> The Coming of the Death Goddess
>  by SkyFlare
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> Part 1
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	The dark mare stood strong against the moonlight.  Her silhouette, from a frontal view, was majestic as the silver light of the moon shown upon her.  From behind though, she was standing against fluctuating red and gold flames, a sight that had been one of horror for both her foes and her friends, if you could call them that.
“Nothing like a village burning in the moonlight.” she commented with a smirk as she turned her back to the village.
That was the third village that week, and it was only Monday.  Some ponies called her a monster, those ponies were the most accurate in their description, but they were also the first to fall before her.  Just as she started to take in her newest lot of kills, she heard hooves beating the ground behind her.  A pony was approaching her, most likely to avenge their fallen family.
She closed her eyes lightly as she turned back around.  She could hear the pony shouting profanity toward her, making threats on her life.  It was all that she could do not to laugh.  Her eyes slowly opened and met with the gaze of the distraught pony.  It was a young stallion, white coat and golden mane; his bright blue eyes stared into hers for no more than a second before he fell.  Her gaze was rumored to be capable of killing ponies, most simply brushed it off as exaggeration, but she knew better, and so did the colt in his final moments.
“Should have closed your eyes, at least then your death could have been painless.” the mare laughed loudly before she felt something clamp down on her horn and a blindfold wrap around her face.
“We got her!” shouted one pony, amazed at the capture of the terrorist.
“Not… so… fast.” the mare taunted the ponies, charging her sharpened horn into the pony’s heart.
“Stop her!” one voice shouted as she felt a magical rope grip her front right leg and pull it from under her.
“He wants her alive!” shouted another voice.  “She needs to be held accountable for her crimes.”
There was only one pony that the mare knew of that would want her alive.  The king.  He wasn’t her biggest fan anymore, but back in the time of war, she was the reason that he was able to keep his throne.  Power like that was useless to her, the throne held nothing for a warrior.  Her power came from the fear that others had for her, for what she could do to them, for what she could do to their loved ones.
The villages that she’d been targeting had harbored enemy soldiers during the war.  They were traitors to the throne, and yet their king fought to protect them.  It made no sense, they fought against him, yet he fought for them?
Her trip back to the kingdom was fairly smooth.  She’d had her fill of killing the guards and she was aware of what was waiting for her at the end of her voyage.  She felt her body being pulled up the stairs that led to the king’s throne room, that part was a little rough.  Once she felt the familiar, smooth carpet of the room, she climbed back to her hooves, throwing the ponies that had been restraining her aside with ease.
“You’re Majesty, you called?” she cocked her head slyly as she waited for the king’s response.
“You are guilty of crimes against ponydom, what have you to say for yourself?” the king asked, his voice stern, but the mare could hear a deeper fear beneath that strength.  He was afraid of her.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” the mare aimed her face at the king, still blindfolded.  “It was fun.” she sang back.
The mare could hear the king take in a deep breath.  He whispered something to somepony that she hadn’t heard yet.  A pony spoke seconds later; the mare could only assume that it was the pony that the king had spoken to.
“Do it.” there was a solemn tone about the pony’s voice.  It was almost like he would have preferred to have done anything over making that order.
As the mare stood there calmly, waiting to know her punishment for mass murder, she felt a cold magical touch to her cheeks.  It was magic that had been crafted into a physical form, similar to the kinds of weapons that unicorns would use during the war.  The warrior did not move as she felt the cold move up to her eyes and reach under them.  She stared in the direction of the king calmly as her eyes were ripped from their sockets.  Blood slowly trickled down her face, giving her an even more frightening appearance than she’d had before.
Years ago, during the worst part of the war, the mare had cast a spell on her own eyes.  The purpose of the spell was to kill any creature that made eye contact with her.  Either death would be instantaneous, or the subject would be driven to a madness that would force them to take their own life.
“You were once my greatest ally, and now you have become something that I cannot condone.  General Inferno, it is time.” the king said quietly.
The blindfold was ripped off of the mare’s face, exposing the empty sockets that had once held her eyes.  It was quick and painless as the axe passed through her throat.
The transition was faster than she’d expected.  The mare found herself enveloped by an immense warmth, like a fire was burning all around her.  It took her a few moments to discover that her sight had returned to her.  Nothing looked correct though, nothing had any texture to it; it was like a model of whatever it was.
