap human souls either, those go off by themselves. What we do is much more dangerous.
We hunt monsters. Vampires, werewolves, banshees, etc.
They would be here soon. Their kind valued punctuality even more than they valued the night.
I examined the area. As of now, I stood in an alleyway between two eight-story buildings. There was a half moon shining though a partly clouded sky, providing enough light to see by, but not enough that it would banish the shadows and reveal my hiding place.
I would have loved to immerse myself more into the peaceful night, but my attention was drawn to the noise of footsteps on the street. I drew further back into the shadows, watching. Sure enough, several figures came into view. I checked my pocket watch.
'Right on time.'
There were six figures. Five of them wore long black cloaks with hoods, all with the same symbol; a red drop of blood in front of a pentagram. I narrowed my eyes. So it was The Society. Things just got a bit more complicated.
The sixth figure was the one I was most interested in. She was about eight years old and wore a pink hello kitty shirt and a matching pink skirt. She appeared to either be unconscious or sleeping, as she was draped over the shoulder of the tallest figure.
I watched as said figure, probably the leader, gave orders to the others, who then jumped to the tops of the buildings around the street.
'So he means to ambush me, hmm? Need to be careful about this then.'
Silently, I leapt up onto the roof of the building to my right, keeping low to avoid being seen. Sure enough, there was one near the edge of the roof, far enough away that you wouldn't be able to see him from the ground. I took a quick look around, but saw none of the others.
'Time to even the odds.' I thought. I silently approached the figure before me. However, it appears I was not as quiet as I thought, for he swung around and attacked.
Too slow. With one swift movement, my scythe had gone through his head and ended his life. I watched as his body turned to ashes.
One down, four to go. -----------------------------------------------
The second and third figures were too easy. Clearly they had fallen so far out of practice, that they hadn't even heard me approach. The fourth offered a bit more trouble, as she was older, and probably had more experience fighting. She got close to biting me several times during the fight, after which I swore that I would start hitting the gym again.
Finally, it was just tall dark and scary, and me. The former seemed to be getting impatient, so I decided to get down to business. I dropped back down into the alley where I had waited for them, took a moment to compose myself, then stepped out into the street.
His eyes were on me instantly. "You're late." He snarled.
I shrugged. "Can't be that late, can I?"
"You're ten minutes late! Be glad that I didn't cut the deal and leave!" (See what I mean? So punctual.)
"Oh come now! Only ten minutes? Humans would consider that being fashionably late, it's allowed of course."
"Ah, but I'm not human now am I?"
I shrugged again, before dropping my hands and shaking my head slowly. "I will never understand you vampires obsession with being on time."
"It's an honorable thing to do!" He cried.
My face turned serious. "And it's honorable to ambush someone when they come to give you the ransom?"
By the look on his face, I'd caught him off guard. He scanned the rooftops, probably looking for his comrades. Too bad he won't find them. Quietly, he set the girl down on the street, then turned back to me, rage etched on his face.
"How dare you!" He hissed. "There will be no deal!"
"I don't think you have a say in the matter." I said calmly, grabbing my scythe and allowing it to extend to its full length. A 67 inch (5 ft 7 in, for clarification) pole with a 30 inch curved blade, infused with both iron and silver (the two main weaknesses of most monsters).
The vampire hissed at the sight of it. He knew he had to be careful. And considering that the reaper had killed four of his best fighters, he was good. But the vampire's mind was clouded by rage, and he leapt.
I brought my scythe around and, "off with his head!" as the Queen of Hearts would say. I waited a moment, watching the vampire disintegrate into ash, before rushing over to the child and checking her vitals.
'Heart beats fine, breathing is normal' I turned her and examined the skin. 'No breaks in the skin. Now, the final test.' I pressed the flat of my blade against her arm and waited. 'Nothing, that's good. She hasn't been turned.' I sighed in relief, retracted and holstered my blade, then gently picked the girl up before walking away down the dark street. ------------------------------------------------
Empire State Building; 53rd floor; June 5, 2013; 10:00 am
I waited.
I was wearing my usual: a black, button-down shirt with dark gray pants, jacket, and shoes, and to top it all off, a red tie. My scythe, as I had no need of it at the moment, was safely tucked away in its holster as a nine inch sickle. The reason I was here, well, you'll see in a moment.
I looked at the clock. 'Perhaps we could learn something of time management from the vampires after all.' I thought, still waiting.
The sound of footsteps registered in my mind moments before the door opened and my superior, one Arthur Cartwell, entered. He nodded to me, before making his way over to another chair and placed his feet up on the desk at an angle, so that we could see each others faces. (It was his office, he can do what he wants).
Arthur adjusted his wire frame glasses before speaking. "First of all, I must congratulate you on rescuing the young girl last night. Her family asks me to pass on their gratitude." I waved it off. "Second, I'd like to remind you about the promotion test, and I strongly recommend that you take it."
"Why? So I can be stuck behind a desk like you?" I asked, not caring in the least. "Unlike others, I value my freedom."
"That may be..... Look, George..." Arthur rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "You're going to die out there one day, and when you do, we're going to lose one of our best reapers. Also, I'm too old to train your replacement, so please George, for my sake!"
I paused. He's right of course, I'll probably take it a step too far one day, but I'll retire before that happens. "All right, I'll think about it."
He smiled tiredly. "Thank you George. By the way, this came for you." He handed me an envelope, "your next assignment."
I took the envelope and instantly noted the color. Red.
I looked up at my superior. "Urgent?" I asked. He nodded. I tore the envelope and read the letter, my eyebrows getting higher each line I read. Finally, I looked back up at Arthur and whistled. "Urgent and transfer." I said.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, "Where to?" He asked curiously.
I shrugged. "Some place called Equestria."
The reaction was not what I expected. Arthur's face went pale and he let out a gagging noise. If he had been drinking something, I swear he would've spewed like they do in the cartoons.
He snatched the letter from me and read it himself. "Equestria! Are you sure?!" He asked.
"Yeah."
I didn't see what the big deal was. Apparently Arthur had guessed this, because he looked at me and said, in a low voice, "You know nothing of Equestria do you?"
"Nope."
Arthur turned his chair and rummaged around in one of his filing cabinets for a minute, before pulling out a manilla folder. He tossed it onto the desk. "Read up, and expect for the worst." He said, dismissing me with a wave of his hand.
Confused, I took the folder and my letter and left the office, wondering if my day had already come. -----------------------------------------------------
I spent the rest of the day reading the information on Equestria. And what I read wasn't good. Apparently, the ponies who lived there, (I know right?), had the same beliefs about reapers that Earth did, however, they had one thing that Earth didn't have.
Magic. Real magic.
Also, they had two insanely powerful goddess queens, Celestia and Luna, who had taken it upon themselves to rid their world of the reapers. By the time the reapers of Equestria were able to flee that world, over 2/3 of them had been destroyed. The Reaper's Council had declared the place a 'no go zone' for the last few thousand years. So Equestria had gone millennia without reapers of any kind. As a result, monsters had been increasing in population at an incredible rate. Sure, the ponies could keep them somewhat in check, but there were still too many to exterminate completely.
And apparently now, the Council had found my spotless track record and decided, 'Hey, let's do some spring cleaning!'
In other words, I would basically be committing suicide unless I was able to change what ponies thought of my kind.
I re-read the letter, and took notice of a post-it note at the bottom.
I was to gather my things and report at the transport center tomorrow at noon.
I watched the engineers set up the final parts of something that looked suspiciously like the Stargate portal. I was dressed in my usual suit, had my scythe in its holster, and was carrying some necessities in a small satchel.
In a few minutes, I would be teleported to a world, that, until now, had been considered an extreme hazard to reapers. My mission? To help the inhabitants of this world bring the monster population under control. As to not be deceived on arrival, I had been informed that everything looked fine in Equestria. Many of the ponies didn't know about the monsters, as they (the monsters) mostly gathered in the few dark places that existed. However, they were still plentiful.
I wasn't nervous. I was fucking terrified! And not of the monsters, but of the rulers of the ponies, the ones responsible for the reapers leaving that world. They could destroy me with a thought, so I had to make sure I wasn't caught.
"Excuse me."
I snapped out of my thoughts, and turned to face the voice. Beside me stood a short, Asian looking man with a white suit.
"Excuse me." He repeated.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Are you George Douglas? The reaper chosen for this mission?"
"I am. And you are?"
At the confirmation of my name, his face broke out into a smile. "I am Thomas. I am your operator."
I started at his last words. 'Operator?! Oh, he means for the portal.' I reached down and shook his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
He continued to smile. "Are you ready? We will be ready to transport in precisely 3 minutes. Please be ready."
I nodded several times in confirmation. The man nodded back and left. 'What a strange guy.' ------------ Roughly three minutes later, I found myself standing in front of the portal, which, if it really was the stargate, it's a lot smaller than it looked on TV.
Someone whistled at me. I turned around and saw the Asian in the white suit behind some kind of large computer. Once he saw that he had my attention, he smiled.
"You ready? Ready?"
I couldn't help but smile back. "I'm ready, how about you?"
"I was always ready." He said, before punching a few buttons.
There was a flash of light and the portal opened in a whirlpool fashion, starting at the four corners and swirling inward. I took a moment to make sure I still had everything with me, took a deep breath, and stepped into the portal. Instantly my body was gripped in a tingling sensation and I was pulled forward. I had to close my eyes, as all the flashing colors began to make my head hurt. So with nothing else to do, I relaxed and let the mystic forces at work pull me to my destination. --------------------------------------------------
Equestria; Day- ?; Time- ?
As suddenly as it started, it stopped. I cautiously opened an eye, then opened both in disbelief. The place where I stood looked like it had never been touched by war, famine, plague, or monsters for that matter. I know that back on Earth they said the place was deceiving, but this was beyond belief!
I stood on a grassy hill overlooking a field of flowers, the flowers themselves were a mixture of colors, making the field take on the appearance of a masterpiece painting. I could also see where the field ended at a cliff. Past the cliff was a marvalous valley with a river, plants, and with my enhanced eyesight, I could even make out the shapes of non-pony animals. The sun was shining, and there was a slight, cool breeze flowing through the air. If only I had a photographic memory, I would find inner peace everytime I remembered this place. I could stand here and stare at this sight forever.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Once the ringing in my ears had subsided, I ran off in the direction that the scream had come from.
'Man whoever that is had better have a pretty damn good reason for disturbing my moment of peace.' ---------------------------------------------
Thanks to my natural reaper abilities, I was able to arrive at the scene merely seconds after the scream. What I found wasn't good. There was a yellow pony with a pink mane cowering from....... a banshee.
Shit.
I say this because banshees are one of the more difficult creatures to get rid of. Since they rely on their shrieking, which can paralyze someone without proper protection, one must cover the sound of the shrieking with some other kind of noise. I also hate them because I don't like fighting things that can't be killed with a swing of a scythe. Luckily I came prepared.
I reached into my satchel and pulled out my iPod and a pair of earplugs. I shoved the plugs into my ears, then cranked the iPod up to max volume and pushed play. As I was wearing heavy duty earplugs, I couldn't hear the song, but I was told this was the one.
The power struggle between my song and banshee's shrieks seemed to go on forever. (Did I mention that this banshee looked like a pony. Hah, funny.) However, eventually my iPod won out and its sound waves caused the banshee to disperse into nothing but a final resounding shriek. (It's really cool, you should see it sometime). Once I was certain that it was gone for good, I turned off my iPod and removed the earplugs, before turning to face the pony.
The first thing I noticed were the wings. I guess this was a pegasus. Her cutie mark, if I remember correctly, was three butterflies. I don't remember the color of those, but that's not important.
I reached down to calm her, only to have her shrink away from me with a quiet, "Eep!" I paused, confused, before realization set in. She was scared of me! Of course I couldn't blame her for that, but this was not the way to start out my mission! I had to befriend at least a few of the locals, or else it would be good-bye forever.
'God, already screwed up!'
I must have looked so downcast that even the pegasus knew something was wrong. After a moment, she stopped cowering and approached me cautiously.
"Um, excuse me, but may I ask what's wrong? I mean, if that's okay with you." She said, before hiding behind her mane.
I looked at her in surprise before letting out a 'depressed' sigh, "I have a job to do here in Equestria, but I need friends who can keep the locals from being too scared of me."
But on the inside, I was going 'Dawwwwwwwwwwww.'
She looked at me in surprise, and was silent for a moment before speaking. "Oh, s-so you're not going to eat me?"
I shook my head. "If that was the case, I wouldn't have saved you."
"Oh, well, thank you for saving me from that thing." She reached up on her hind legs and gave me a small hug, her head turned upward so I could see her large eyes staring up at me.
I nearly had an aneurism from pure adorableness.
"Oh no, you're bleeding! Here, take one of these!" She said, and pulled a hankechief out of one of her saddlebags. I gratefully accepted the gift. Maybe I had a chance after all.
"Thank you. Now, may I ask how you got caught up with a banshee?" I asked, wiping my nose.
The pegasus looked at me in surprise. "Oh is that what they're called? We just call them screamers."
I nodded thoughtfully. Whatever the natives wanted to call them was fine with me. Might as well learn the local names for everything while I'm here. Make my job easier.
The pegasus, Fluttershy I believe it was, went on to explain how she had been heading back to her home near a place called Ponyville, when she had run into the screamer/banshee. Basically a chance encounter, and a very unfortunate one at that. (For the banshee that is).
We chatted for a bit, I told her that I hunted monsters for a living. (I also had to convince her that I didn't always kill them). She in turn, talked about what she did. Eventually, she got around to talking about her friends back in Ponyville. The one that sounded the most interesting to me was a newly instated alicorn princess by the name of Twilight Sparkle. Since she was new, she might not yet have an opinion on reapers, and might also serve as a valuable ally against the other princesses, who, according to Fluttershy, were still alive. (Damn).
But I still needed an excuse to follow her home. She actually provided one, by asking where I was staying, in case she wanted to visit and hear more of my stories. When I replied that I currently had no lodgings she insisted at my staying at her house. (No, literally. I refused, but she used this creepy stare thing on me! I think that look will be branded at the forefront of my mind forever. Ughh!)
With (literally) no other choice, I accepted, and we both headed down the dirt path. Straight for a place where I hoped to be welcome. ----------------------------------------------
Outskirts of Ponyville; Date- unknown; Time- unknown
Fluttershy and I stood on a hill overlooking Ponyville. It looked like a quaint little town sure enough, but I was still more concerned about the reaction of the inhabitants. I felt my companion lay a comforting hoof on my leg. I smiled at her. If all the ponies were like her, I would have no problem with my job.
Sadly, and somewhat expectantly, this wasn't the case. Upon entering the town, the first pony we came across was a cream colored pony with a mane styled with two different shades of red, who stared at me with huge green eyes, before unleashing a bloodcurdling scream and charged off into town, screaming something about a monster, which was soon picked up by ponies who hadn't even see me yet! (During the whole ordeal, I could have sworn I heard thousands of human voices shouting, "Damn it Roseluck! Shut up!" Strange right?)
But anyway, in almost no time flat, the town looked as if it had been abandoned, leaving just me and Fluttershy alone on the street. We looked around for a sign of anypony who had decided not to barricade themselves in a house, but there was no one.
'Well damn'.
"I'm sorry George." Fluttershy tried to comfort me. "I'm sure they'll warm up to you eventu- Oh dear!"
I looked over at her in confusion, to see her staring at something behind me. Suddenly, she dropped to the ground, and I turned to face the unknown. But I never completed my movement.
Imagine standing with both feet on the ground, then suddenly getting hit by something impossibly fast and getting thrown sideways through several produce stands. Yeah, it hurt.
I stood up, silently swearing, and swung to face my attacker, my hand shooting to the holster at my side. I had been expecting a moth-man, those being the only creatures I knew of that could hit at that speed. What I didn't expect was a cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail. 'Hm, gay? Nah, too stereotypical.' Before I could do anything else though, I heard the sound of more hoof beats. Turning again, I was met with the sight of two earth ponies, a unicorn, and a purple alicorn. Wait, could this have been the princess that Fluttershy had told me about? If it was, I was going to need one hell of an explanation to get me out of this mess.
I nervously watched the ponies approach me, wondering if I should run, or attempt to make peace with them.
"Back away from Fluttershy you monster!" Cried the unicorn. Her slight accent basically screamed nobility.
"Now... Let's not get too hasty now." I said, very aware that my word choice could be my only salvation.
What I didn't expect however, was for my normally quiet companion to go above and beyond the call of duty. My eyesight was instantly blocked by a pair of yellow wings. And though I couldn't see it, I could hear the advancing ponies stop and begin speaking in confusion.
"Fluttershy, get away from it!"
"What in tarnation are ya doin?!
"Girls!" Fluttershy yelled, silencing them instantly. "He is no monster. He is a friend that saved me from a real monster. And if you want him to leave, then I'm leaving with him!"
We were all stunned. Me more or less about the fact that she thought so highly of me.
There was an uncomfortable silence, before it was broken by a single voice. "Very well, but he'll have to come to the library so we can talk."
Fluttershy turned around to face me, her face showing no signs of her earlier anger. "Would that be okay with you George?"
"Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice." I replied, peering around her to look at my welcoming committee. The alicorn had already turned her back to us and was heading further into the town. The other ponies glared at me for a moment, before they also left.
It was late, so Fluttershy and I left town and headed for her house, agreeing that we would see Twilight tomorrow.
When my new place of residence came into view, I stopped and whistled. It was a quiet little cottage situated on top of a hill just beyond a small stream. A fitting place for a mare such as this. However, there was one thing I just couldn't figure out, and that was the insane number of birdhouses surrounding her house.
Upon questioning her about this, I discovered that she served as the animal caretaker for Ponyville. But since not many ponies had pets, she often gave shelter to friendly animals from the wild. Needless to say, I was quite impressed with her claim.
We entered her house, only to find it deserted. Fluttershy seemed confused.
"What happened?" She asked, looking under a blanket. "I normally have lots of animals here. Where did they all go?"
I sighed. "I'm sorry Flutters, it's all my fault."
She looked at me, confused for a second, before seeming to understand.
"Oh, I bet it's because you've been around so many monsters, you must have the scent linger on you."
I shook my head sadly. "No, it's.... It's just that I naturally deter animals. Heck, they're scared to even look at me."
"Oh no, that can't be it. Watch."
Fluttershy had successfully found a bunny and was holding it out towards me.
"Angel, this is George. He's going to be your new friend alright?"