To the other ponies around her, they were standing on a molten rock that had slim cracks where the underlying magma could be seen.  Fires fluttering in the distance and the occasional pony falling into their world.  The mare saw it as a black floor with thick red lines blurring through it.  The fire looked more like a magnificent wall that surrounded everypony.
“Welcome to Tartarus.” a voice said as a pony approached her.  “What crime did you commit in life?  I will guide to you to the appropriate area for you to work.”
“I killed thousands.” the mare answered, but it wasn’t through her mouth.
Confused by that fact, the mare raised her hoof to her mouth, and felt nothing.  She had no mouth, but she still had her voice.  She had no eyes, but she still had her sight.  Death truly was an interesting experience.
She could hear the stallion who’d spoken to her swallow hard.  “I- You need to come with me…” he managed to say.
The mare simply nodded and followed him.  There were many things that she could accomplish in this world.  Each of these things would build up to her ultimate goal, revenge.  She would need to get back to the world of the living so that she could end the king’s reign, and that would only be the first step of her vengeance. 
They soon stood before a tall stallion, taller than anypony that the warrior had ever seen.  He had a magnificent pair of wings and a stature that could strike fear into any who opposed him, well, almost any.
“Hey.” the mare nodded casually at the tall stallion.
“I am god here.” he said calmly, his voice almost as cold as hers.  “You will address me as such.”
“Nah.” the mare would have smirk, if only she still had her mouth.  “I only respect those who have proven that they deserve respect.  Only one pony has ever earned my respect.”
“And who would that be?” the god asked.
“Me.” her voice echoed through the room.
“I am a god.  You will kneel before me, or your death will be the most pleasant thing to happen to you today.” the god smirked back, proud of himself for putting the fallen hero in her place.  “You have killed approximately two thousand six hundred and fifty-three ponies.  Fifteen hundred of them were killed in your gas chambers, the rest when you destroyed their homes.”
“Hm.” the mare mused.  “I was so close to three thousand.  Just a couple more villages or maybe a city and I would have met my goal.”
“This is not a matter to be taken so trivially.  You have committed crimes that were so heinous, so reprehensible, that no punishment that I have here is appropriate.” the god shook his head slowly.
“I challenge you for your title.” she laughed in a way that would scare even the most ferocious monster.  “I’ve always wanted to be a goddess.”
“I accept, but if I win then you will be trapped here for eternity.  Unable to ever see the light again, that is, if you can ever see in your current state.” the god laughed back, confident in his power.
Before the god could even move from where he stood, a cloud of gas surrounded him causing him to choke violently.  As he struggled to breathe or move out of the gas cloud, the mare calmly approached him.  She stood inches away from the god and her dark laugh echoed through the room as she watched him choke.
“You know, I heard once that if you are killed in Tartarus, you are completely erased from existence.  What say you that we put this theory to the test?  Are you ready my little lab rat?” the mare asked as she impaled the god with her horn.
The god let out an agonized grunt as his body fell limp over her horn.  “H- how?” he gasped out.
“You knew who I was and you still chose to fight me.  That’s how.” the mare answered.  “You won’t die just yet.  I just wanted to open up another way for my poison to enter your bloodstream.  It’ll speed it up that way, and I won’t have to deal with you gasping for air for as long.”
It was the most enjoyable way to kill in her opinion.  Use her toxin to infiltrate her victim’s lungs and then watch them choke on it for a few seconds.  Then she would stab them with her filed horn and give the toxin a direct connection to the victim’s blood, causing them to die in less than a minute.  It was the most torturous way she knew of, the toxin gave the pony a feeling that time had stopped, an so despite the fact that they die in about half a minute, it feels like an eternity to them.
“I am now your god.” the mare yawned.  “Tell the ponies of this world that their new goddess wishes to speak with them.”
“U- uh-” the stallion who had led her to the dead god stuttered out.  “Y- yes… ma’am.”
“Call me Goddess.” she demanded calmly.  “It’s the only title that suits me.”
The stallion galloped off, terrified for his own life.  He wanted to avoid getting on the Goddess’s bad side if at all possible.  In life he had been a coward, running from a battle while he was in a war, he was killed from behind and due to his betrayal, he was cast down to Tartarus.  Not much had changed for him; he still turned his back and fled when things looked grim.

The stallion was walking through the section of Tartarus that was used to keep the most dangerous ponies from erasing the workforce.  There was one cell, the last one on the left, which still had a pony in it.  A pony that terrified the stallion more than anything, except for maybe that Goddess.  His options were more like death sentences.  Either let the pony out, and get ripped to pieces by it, or keep it in its cage and if the Goddess finds out, suffer the same fate as their old god.