But angel didn't seem too sure. His eyes widened when he saw me, and as Fluttershy brought him closer to me, his expression changed to one of pure terror, as if he had just taken a glimpse into bunny hell. And I didn't blame him. Us reapers have a natural tendency to smell and feel like death. It's one of the things that protects us from some of the more animalistic monsters, like werewolves. Why the ponies couldn't feel it, I don't know.
"Fluttershy." I said, "you should probably stop. Angel doesn't look very comfortable right now."
Fluttershy looked and finally noticed the bunny hyperventilating, before dropping him in shock.
"Oh I'm so sorry-" she started, but that rabbit was gone as soon as he hit the floor. I have never seen an animal move so fast.
Fluttershy looked crestfallen, so I squatted down and looked her in the eyes.
"Look here Fluttershy. If they want to leave, that's fine. But you'll always have my gratitude."
She smiled faintly.
"Now then, where am I sleeping?" I asked cheerfully, trying to take her mind off the animals.
"Oh dear!" The pegasus squeaked. "I forgot that I only have one bed. You can use that if you want to. I mean... If that's okay."
I frowned. "No way. It's your bed after all. I'll just take the couch."
I turned away, when something suddenly shifted in front of me. I found myself staring into a pair of large teal eyes.
'Oh god, not this again!'
"Listen here. I will not be having somepony who saved my life sleep on the couch. Now you will go and sleep in the bed. Is...that...clear?!"
"Y-yes ma'am." I stuttered, turning on my heel and followed my hostess upstairs. ----------------------------------
Fluttershy's house; Midnight
I lay in bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. Despite looking like humans (allowing us to blend in), we don't need to eat or sleep. We can, but we don't need to.
The clock on the bedside table struck midnight, and I shifted out of bed. Making my way downstairs, I nearly smacked my head on a birdcage that was hanging over the steps.
I reached the living room and found the yellow pegasus curled up on the couch. Being very quiet, I picked her up and made my way back up the stairs, making sure to duck as I passed the cage.
Arriving at the bedroom, I cradled my friend with one arm and drew back the bedcovers with the other. Having finished the task, I placed her gently onto the bed, before making my way back downstairs and settling into an armchair.
I closed my eyes and entered a suspended state of slumber. It was a special skill that reapers had developed to survive supposedly mortal wounds long enough to be healed. It also allowed the reaper to be able to wake up at a moments notice. For safety reasons. Also, I still remembered the file on the peeping tom alicorn, Luna. Her ability to look into dreams made actual sleep impossible.
This was the next best thing to pass the time. Now, to wait for morning. --------------------------------------------------
Fluttershy's house; 7:00 a.m
I awoke to the sound of heavy breathing.
My first instinct was to whip out my scythe and scare the hell out of whatever it was, but listening more closely, I could tell that that would be a bad idea. I knew that breathing, and I knew what awaited me on the other side of my eyelids. Hell, I could feel it burning through my eyelids.
'Might as well get this over with.' I thought and opened my eyes.
My body froze on contact. I had never seen them this close before. They were situated about two inches away from my own. I was swallowed by their vastness.
A quiet, calm voice reached my ears.
"George...... Where exactly did I tell you to sleep?"
'Oh God!'
"Hmmm?"
"B-bed." I squeezed out. I noticed only then that both me and the armchair were resting horizontally on the floor, facing up.
"And when I woke up.....do you know where I didn't find you?"
"B-bed."
"Right. So why didn't you stay there?"
I opened and closed my mouth several times, but no sound came out. I thought that would've been the end of me, had we not been interrupted by someone coming in the door.
"Hey Fluttershy, are you.....uh, what's going on?"
Eye contact was broken and we both turned our heads to see a Cyan pegasus staring at us in confusion. With a squeak, Fluttershy jumped off of me and began shuffling nervously.
"Um, hi Rainbow Dash. I was just having a talk with George here."
"Oh....okay. Hey, Twilight wants you two over at her place ASAP." Rainbow Dash said, recovering quickly.
"Oh. Give me a minute to get ready." We watched Fluttershy shoot off upstairs.
I stood up and straightened the chair that had fallen over. Turning around, I encountered the face of Ranibow Dash.
'What is it with ponies and getting in my face.' I wondered.
"Look." She started, but I cut her off.
"I don't know what you have against me, but just to let you know, I don't wish any harm to Ms. Fluttershy. I am merely acting as a guest in her house after saving her life, that's all."
The rainbow maned flyer gaped at me, before narrowing her eyes and giving me a hand (hoof?) motion that clearly meant, 'I'm watching you.'
I sighed and massaged my forehead. This job had better not take too long, cause I don't think I can stand much more of this.
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and I arrived at the edge of town. We could've left earlier, but Fluttershy insisted on getting us breakfast before we left. Although I didn't think the alicorn, (Twilight was it?) would appreciate it. (ASAP and all that).
As we wandered further into the town, I began to notice ponies slowly coming out of their houses to watch. But when I turned my head to look at them, they would quickly duck behind something, so I kept my head down, only glancing at them from the corners of my eyes.
I heard some urgent whispering, before something slammed onto my head, knocking me to the ground. I heard Fluttershy gasp in fear and Rainbow shout something as they both jumped away from me.
Rubbing my head, I looked around to find a grey pegasus with a disheveled yellow mane sitting on my back. I jumped in surprise, pulling myself out from under it, causing the pegasus to tumble to the ground.
Fearful that I may have hurt him/her, I moved back and lifted his/her head.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" I asked worriedly.
After a moment, the pegasus shook its head and picked itself up off the ground. It was then that I noticed the pegasus was wall-eyed.
"I-I'm fine." She stammered when she noticed that I wasn't a pony.
"Derpy, what happened?!" Rainbow Dash cried as she approached us.
"Dunno. Wings must've given out or something. Been feeling pretty tired lately." The mare named Derpy answered, sounding just as confused.
Rainbow Dash wrapped her legs around Derpy's body, before lifting off.
"Well, let's get you home. Fluttershy, I'm trusting you to get your friend here to Twilight's. No detours."
"Alright." The pink-maned pegasus answered quietly. -----
After Rainbow Dash had taken off with Derpy, Fluttershy and I had continued on our way to the library. After a few minutes, my thoughts were interrupted by a quiet voice.
"Um, George. Were you hurt any when Derpy fell on you?"
"Not really. Why do you ask.?"
"Um, well, you just looked like something was wrong. That's all."
"Oh, no Fluttershy. I'm sorry to make you think that. I'm just thinking, that's all."
"What about?"
"Nothing important."
"Oh." ---------------------------------------
Some time later, we found ourselves outside a large tree house. (Haha, get it?..... Oh shut up.)
I was quite surprised when Fluttershy explained to me that Twilight lived here. I also found it kind of ironic that there was a library inside of a tree.
But that could be pondered later. Now was the time for questions to be answered.
I watched nervously as Fluttershy knocked on the door, only for it to opened a moment later by my interrogator herself. She smiled at Fluttershy, glared at me, but let us in without a word. I had to duck under the doorframe because of how small it was.
Once inside, I took a quick look around the place. Most of the lights were off, but reapers have much keener senses than normal humans do, one of which is night vision.
There were bookshelves covering the walls. Each was full of books from bookend to bookend. A flight of stairs sat in the corner, no doubt they led to Twilight's place of residence. A table sat in the middle of the room, with a wooden horse head sitting on top of it.
My attention was grabbed when I felt something prod me. I turned around and saw a desk and chair off to the side. I was poked again, this time in the direction of the two objects.
The meaning clear, I made my way over and sat in the chair, doing my best to slide my legs under the desk.
Suddenly, a bright light shone onto my face, causing me to hiss in pain as my eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden change in the amount of light available.
I angled my face downwards and realized that my hands and feet had been tied to the chair. But when?!
Realization hit me. Right, they had magic here. I forgot about that.
But my thoughts were interrupted once again by a female voice addressing me.
"State your full name."
In reality it was a bit warped, probably to try and scare me, but a reapers hearing is able to separate the actual voice from any disguise tactics.
"George Arthur Douglas." (Nice 'original' name, I still hate my parents for it).
"Why are ya here?"
'Hm? Oh, they're taking turns talking. Trying to confuse me. No matter, I can easily tell who's who.'
"My good friend Fluttershy offered me a place to stay after I saved her life from a banshee, or what you would call a screamer."
There was a bit of murmuring.
"How?"'that ones had too much sugar.'
I sighed. It was like explaining to a first-year reaper.
"You have to drown out the sound of their shrieking with another sound."
"how do we know that you're not a spy?". 'Rainbow'
"Well I must be a pretty bad one since you caught me already."
The questions continued on like this for several minutes, some harder to answer than others, others I was able to answer much quicker. Sometimes I was prodded with something hard if I took too long to answer a question.
Eventually, we came to the question I was waiting for...
"Why did you save Fluttershy?". 'Hm. Think that's the princess.'
"She was being threatened by that monster. It was the thing anyone-"
"anypony!"
"....anypony would do."
There was silence.
I heard hoof beats on the floor, followed by the opening and closing of a door. I could tell that they had left me here, probably deciding on my fate. ------------------------------
Hours(minutes)Later
The door opened again. Hoof beats.
'Ah, the jury has reached a verdict'
"Well Mr. Douglas. We have one more question for you.". 'The posh one clearly.'
"Where did you get such a nice suit?"
........."Uh....... What?"
"Well even if it is a little dark for my taste, it compliments your almost pale skin tone quite nicely."
"Why..... Thank you?"
"Now really, you must tell-"
*Ahem* "Actually, we wanted to know what species you were."
I'm a r-" I stopped. 'Ah crap. Almost gave myself away!' "A human."
The light snapped off and shades went up, once again allowing sunlight to flow into the library. I blinked in confusion as my brain registered the six smiling ponies, one of which was an ecstatic Fluttershy. There was also a small purple and green lizard. A dragon?
"George Arthur Douglas," Twilight spoke up. "We officially welcome you to Ponyville." She used her magic to unbind me, then stuck a foreleg out towards me.
Gingerly, I reached out and shook the appendage. This was followed by introductions and more hoof shakes.
The orange earth pony, Applejack, had a western twang and nearly took my arm off when we shook.
Rarity was the posh white unicorn. She invited me over to her boutique sometime so we could discuss my suit in more detail.
Rainbow Dash shook with me, but glared at me and whispered a promise of decapitation or worse if I hurt any of her friends.
I was then confronted by Madame Sugar-high herself, or Pinkie pie as she was known around these parts. I was left with the feeling of too much sugar just by being by her.
And I was tackled by Fluttershy in a moment of extreme joy.
Once she had been detached from me, I was introduced to Spike, the lizard who was indeed a baby dragon. He apologized for being the one to prod me with the broom handle, which made me start laughing.
Introductions were followed by tea and cookies, and a session of more polite questions. I took turns discussing things with the girls, from Applejacks apple farm (I swore I would stop by), to me setting up an appointment with Rarity for new clothes.
So much for my earlier dread. Now that I thought about it, there was really no way that this could've turned out badly.
Or that could just be my relief talking. -------------------------------------------
It was finally time to head back to Fluttershy's. It had been a great time at the library. I had gotten new friends, who promised to explain my situation to the other inhabitants and get me an official welcome party.
Fluttershy and I said our good-byes and set off down the street in silence, marveling at the sunset as we went.
About half way home, I noticed that Fluttershy had fallen behind. Stopping, I turned around and made my way back to her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, squatting down beside her.
She met my gaze, and I noticed tears in her eyes.
"How long until you leave?" She nearly whispered.
I started in surprise. "What! Why do you ask that?"
She dropped her head and sniffed. "I can tell. You don't like to stay in one place for too long."
I knew exactly where she was headed with this.
"Listen flutters." I spoke calmly. "I'm not going anywhere soon, and I'll stay as long as you want me to."
She looked up again, tears running down her face. "Y-you mean it?"
"Every word." I smiled.
We embraced each other for a moment, before we continued on our way. -------------------------------------------------
I sat in the armchair that I had slept in last night, my fingers laced in concentration.
"Um, George? Are you okay?"
I was startled out of my thoughts by the sound of Fluttershy's voice.
"What? Oh, yes Flutters. I'm fine."
She approached me and lay a hoof on my forehead. "You don't look okay. Are you sick?"
"No." I chuckled warmly. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
"Oh, nothing important."
She moved in front of me, I could tell she was close to using the stare.
"That's what you said earlier." She said dangerously.
"Because it's not." I shouted angrily, causing her to back up quickly, a look of fear on her face.
"Oh, god. I'm sorry flutters. It's late, why don't you get on up into bed?"
"Okay. But if I find that you stayed up all night worrying about something 'not important', then we're going to have a little talk. You got it mister?"
"Yeah, yeah. Night Flutters."
"Goodnight." And with that, she left me alone. Just me and a lone candle that I had lit on a side table.
I laced my fingers again and stared off into the flickering flame.
I had lied to the first friend that I had made in this world. I had told her it wasn't important.
But it was important, to me at least.
I hadn't noticed it at first, because of the shock and confusion, but I remembered it now. When I had encountered Derpy, I had picked up a scent.
A scent that I was quite familiar with.
A scent I had learned and memorized from my life on Earth.
One that I had very recently encountered there.
And if my memory was as clear as it usually was, then there was going to be trouble.
I sat on one of the ledges of the town hall, surveying Ponyville.
There was a half moon tonight. My favorite phase. Allowing for an even mixture of shadow and light, it was a reapers best friend, hiding us and revealing our enemies.
For example....
'There she is.' I thought, when I saw the figure leap from the roof of one of the houses to the ground.
I crouched, disguising myself against the roof, watching as the figure made its way closer, until it was directly under me.
'Now!' I dropped, whipping out my scythe as I fell.
The figure suddenly rolled to the side, leaving my scythe to bite nothing but the dirt. I landed, then leapt away as the figure made a dash at me.
I whipped a flashlight out of my satchel and aimed it at my enemy, causing them to shy away from the sudden brightness.
"So I was right. Nice to see you again.... Miss Derpy."
The pegasus hissed at me, revealing her two sharp fangs. As opposed to her daytime look, she had a purple coat and a black mane. Her cat eyes were aligned evenly, so I guess the walled eyes were a disguise. Her wings were also black, and looked similar to those of a bat. The only way I could tell it was Derpy was her bubble cutie mark.
"So you really are a reaper." Derpy said, her voice dripping with venom. "I didn't believe myself when I sensed you earlier, made me drop out of the sky."
"Well, you know what I am, then you know what's going to happen."
She cocked an eyebrow, before her expression changed to one of terror. "Y-you wouldn't..."
I extended my scythe to full length and she blanched.
"Your move." I said darkly, crouching down slightly in a fighting position.
She stayed frozen for a moment, before taking to the air and shooting off in the opposite direction, surprising me. Truth be told, I had been expecting her to fight.
By the time I had snapped out of my confusion, the vampire was almost out of sight. I cursed, before setting off after her. I had to get her before morning, otherwise it would look like I was murdering an innocent pony.
Our game of chase continued for a couple of hours. Over the course of it, Derpy tried several things to lose me, but I was able to learn how to counter each one. Fly high, continue chase on the rooftops. Doubling back, take shortest path to eventual destination. Sharp turns, vault the nearest object, be it wagon or house.
At the very end, I thought I had lost her, but quickly spotted her form make its way into a house. Probably hers.
"Gotcha." I whispered to myself. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Derpy was breathing heavily as she closed the door to her house. Re activating her disguise, she made her way to the living room to catch her breath. Then she was going to make herself some tea.
'A reaper! Here in Equestria?! Impossible!' she thought to herself as she plonked into a poofy armchair.
She had never seen a reaper before, but she still remembered her families' stories about them. Ruthless, dark and dangerous, reapers would slay a vampony or marewolf without batting an eye, sometimes forcing the victims family watch as it licked the blood off its scythe afterwards. Derpy shivered in fear.
*Ahem*
Derpy's fur stood on end as she leapt off the chair and landed, her back to the entrance hall.
There, standing on the other side of the living room, was the reaper. -----------------------------------------------
I stared at her. She had reverted back to her daytime form, her gray fur and yellow mane standing on end.
I adjusted my scythe slightly, noticing her gaze slip to it, and stepped forward. She took a step back.
"Mommy?"
We both stopped moving. I slipped my scythe behind me as a light purple unicorn filly with a yellow mane slowly trotted down the stairs behind Derpy. She stopped halfway down to rub her eyes.
"Mommy, I can't sleep."
Derpy turned her head without taking her eyes off of me. "Why don't you go back to bed. Mommy will be up there in a minute." She said worriedly.
The filly looked to where her mom was looking and saw me. "Who's that?" She asked tiredly.
"Just one of mommy's friends. Please go back to bed now." A hint of urgency appeared in Derpy's voice.
But the filly didn't move. Instead she looked me in the eye and asked, "are you one of my mommy's friends?"
I gave her my best disarming smile. "Yes, but the grown ups are talking, so do what your mom says please."
"Okay. Night mister." The filly turned and made her way back up the stairs.
The both of us waited until we heard the sound of a door close before turning our attention back to each other.
I took another step forward. Derpy took another step back, onto the stairs.
"You're not hurting my muffin." She growled at me.
"Is she also one?" I asked, catching my opponent off guard.
"What?"
"A vampire."
"A vampony? No, she's a normal pony. And before you ask, yes! Yes, she is mine!" Derpy's eyes began to tear up. "Please. Please don't take her from me. Or me from her. Please!"
I stared at her for a moment, before advancing once again. This time, the mare didn't move. She just sat there as I approached, and walked right past her to the front door.
"Wait!"
I looked over my shoulder and saw a teary-eyed gray pegasus watching me intently.
"Why?"
That was the only word she said, but I had an answer.
"Not for you. I did it for her." I nodded upstairs. "Even if you're a vampony, that filly needs a parent and you're probably as good as any. But mark my words, had she been like you, then neither of you would've left this house again."
Derpy sniffed, before nodding In a silent agreement. "Would you like to know the reason I live here. In this town?" She asked.
I frowned. "A reason other than satisfying your hunger?"
"Please, just listen! You can trust me." Derpy pleaded.
I thought for a moment, my frown deepening, before turning back to face her.
"I'm listening."
She took a moment to dry her eyes before launching into her story. She explained to me that there is normally one vampony per town, (except in large cities where there could be one family). If there is more than one, they will fight it out for control of the town. When Derpy had arrived in Ponyville 30 years back, her intentions were the same as any other vampony. Take over the town, drink blood for survival, and convert ponies.