With a deep breath, he opened the cell, choosing what he hoped would be the least painful death.  What stepped out of the cell was an abomination.  It had a spiraled unicorn horn and a pair of bat wings.  A haphazard mess of dark red and grey made up the ponies coat.  The grey was natural; the red however, was a massive bloodstain.  Its mane and tail were black and red and it wore a black hat over the top of its head.  A pair of deer antlers had been sewn on to the hat and dyed blue.  On its hooves were four black shoes with golden buckles.  It wore a necklace of a pink ankh.  The cutie mark that was emblazoned upon the pony’s flank was a skull and crossbones, similar to what was seen on a pirate’s flag.
“You… you’re needed.” the stallion awaited his death.
The pony’s head moved in an impossible way, the neck snapping three times before the head finally came to a rest upside down.  A disturbing smile slowly formed on its face.  The stallion couldn’t help but trembled as he waited for the inevitable to happen.
The pony slowly walked over to him and began to crush him between his front two legs.  The stallion fell to the ground, limp, after the pony gave him the “hug.”
The bat wings on the abomination spread out as it lifted itself from the black stone ground.  It glided down toward where it expected the god of death to be waiting.  Instead, it reached a room full of the worst ponies in Tartarus, all standing before a tall black mare with no eyes or mouth.  Her mane was primarily a light shade of purple and each strand of hair was tinted a sickly green.  A large red bow was tied into her mane, bringing a single light color to her form.  Her tail was in the shape of a gas cloud, green on the inside of the bubble like curls and purple on the edges.  On her front left hoof she wore a light green watch.  Her cutie mark was an upside down cross.
“You are here now because you can be useful to help me meet my goal.  I want revenge on the pony that killed me.” the mare explained.
The ponies in the crowd began to mutter comments about the pony who claimed to be their new god.  They seemed to be concerned about her plan.  Nopony had ever been able to escape from Tartarus, not even their old god.  Cerberus just would not let them come anywhere near the exit.  A few ponies had been erased when making escape attempts.
“I will lead you back to the world of the living; from there you may do as you please, but only after you aid me in my vengeance.” the Goddess promised.
She started walking through the crowd and back toward where she could lead her army of fallen ponies back to the world that they had once called home.  As she approached the back, she saw the strange pony who had just arrived and approached him.
“And who are you?” the Goddess asked quietly.
“I’m-” the pony started.
“I’m going to make you my minion.” the Goddess interrupted.
“My name is-” the Minion tried to explain.
“Minion.  Yes I know.” the Goddess interrupted again.
The crazed pony sighed as he followed the new Goddess.  The two of them led a group of upwards of a hundred ponies to the edge of Tartarus.  A large, black, three headed dog stood at a tall gate, guarding it is it had for thousands of years.
“Puppy!” the Minion shouted, his head rotating slightly.
The way that Minion saw it was that Cerberus was a balloon dog.  His world was… different from what other ponies saw.  Everything was a little more Technicolor than what the rest of the ponies saw.  Everything seemed more fun and nothing was dangerous.  Minion didn’t see knives, he saw feathers.  He didn’t see fire, he saw bubbles.
It was only natural for him, when he sees a big balloon animal, to test out just how big said balloon animal could get. So he used his magic to inflate Cerberus and seconds later he watched as the giant balloon dog ascended into the air.
What the rest of the ponies there saw was a horrifying sight.  They watched as the guardian of the underworld was inflated to impossible proportions.  The Goddess would have smiled, if only she’d had a mouth to do so, at the sight of what her new Minion was capable of.  He was definitely something that she’d want to keep around.
“That was excellent.” the Goddess praised her minion as the pair led the army of the undead out of Tartarus.  “It hasn’t even been a day, and I’m already free.  Death is so trivial, nothing but a setback, a little chance to get one’s priorities straight.”
They reached a swirling vortex between two obsidian pillars.  The vortex would allow them to leave Tartarus once and for all.  They would never have to return to that world again.  As the ponies passed through the vortex, they were blinded by the bright light of the summer sun.  All except for the Goddess were blinded.  She alone stood in the light, staring up at the sky with her eyeless face.
“This will be a day that foalish king will never forget.” the Goddess’s voice rang through the minds of each and everypony that was within a mile of her.