But just before her arrival, she had been attacked by mare wolves in the Everfree Forest. She would've been ripped apart too, had an inhabitant of Ponyville not heard her screams and come running. The mare fended off the mare wolves and brought the young vampony home and healed her, despite what Derpy was.
The mare wolves returned to finish the job, but were beaten back for good by the other citizens. All of them trying to protect a stranger none of them knew.
Derpy had been so amazed at the bravery and compassion of the Ponyville citizens, that she made a promise to herself to never take advantage of these ponies. She settled down, got married, had a kid, her husband died from a disease.... She had tried her best to hide her past, believing that ponies today would not be so kind to her if they found out.
But as long as she stayed here, she would be protecting Ponyville from other vampires who wouldn't be nearly as caring.
When I questioned her about the source of her current supply of blood, she told me that the mare who had saved her all those years ago was still alive. She had a farm and apple orchard on the outskirts of town and let Derpy come over at night to snack on the cows. (Whose blood was apparently more delicious and nutritious).
Derpy gasped for breath and it was then that I realized she had explained everything without taking a breath. Impressive.
I allowed her a moment before turning back around to the door and opening it. Derpy started forward, but stopped as I looked back over my shoulder at her.
"Well that's a pretty interesting story." I said, my voice devoid of emotion. The fear in the mare's eyes to grow. "But I should be leaving. Oh, and be careful next time you out at night. I hear there's a vampony about, but don't worry, I'll find it."
I retracted my scythe and stepped out the door, closing it behind me. I could hear Derpy inside, weeping. From joy or sorrow I couldn't tell. ------------------------------------------
The sun was peeking over the horizon as I walked back towards Fluttershy's house, my scythe hidden in its holster, my suit jacket flapping in the breeze, and a smile on my face.
As I got closer, the door opened and I was confronted with an upset Fluttershy.
"Where were you?!" She flutter-shouted at me.
I shrugged? Woke up early, so I took a walk."
"And what happened?" Fluttershy could clearly tell I wasn't telling the whole truth.
I turned and looked back towards Ponyville, a smile still etched on my face.
A smile that could only be made after you've changed someone's life for the better.
Ever since I had gotten 'home', Fluttershy had been bothering me about who my new friend was. It got kind of annoying, but it was also hilariously cute because she would always add "if you don't mind" or "if it's okay with you" at the end of every question.
Eventually I decided to throw her a bone by mentioning that it was a mare, but for Derpy's sake I was keeping her identity a secret for now.
Fluttershy seemed to accept this, but I think I might've made it worse because she's begun to subtly fish for info on my past relationships and bring up my friend that is a mare. (Yes, there is a reason I worded it like that.)
After a light breakfast consisting of a small salad and a couple veggie sandwiches, Fluttershy invited me on an outing so that I could see the rest of Ponyville. Having not had time to see much when I arrived, I naturally agreed.
First she showed me where her friends lived. Applejack's farm and Rarity's boutique were nice, but I had no interest in them. No offense to Applejack, but her place was a farm, and the boutique.... Well let's just say I wouldn't be going there anytime soon. (Knock on wood). Rainbow Dash's cloud house I found impressive, considering that humans back on earth weren't able to manipulate clouds. I felt a little worried about going back into the town itself though. I mean, I hadn't exactly arrived here under the best of circumstances.
Instead, it turned out that I didn't have much to worry about. Many of the ponies seemed to believe that since I had passed Twilight's interrogation, I must be pretty okay. However, there were more than a few ponies that gave me nervous or hostile looks, .not that I minded.
We wandered around town for a while, Fluttershy showing me shops and different places of interest. Some of the more friendly ponies introduced themselves when we passed by. (What, you think Fluttershy introduced them to me? You're crazy.) Some of the more interesting ponies included Octavia, a refined brown earth pony mare who played classical music, and her friend Vinyl, a white unicorn mare who seemed to have an insatiable love for dubstep.
At midday, I asked Fluttershy about getting lunch, to which she happily agreed. We eventually ended up at the Ponyville Cafe. It wasn't a very big place, but Fluttershy insisted that they had good food. I'll admit, they had good service, because as soon as we sat down at a table, a waiter was there with a couple of menus. After some discussion, both me and Fluttershy decided to have salads, veggie burgers, and apple cider. (The meal came with hay fries, but I passed on those, and I don't know what else they put in the cider, but I swear I was drinking vodka. But isn't that made from potatoes? Hmm.....)
Anyway, when we had finished our meal and ventured back onto the streets, which were surprisingly empty, Fluttershy began steering me towards another part of town. (Now that I think about it, Fluttershy has been quite a bit more open and direct than she normally is.) I looked to my right and spotted my aquantence from last night. I raised a hand in greeting, but Derpy refused to look at me. Was it because of last night? Also, I need to look up why vamponies don't burn in the sunlight here.
After a few minutes of walking, we found ourselves in front of a very pink building, covered in decorations. I think I got diabetes just from looking at it, and reapers can't get sick!
"This is Sugarcube Corner, the bakery where Pinkie Pie works," Fluttershy said.
"Hm, why doesn't that surprise me?" I muttered, remembering the psychoticly hyper pony.
I approached the bakery and noticed that though the blinds were closed, there was no sign of light coming from within the building.
"Doesn't seem like anypony is home." I commented. "Maybe we should come back another ti-" *tinkle*
I looked over and was surprised to find Fluttershy holding the bakery door open.
"Fluttershy, isn't this considered breaking and entering?"
The yellow pegasus shuffled nervously. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake won't mind if we pop in for a minute while their gone.. They're nice ponies, really."
Still uncertain, I ducked under the door and entered the bakery.
Hardly had I finished straightening myself, when the lights flicked on and the room suddenly filled with ponies, all of them yelling, "Surprise!"
I froze, and instinctively did a half-second scan of the room, searching out potential enemies and usable escape routes, before I realized that I wasnt in a dangerous situation.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then looked over my shoulder at Fluttershy, who was hiding behind her mane.
I chuckled softly, then suddenly my head was yanked to the front, and I found myself face to face with the ever so loved, yet psychotic mistress of pink herself, Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie was cut off upon the event of an orange hoof having been shoved into her mouth. I pulled away, then turned and met Applejacks gaze and nodded my thanks.
"Sorry 'bout that." Applejack said. "Pinkie here has always been one to talk."
"It's alright." I shrugged.
I then looked around for my pink maned pegasus, but not seeing her, I sauntered my way over to the snack table, where I looked over the large variety of treats.
There were cupcakes, cakes, cookies, brownies, and a large variety of Apple products, courtesy of a specific farmer I assume, spread out along a ridiculously long table.
"You gonna eat any of that, or are you just trying to look busy?"
I glanced over my shoulder, then moved aside, allowing the rainbow maned 'super' pegasus access to the table of goodies.
"Thanks pal." Rainbow Dash immediately began to stuff her face with food.
I looked once again at the contents of the table, then selected a rainbow striped cupcake. As I mentioned before, even though reapers don't need to eat, we can. I mean, maybe we want to explore flavors too.
I bit into the cupcake, and died in two different ways.
The first, was that I died and went to heaven. The taste was just amazing! I mean....there were no words for it! It was the epitome of delicious! All the flavor blew my mind and was indescribable!
The second part of me exploded with diabetes and committed suicide from the amount of sugar imbedded within the seemingly innocent treat.
I let out a small cough and moved to a back corner of the shop where I could die in peace. Perhaps I could take some of these back to Earth as weapons for future use. -----------------------------------------------------
It was late into the evening when I finally found Fluttershy again. She was seated in a booth on the opposite end of the bakery with Twilight and Rarity.
I approached and was greeted with a smile from Fluttershy, a verbal greeting from Twilight.....and an unapproving frown from the fashionista.
"George, dear," Rarity said. "are those the only set of clothes you have with you?"
I frowned thoughfully. Now that I thought about it, the only things I had packed were objects that would help me with my job. After all, I had been told to pack light, in case I had to make a hasty retreat back to Earth.
"I guess they are." I said finally.
I noticed Twilight seem to brace herself but before I could comment on it, I was struck full force by the mind shattering and will-breaking force that is a psychotic fashion designer.
"GOOD HEAVENS! YOU MUST COME WITH ME IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!"
I suddenly found myself enveloped in blue magic and hauled off my feet by Rarity.
"Luckily for you, I have both the place and the resources to fix your problem." Rarity then dragged me out of the bakery, and probably, to my doom. --------------------------------------------
Rarity's Boutique
I have to hand it to Rarity, she has a powerful, one-track mind when it comes to fashion. The moment we entered her little shop of horrors, she had carefully set me down on one of those modeling platforms with all the mirrors, and within seconds, had levitated a large book of clothing designs into my face and insisted that I pick ones that I liked.
Now, I don't know why she even asked, because the moment I pointed at one, she would deny it, saying that the pattern would contrast the flatness of my hair, or it didn't match this one pixel of color in my left eye. It was only after I had finally lost my patience and interrupted her flow of words, for which I recieved at least an hour's lecture in proper etiquette, that I was able to point out that the designs in her book were meant for ponies, not me.
Naturally she apologized and chided herself for being so foolish, but then made it worse by, after having and winning a furious argument with me, almost literally forcing me to strip down to my boxers so that she could get an idea of how my clothes were supposed to look when flat, folded up, etc.
Then I had to get dressed again so that Rarity could take my measurements, of which I didnt know I had so many, and so the fashionista could study how the clothes were supposed to look when I put them on.
The only arguement I won was convincing her that every suit had to look like my normal one. Dark gray jacket and pants, black shirt, the whole shebang. Naturally I hit heavy resistance from the fashionista, but this was the one topic in which I was the most stubborn.
It was roughly 11:45 pm before I was released, with the promise of several matching suits within the week.
I trudged down the path and soon found Fluttershy's cottage within sight.
I entered, and after checking to see if my hostess had turned in for the night, (she had), I plopped myself down into the armchair in the living room and, after letting out a deep breath, closed my eyes.
I know I've said it before, but reapers don't need to sleep.
But after traumatic events like what I had just gone through, sometimes it just feels so nice to relax.
But often, relaxation is mearly the vanguard, for carelessness.
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."
'Nightmare, huh? Well it explains the decor on her side of the board.'
'Wait...'
"Nightmare Moon..... Nightmare.........hmmm....." I focused my attention back onto the evil alicorn. "You wouldn't happen to be responsible, either directly or indirectly, for the huge increase in monsters in Equestria, would you?"
The alicorn smirked. "I might have persuaded quite a few to aid me in my plan for eternal night, yes."
"Gods, so you're the reason I'm here. Thank you, very much, for making my job a lot harder than I'd like it to be."
Both alicorns looked at me in surprise.
"What is this 'job' you speak of?" Luna asked, cocking her head slightly.
"Have you already forgotten, you fool." Nightmare scoffed. "Reapers are responsible for taking the souls of the dead and dyi-"
"NOPE!" I shouted, my voice echoing around the room. "I'm going to stop you right there, and correct this situation before it turns back into what happened several millennia ago."
I focused my attention on Luna. "Reapers do not, i repeat, do not reap the souls of anyone or anypony. We are monster hunters, tasked with protecting the average citizens from the denizens of the dark. And that...." I turned slightly and dramatically pointed at Nightmare Moon. "Includes ones such as you."
Nightmare's look of surprise at my outburst morphed into a scowl of anger. "So you mean to kill my creatures of the night and bring an end to me?"
"Only those that have harmed ponies, and I guess whatever other civilized creatures roam this world."
"A pity, we could have done much together. Be thankful that I am preoccupied and not able to destroy you here and now."
"Speaking of that..." I sauntered closer to the side of the chessboard nearest to me and looked over the pieces. "What's going on here? Is it normal for good and evil to get together for chess club?"
"Do not make light of this game, reaper," Luna replied. "It represents our battle for full control of our body and will."
My face scrunched up in an expression of thoughtful confusion. "So... whoever wins controls the body. What happens to the loser?"
"The loser is stripped of their magic for a time, as according to our agreement. Once that magic is restored, the next match will take place."
"Hm." I stepped forward and looked over the chessboard for a few seconds before glancing quickly at each participant. 'Well, you know what they say. Rather the devil you've read about from the archives...'
"Knight to E5, Luna."
"What?"
"Knight to E5, you heard me."
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Nightmare Moon shouted, clearly outraged.
I gave a sidelong glance at the black alicorn. "Do the rules distinctly say that I can't?"
She grumbled a response and moved one of her bishops.
The game proceeded on like so, with me giving Luna moves while Nightmare struggled to counter us. Her efforts were in vain, however, and she was eventually backed into a corner.
"And.... Queen to D6. Checkmate." I said as Luna moved the final piece.
The result was instantaneous. A pillar of blue light emerged from directly under Nightmare Moon, engulfing her for approximately 10 seconds before disappearing, taking the black alicorn with it. A final, echoing "NOOOOO!" was the last trace of her existence.
I continued to stare at the black stool where our antagonist had been seated, until a polite cough drew my attention to the moon princess.
"We thank you for thy help, but we still wonder why thou chose to aid us, after our trying to apprehend thee?"
"Were you not listening earlier? Reapers are monster hunters, and because Nightmare Moon is responsible, if only partially, for the increase in the local monster population, then she is also my enemy."
"We... remember fighting your kind long ago, but we thought they were all gone. How is it that you are here?"
"Ah, as much as I'd like to put your mind as ease, telling you that would open up a whole 'nother barrel of monkeys."
"What have monkeys to do with this, and why are they in a barrel?"
"It's an expression from where I'm from. It usually means something that's a lot of fun, but I'm using it in more of a sarcastic sense."
"Oh." Luna's response sounded as if she understood, but her expression stated otherwise.
"You know what, don't worry about it," I said. "By the way, Luna, why were you having such trouble with her. I'm assuming that you've won all your other matches."
"Yes, we have," Luna replied quietly. "But we forgot how tiring our duties as princess can be. That, and Nightmare has been learning our strategies, so I cannot defeat her the same way twice."
"That definitely sounds like a problem, but there's a simple fix. Call me in whenever you're about to have a match and I'll aid you."
Luna stared at me. "Thou would do such a thing? Why?"
"Death almighty, girl! Do I need to spell it out for you? We have a common enemy, so why not help each other out?!"
Luna appeared taken aback by my outburst, but not so much that she missed the last part of my exclamation.
"Yes, you'll be helping us, but how do we help you?" She asked, eyes narrowed.
"Nothing much just a couple small things."
"Such as?"
I held up my fingers. "First, don't tell Celestia about me just yet. I know it sounds suspicious, but somehow I doubt she'd be as open-minded and understanding as you. Besides, we don't have a common enemy to join against."
"Normally a request like that would be ignored, but seeing as how thou has helped us tremendously, we will comply. Though if thou does anything that breaks our trust..." Luna left the potential threat hanging.
"Understood. The second thing, I want you to keep an ear out for, and inform me of any incidents that could be the result of a monster."
"How would we be able to identify such an event?"
"Oh, it's easy. Mass disappearances, ponies seeing or hearing things that shouldn't be there, livestock being slaughtered during the night, anything out of the ordinary."
"We assume this has to do with your job?" Luna asked.
I nodded.
"Very well, we shall do this. Is there a way thou would like to receive this information? After all, our sister might become suspicious of something, should we use the normal mail system."
"That might be a problem. Give me a couple days, I'll have something."
"Very well, um, we appear to be at a disadvantage, not knowing thy name."
"You may call me George, or Mr.Douglas in a formal setting."
"We see." A thought seemed to strike her. "Are we the only one who though are known to?"
"No, I am known by the Elements of Harmony, and have been seen by a good number of Ponyville's residents. What's wrong?"
Luna appeared unsettled. "Thou knows Twilight Sparkle?"
"Yes?" Was knowing the purple alicorn a bad thing?
"Were thou aware that she was our sister's pupil at one time, and sends friendship reports to her occasionally?"
My mouth opened and closed several times, probably giving me the appearance of a fish. "That..... has potential to be a very big problem."
Suddenly, the entire room began to shake.
"We are being wakened," Luna said, staring at the ceiling. "Thou will most likely be returned to your body and awaken as well."
"Most likely?"
But Luna and everything else was already beginning to fade. The lunar princess gave me one last look.
"We will do as thou have requested. We wish thee luck in thy fight against the Nightmare and her creatures of the night."
I started, waking at the sound of Fluttershy's voice.
Almost instinctively, I looked around and was bewildered to find myself in my host's bed....and my arms and legs were chained to the bedposts?
"Oh thank goodness!"
The voice drew my attention to one side of the room where Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash stood; all with relieved, yet also worried looks.
Seeing three familiar faces, I began to calm, allowing my heart-rate to return to normal. Having achieved that, I raised an eyebrow.
"You could've at least taken me to dinner first."
Twilight blushed embarrassingly, and Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind her mane. Rainbow Dash, however, growled and got up in my face.
"You think it's funny, punk? You scare Fluttershy like that, then make a joke when you finally wake up?!"
I immediately sobered up and adjusted my gaze to Twilight. "What happened?"
Twilight walked over and began to undo the cuffs with her magic. "I'm not sure. Fluttershy burst into the library earlier this morning and said you were having a seizure and needed help, so I dropped everything and rushed over. We got Rainbow to help restrain you while we got you into Fluttershy's bed, but shortly after that the seizures stopped. We've been trying to wake you up ever since. And before you make any more lewd jokes, the chains were to keep you from hurting yourself."
I sat up and twisted my body so that my legs were hanging off the bed and my feet touching the floor. "I apologize girls, It's a condition I have. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does it shouldn't last very long."
To be fair, I was telling the truth. It's another little 'safety' measure every reaper has. It's a way of alerting other reapers if someone or something is attempting to invade our consciousness via our dreams or some other mental pathway. I'm guessing it started when Luna invaded my dreams.
Twilight cocked her head at me. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Perfectly." I stood up, using the normal action as backup to my claim. "Though I must thank you girls for caring about my well-being. I admit that there was every chance that one of us could've ended up getting hurt."
"You're quite welc- where are you going?!" Twilight cried out as I proceeded to leave the room and descend the stairs.
"Out. I have some business to take care of." I replied.
"B-but, after what just happened?" Fluttershy flew around until she was eye level with me.
I stopped and smiled sweetly. "Fluttershy, I assure you I am okay. Though if you want to come with me, to make sure nothing bad happens, that's fine."
"Oh, okay." Fluttershy moved out of my way, and I proceed down to the first floor. Where are you going?"
"Well, first I have to check my supplies." I gestured to my suitcase, which was still sitting by the armchair. "Possibly go to the market if I need anything, but ultimately I'm going into the forest."
There's a flash of yellow and Fluttershy once again blocked my path.
"T-The E-E-Everfree Forest? Why in Equestria would you ever need to go there?"
"Nothing dangerous, I assure you."
"Fluttershy's right to be worried," Twilight said as she descended the stairs behind us.
I sighed and rolled my eyes before turning to address the purple alicorn. "I know that, but this can't wait."
"Monster hunting business?"
"Not so much hunting a monster so much as hunting for something, but yes."
"Might I come with you? That way, Fluttershy won't have to be scared about entering the Everfree, and we can keep an eye on you just in case."
"Sure, why not," I growled. Seriously, why are these ponies so insistent on helping others. Hm, maybe I shouldn't talk.
"Perfect!" Twilight squealed, and I can't help but think that maybe she's a little too excited about this.
After checking my suitcase, I had discovered that there a few materials that I was missing. So Twilight and I had hit the market, which turned out to have the majority of things that I needed. Granted they were pretty common things, like kite string, nails, and bookmarks. The only thing they were missing was scented candles, the lack of which would make this task harder than I would like. So I settled for lilac-scented bath soap instead.
After gathering these last few things, the alicorn and I returned to Fluttershy's cottage, packed up the rest of my supplies in a bag, then entered the Everfree Forest.
We had gone about thirty minutes in when I signaled Twilight to stop. Peering through the bushes ahead of us, I spied a small pool of water.
'Perfect.'
"Stay here and don't move." I whispered to Twilight, then silently crept over to the pool.
Arriving at the edge of the water, I reached into my bag and pulled out a large wooden bowl, followed by the soap and a small bottle of something grey. I placed the soap in the bowl and pulling out the stopper, carefully poured a small amount of the grey substance over the soap. A foul stench began to rise from the mixture and I gently slipped the bowl and its contents into the water. I gave the bowl a gentle push that sent the object floating into the center of the pool. As the bowl floated away, I pulled a lighter out of my coat pocket, and barely able to reach the floating mass, touched the flame to the mixture within.
I immediately pulled back as the grey substance burst into a blue flame. I hustled back to the bushed and crouched down next to Twilight.
"What wa-?...!" My hand snapped up and closed around the alicorn's muzzle, cutting off her question.
She glared at me, but stopped when she noticed my expression. Quietly, she turned her head to watch the pool of water, and I removed my hand.
We must have sat there about 10 minutes, never moving an inch. At about 4 minutes in, the scent of lilac began to drift throughout the forest, carried by the barely visible smoke from the fire. I had no idea if this would work, or if it did, if I would get the results I wanted.
Finally, my attention was drawn to a glimmer of movement among the trees. A small light appeared to our left, then another from the north of the pool. Gradually, more and more lights began to appear, all of them floating towards the flame and the source of the sweet scent.
My hand began to move, slowly, a centimeter every 3 seconds, towards my bag and pulled out a long, thin tube of wood, along with a couple of tiny green darts. I loaded one and slowly raised one end of the tube to my mouth.
The lights got closer to the bowl, until the majority of them were hovering over the pool. They floated there for a few minutes, then one of them dropped and alighted itself on the edge of the bowl.
It was at that moment that I struck. I blew through the tube, launching one of the darts. It struck like a snake and one of the still floating lights dropped into the water. The rest of the lights scattered, making for the safety of the trees. Well, most of them. The one that had landed on the bowl, had attempted to take off, but it's sudden movement had caused the bowl to tip slightly, causing the light to lose its balance and fall into the water as well.
I was up and bounding towards the pool the second the first light went down. I arrived just after the second one was submerged, and reached into my bag, removing a couple of clay jars lined with runes. Setting the jars onto the ground, I jabbed my hand into the pool and felt a small form. Immediately, I retracted my hand lightly tossing the figure into one of the jars, closed the lid, and watched the runes light up. The process was repeated, with the recovery of a second tiny form, and the sealing of the second jar.
As I stuffed the jars back into the bag, I heard a commotion behind me and Twilight rushed out of the bushes. "What, what happened? What were those?"
She was understandably confused. The moment from when the first dart had been fired to the sealing of the second jar had covered a span of 4 seconds. It could only be accomplished by someone with extreme reflexes, and followed only by someone who had been exposed to those with such reflexes for a long period of time.
And right now, even Twilight's genius-level intellect was struggling to keep up.
I would've answered her question, but I was distracted by a loud buzzing.
"RUN!!!" I yelled, swinging my bag over one shoulder and scooping Twilight into my other arm.
What followed was a period of running, extremely loud buzzing, and Twilight screaming every time I jumped over an obstacle or anytime the swarm got too close.
Eventually we burst through the edge of the forest, but my speed didn't slow for a second. We, well...I, continued running until the buzzing sound could no longer be heard.
I slowed and looked around. We were within sight of Fluttershy's cottage, so I sat Twilight down, removed my bag, and flopped down into the grass, breathing heavily.
"Oh....(pant)....Gods....(pant)....(heh).......it's been too long since I've had to do that....(wheeze)."
"WHAT WAS THAT?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Twilight shrieked.
I glanced over at my companion and found her lying on her back with her legs straight in the air, like one of those fainting goats. Her mane also looked disheveled and she was staring at me with huge eyes filled with fear and confusion.
"Forest fae," I said, having finally caught my breath. "Nasty little buggers."
I sat up and clasped a hand to my back as dots of pain erupted in that area. "Ah, looks like some of them got me. Well, I'll have to take a look at that later today. Speaking of which, Twilight...."
I looked over at the purple alicorn and found her unconscious. Nothing bad, I assume her brain couldn't keep up with today's event and shut down for a while.
After checking Twilight over for any wounds, (which she didn't), I picked up both her and the bag and proceeded towards the cottage, where food, hot baths, and some rest awaited the two of us.
Needless to say, Fluttershy was extremely alarmed to open her door to find me with an unconscious Twilight draped over my shoulder, but I was able to convince her that neither of us had been seriously hurt.
I dropped the purple alicorn in my host's bed, then had a nice hot bath, allowing the water to flow over my injured back, soothing the light pain.
After having dried and dressed myself, I emerged from the bathroom and headed downstairs, where I discovered that Twilight had awoken and Fluttershy had brewed some tea for us.
Twilight, ever the observant one, noticed me first.
"Ah, George, would you mind telling me what exactly happened earlier?"
'She's surprisingly calm about this,' I thought. 'maybe it's the tea.'
"Certainly." I dug into my bag and pulled out a flat, circular container; similar to the ones that might contain balm or tobacco. "It's only fair, considering that you were also a member of my excursion. Fluttershy, could you help me with this?"
The yellow pegasus obliged, and Twilight's questions were put off for a few minutes as I instructed my host how to correctly apply the ointment to my back. Once I felt that she had the gist of it, I turned my attention back to Twilight.
"Now then, you were saying?"
The purple alicorn cleared her throat and used her magic to pull a piece of paper off of the table beside her. If she saw me raise an eyebrow in incredulousness, she didn't acknowledge it.
"First, you called those things that attacked us, 'forest fae', correct?"
"Yep. Nasty little buggers, as I said before, but infinitely useful for small or nature related tasks."
"Like what?"
"Well, treat them right and they can help take care of gardens. They make excellent motion detectors, animal caretakers (the young and small), messengers... If it's not too big of a task and has to do with plants or forest animals, they can usually do a pretty good job. Although, they're shy, and if too many are in one area, they do end up turning that place into thick forest relatively quickly. I assume if that happened, you might have another Everfree somewhere.
I added the last part due to an excited smile that was growing on Twilight's face, and it didn't take much to guess what she was thinking about. It worked too. I could see her smile fade as she thought about the consequences.
"Alright." she conceded. "Question two: what did you need to capture them for?"
"Messengers."
Twilight gave me a curious look. "Who would you be contacting?"
Good question. I couldn't exactly tell her that I had made contact with one of the other princesses, not yet. I guess a half-truth will have to work.
"The other hunters. Well, more accurately, our leader. I've been out of contact for too long as it is, and I need a way of recieving assignments."
"There are others like you? I mean, professional monster hunters? How many?" Twilight was intrigued.
I smirked. 'Thousands of 'em.'
"I actually don't know, never seen the full number."
"OOH, this is so exciting!!" Twilight was beginning to foam at the mouth. "I need to tell Princess Celestia about this!"
"Hold on!"
My outburst made Twilight gave me a wierd look
*cough* "I mean, hold on a minute, Twilight. I'd like to ask a favor of you."
"Okay...?"
I paused, searching for a good way to phrase my next statement.
"Could you...not say anything about me to the princesses? Not yet?"
Twilight's face showed confusion, but slowly began to adopt a small bit of suspicion. "Why?"
"Well, think about it. What would the princesses do if they found out about me?"
"They would most likely want to meet you. Is there any harm in that?"
"Not for most, but it would be an inconvenience for me and my order." 'A life-threatening inconvenience.'
"How could the princesses ever be an inconvenience for anyone?!" Twilight seemed appalled by the concept.
"Let me explain. We monster hunters work best anonymously. We wander around and investigate rumors that we hear about, or if we get a mission from our leader through private channels or other hunters. If your princesses knew about me, they would turn to me for help dealing with monsters, or have me investigate rumors about monsters. Most likely, word would be sent out beforehand to expect me and for the inhabitants to give me their full cooperation."
"But that's good, isn't it?" Twilight asked.
"Not necessarily. Not only would those in need of help be keeping an eye out for me, but so would the monsters I'd be sent there to hunt. The notice would give them ample time to go to ground or worse, prepare a trap for me."
Twilight's head was slowly nodding, a sign that she had followed my logic seamlessly.
"So by staying anonymous, though I might be treated by suspicion by the locals, I'll be taking any monsters by surprise. So please, Twilight. Say nothing of me to the princesses for now."
"I understand," Twilight said somberly, her ears drooping. "You're doing good for Equestria, and I'd hate to get in your way."
I was glad that she'd accepted my excuse, but perhaps I could sweeten the deal a little.
"Thank you, and in return, how about I give you some information about how to deal with monsters. Just in case any appear when I'm gone."
Twilight's ears flicked up. "You mean it?"
I stood, ignoring the squawk of protest from Fluttershy, and took a step closer to Twilight, my hand outstretched.
"Absolutely. I've come to like this town, and it would be a shame if something were to happen."
Twilight put her hoof in my hand and we shook.
"What do you mean, 'when you're gone'?" Fluttershy's quiet voice penetrated the silence.
I sighed quietly and turned to face the yellow pegasus.
"Let's be real here, Flutters. I'm only gonna be able to stay here until my boss tells me I need to move on. Besides, even while I am here, there are jobs I need to do, so I'll be out of town a lot."
Fluttershy's head dropped.
"But as long as I'm in the area, Ponyville will be my base of operations. I will return here after every job and see you. That...is a promise."
Fluttershy raised her head and met my gaze. We stared at each other for a long while.
Finally, Fluttershy wiped her eyes and nodded.
I smirked. "Besides, you're too adorable for me to leave."
Fluttershy's face turned red, and with a *squeak*, turned and fled up the stairs, followed by the sound of my quiet laughter.
Twilight stood, a small smile etched on her face. "Well, it's about time I got back to the library. I'll see you tomorrow?"
I shrugged. "Sure."
I waited until after Twilight shut the door behind her, then walked over to my bag, opened it, and stared down at the two sealed clay jars within.
With Twilight gone, it was time for me to get down to business.
I asked Fluttershy if she had a private room or something similar that i could borrow, to which she directed me to a shed positioned behind her house.
Entering the small wooden structure, I locked the door and placed my suitcase on the rickety wooden table that sat against the back wall. Opening the case, I reached in and removed both clay jars, followed by some other containers filled with different "necessities".
After double checking that i had everything I needed, I opened a glass jar and dipped the first two fingers of my right hand into the green slime held within.
Removing my fingers from the jar, I then proceeded to drag them across the tabletop, leaving a glowing green path in the shape of a circle.
Finished with the most important step, I wiped my hand on a towel, then reached over and opened another glass jar. This one was filled with minuscule white crystals.
I took a pinch and sprinkled them over the trail left by the green goo. The circle sparked as the crystals came into contact with it, then began to bubble as the crystals dissolved into the goo.
"Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...." I muttered. The words weren't really required, but my spellcraft instructor had been a huge fan of Macbeth, and some of her peculiarities had been adopted by her students.
Finally, the goo circle settled and changed to a beautiful shade of crimson. I nodded to myself and grabbed the first of the two clay jars, opened it, and angled it so that the occupant slid out into the middle of the circle.
The forest fae took a moment to gather itself, then looked around, taking in the new environment.
Ignoring it, I did the same with the other jar, allowing the other fae to roll out into the circle.
The two immediately began chattering at each other and I took the opportunity to study their appearance in more detail.
Surprisingly, and somehow unsurprising, the fae had a very pony-esque appearance, though neither had a mane or tail. Standing approximately an inch and a half tall, they were smaller than any other kinds of fae I had seen back on Earth, but then again, they would probably be taller if they stood on their back legs. They were a marvelous leaf green color, and each sported a pair of yellow butterfly wings that glowed with a faint yellowish light.
I clapped my hands once, immediately drawing the attention of my guests. Despite how dark the shed was, the glow from both the goo circle, as well as the light from the fae's wings, were enough to sufficiently illuminate my face.
The fae froze.
"Hear me now, fae of the forest." I said. "Listen and heed my wishes, should you wish to leave here......alive."
The first merely gulped and nodded. The other one was a bit more plucky.
"You won't kill us you naked monkey! You need us, you bottom-sniffer, otherwise you wouldn't have caught us."
I see that at least some of the fae here also have a love of insults. Guess some things span even worlds.
I turned my attention solely onto the fae that had spoken. "And that's where you are wrong. You see, I know where to get others, you two were simply the first catch."
The fae paled. Good, I had called its initial bluff, so now it would be more likely to play along with me.
"Any other objections?" I switched my gaze to the quieter one, who didn't respond.
"Good. Now then, let me put your minds at ease a bit. I have no need of you two as test subjects, nor as ingredients, nor as slaves. More importantly, I need messengers."
'Gods I hope this works.'
Apparently it did, because the fae perked up. Now, not only did I have their undivided attention, but also their active curiosity. And you know what they say, "A curious fae is a cooperative one." Unless there are lamps or balloons involved. Fae plus lamps or balloons equals trouble. Or bath soap. The things I've seen fae folk do with bath soap are.... Not the point.
I leaned forward. "Now then, can you two link for a Nature's Whisper?
"Hold on a moment." The mouthier one held up a foreleg. "Suppose we could and agreed to help. Who are the messages for, and what do we get out of it?"
"Fair enough question. It will be correspondence between myself and the alicorn Princess Luna. As fo--"
"We'll do it!" Both fae were leaping into the air, waving their forelegs and fluttering their wings uncontrollably. It almost looked as if they were on fire.
I stared at them in surprise. "But I haven't even said what was in it for you?"
"Serving the moon princess is more than fair payment. She is the protector and guide of the supernatural after all. What fae wouldn't jump at the chance to meet her?"
"I guess that's a fair point. So....I guess we have an accord?"
"Most indeed!"
"Alright then. Next order of business, I suppose you'll need names."
"No need," the noisy one interrupted. "I'm Bloom Blossom, and this is Moon Lily."
Now this was actually a very nice surprise for me. Don't get me wrong, the fae back on Earth had personal names as well, but it was really only the elves that had made theirs more pronounceable. Other fae were only more than happy to make your tongue commit sepuku just to pronounce the first syllable of a name that might not even be their real one.
"Alright, that saves me some brainpower. Now, the Whisper if you will."
I'm not going to bother you with the details of how this link is set up, as it consists of several subtle gestures between two or more fae. Most reapers find it too boring to pay attention to, and I'm no exception. The point is, Nature's Whisper is a link that can be set up between two or more fae as a way or passing messages over a long distance. This message is literally carried on the wind, but can only be heard by those who are part of that specific Whisper. It's kind of like whispering over a phone, except without having to rely on wifi or broadband, and not having to worry about no signal.
The only downside is that, like a phone, you must have the 'receiver' on or near you at all times, otherwise you won't be able to get said messages.
Actually there are other downsides, like no music playlist or built-in camera.
Point is, such magic is very useful to reapers in situations much like the one I'm currently in.
"Alright, we're finished and a Whisper has been established."
"Hmm? Oh, good. Now the only real problem is how to get one of you to Luna. Could you fly to her castle?"
Bloom Blossom scratched his head. "We know the location of her palace, but we've never been there, and there's no telling how long it would take to get there."
"I see. Hmm, asking Twilight....no that's risky. I guess the best way would be to sleep and inform Luna herself."
"Wonderful! I'd be honored--"
"You," I pointed at Moon Lily, who shivered violently. "pack your bags. You're going to Canterlot."
Lily did a very nice impression of a fainting goat, while Blossom became a tomato. Not literally, just turned the color.
"HOLD IT! Why do I have to stay here with YOU?!
"Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do, but it works out this way. Luna will get Moon Lily because, A) Luna is usually fairly soft-spoken and Lily can relate. B) Luna lives and works in a more public setting. Lily is less likely to draw attention to herself. C) I think it would be nice for Luna to be partnered with someone named Moon. Fits doesn't it?"
From Blossom's grumbling, I could deduce that he failed to find a suitable counter argument.
"Do...do you think I can do this?"
I almost addressed Bloom Blossom again, but caught myself when I realized it wasn't him speaking and turned to speak with the quiet member of our party.
"It won't be as difficult as you expect it to be. Just make sure to listen to Princess Luna and I'm sure the two of you will get along swimmingly."
Having consoled her, I hope, I stepped backwards and gestured at the shed around us. "Now, unless you want to go back into the jars for the time being, I suggest you make yourselves comfortable in here. It will take some time for me to arrange a means of transportation for you. Oh, and try to stay out of sight. It wouldn't do for the owner of this shed to find you and pry open my mischievous schemes."
The yellow pegasis with a pink mane?" Blossom questioned. "Pfft, even for a big pony, she's not that scary."
I grinned to myself and began to pack away my things. "You have no idea how wrong you are."
I refused to answer of Blossom's pursuing queries, and put the rest of my energy into finishing my packing. Eventually, he dropped the conversation and went to join Moon Lily in the little nest she had constructed in a shadowy upper corner of the shed.
Having finished my business, I gave the fae one last glance, before unlocking, exiting, and relocking the shed behind me. Normally I might've placed a seal on the structure, but I was relying on the fact that being able to see Luna would be incentive enough to keep the fae there.
I'd say things went fairly well, but now I've got a date with a princess.
