Death, the eldest of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, has been given a new chance at life as a reward from the Creator Himself for all the good he's done in life.
Death, the eldest of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, has been given a new chance at life as a reward from the Creator Himself for all the good he's done in life, but the Pale Rider is in for quite a surprise as where, and what, he wakes up as.
The last thing Death remembered was falling into the Well of Souls to resurrect Humanity by sacrificing the souls of his fallen brothers, the Nephilim.
Suddenly, the Pale Rider sees a bright light from under his eyelids, causing him to open them out of curiosity.
What he saw would of made his heart stop if he still had his body.
It was a being of pure light, brighter than any sun on any world that Death had ever been to, it's brightness eclipsing even the glory of the White City itself. Yet, at the same time, the light was warm and inviting, allowing anyone in its' vicinity the ability to look at it directly without burning their eyes out of their sockets. It also felt as if it was nothing, yet everything, nowhere, yet at the same time everywhere, nobody, and everybody.
"It is an honour to finally meet you, Death." instead of the usual mirth or venomous tone that came with addressing the Horseman by his name, the voice spoke with respect, compassion, and the strangest of all to Death, love, its' voice was like a roaring lion's, yet like the purrs of a cat at the same time. It didn't take long for Death to figure out what, or rather, Whom, was talking to him.
"Creator...", the Rider said, just above a whisper. He then proceeded to bow to The Creator, before remembering that he no longer possessed a body, exposing the pale green orb that was his soul.
"There is no need to bow," He said with a good natured chuckle, "if anything, I should be the one bowing to YOU."
Death was stunned, for lack of a better term seeing as he had no eyes to widen nor jaw to drop, "Wha-what do you mean? I have done nothing in my retched cursed existence except-"
"I would hardly call the protection and Resurrection of My greatest creation 'nothing', Death," The Creator interrupted, the Nephillim could literally feel the emotions The Creator was feeling, and gratitude was the most notable, "you could have let your brothers and sisters have Eden, but instead you along with your brothers War and Strife, as well as your sister Fury, consulted the Council that I created millennia ago and received the power to stop the Nephillim from slaughtering my Angels, and protected the Grove.
"You could have let My Council condemn War, I would have stopped them from doing so Myself, and let Humanity rot in the Well of Souls, but instead you went against the direct orders of the Charred Council, restored the Makers' Realm and Lostlight to their former glory, and stopped Absolom from perverting all the worlds that I created, and eventually sacrificing yourself and the souls of your brothers to re-sew the seeds of Man. And for that, My child, you have My deepest gratitude, and reward you for all the good you have done."
Death was speechless, he never thought of it like that, he always believed that by slaughtering the Nephillim had damned his soul to the Abyss. He then registered the Creator's last statement, "Wait, what 'reward'."
"A new chance, you see, My Little Sister has been down for the past few millennia because Her daughters had a falling out because one of them believed that no one loved her hard work and creations, which in turn caused her to become a monster, and threaten to take over the land, forcing her sister to banish her for 1,000 years.
"The sister who was banished is now free of whatever was corrupting her, but now she believes that she is to be damned for eternity and not even you can convince her otherwise. But," the Creator added, "you can prevent the whole incident."
Death was now intrigued, "What would you have me do?"
"Nothing to difficult," the Creator answered, "I am just going to send you to My Sisters' realm a few months prior to her child's 'fall from Grace', and not only will you have the reward you deserve, but also will have saved an innocent being from making the biggest mistake of her life."
Death pondered this for a moment, a new life? Free of the burdens and sins of the past? But there was one thing, "What of my brother, War?"
The Creator was more than happy to answer, "Do not worry, while you have been on your quest to resurrect My Children, your brother has been freeing the ruins of Earth from Lucifer's clutches, his time has not come yet, but when it does, he shall join you, as will Strife and Fury."
Satisfied with that answer, the Pale Rider finally made a decision, "Very well, I accept Your gift and will gladly run this errand for Your Sister."
If the Creator had a mouth, its' smile would've rivaled a certain pink pony, "You have my most sincere of thanks, Death, I shan't keep you longer than I have," as He said this, Death's sight started to darken and become blurry, "oh, and one more thing," the Creator hastily added, "I'm sending Despair to join you, no point for the Rider to be without his Steed, and you may want to learn some walking lessons from him."
And with that, Death's vision became black.
****
It was a quiet night at the Castle of the Two Sisters, home to the recently crowned Princess Celestia: Ruler of the Day, and Princess Luna: Ruler of the Night. The only sounds were that of guards patrolling the halls and grounds of the castle.
What no one could hear behind a series of complex soundproofing spells and wards in the bedchambers of Princess Luna was the sound of sobbing.
"Why d-doesn't a-anypony love m-my night?" Luna asked herself. Her sobbing was cut off as she felt something falling from her night sky, too small for an asteroid, yet too large for a comet, and was chalk-full of magic.
Wiping her tears from her face, the Princess of the Night went to her balcony to get a look at what was intruding on her creation.
What she saw would remain burned in her memories for eons to come.
It was some kind of meteor-like projectile, glowing a faint purple hue, burning through the friction in the air strait towards the castle. Luna dove under her bed as the meteor speed past her window and crashed into the courtyard.
"Great, Tia is most certainly going to blame me for not taking better care of my night," Luna said to herself before adding, "more like HER night, the way she acts about it and seems to claim anything that is remotely my own.", she got out from under her bed flew off from the balcony to where she saw the surprisingly small, smoking crater and her Night Guard beginning to surround it, preparing for anything to come out of that crater.
Little do they know the very fabric of reality has just been changed forever.
Princess Luna landed gracefully at the edge of the crater just as her Night Guard were surrounding it. Unlike her sister's Day Guard, who wore golden armor and helmets enchanted to make them identical in the Pegasi and Earth Ponies' having white coats with blue manes and tails, and the Unicorn's having greyish-brown coats and white manes and tails, Luna's guard were a special race of ponies called Thestrals or "Bat Ponies" due to their uncanny resemblance to the flying mammals, and a single Thestral had 10x the loyalty to Luna than half of Celestia's guard to their respective diarch. But her thoughts weren't on that little history tidbit, however, as she had all of her concentration on the smoking pit that was the result of some space debris that she, for some reason, couldn't sense fall from her night sky.
"Your Majesty," Luna turned her turquoise gaze from the crater to her captain, Shadow Blade, a Thestral stallion with the traditional grey fur and two-toned blue mane and tail done in a crew-cut, his blue irises cut almost completely in half by the thin line of his pupils, "methinks that t'would be much safer if Thou wouldst return to thine quarters, as it could be dangerous, whatever lurks at the bottom of that pit."
Luna rolled her eyes at her over-protective Night Guard Captain. A drawback to having such extremely loyal guards: half of them become extremely paranoid when it comes to the safety to their Night Princess and the half that aren't intimidate anypony that so much as looks at Luna the wrong way,
"We are not a foal, Shadow Blade," the alicorn replied, "We hath faced much more menacing things than just some glorified trespasser, and as We could not sense it fall from our Night, We have come to see why."
Shadow Blade was about to argue before they heard a groan come from the crater. The Night Captain jumped in front of Luna while she rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the way and trotted carefully to the edge, her horn glowing a sapphire aura as she prepared to cast a spell and flaring her dark blue wings out to either side. She stopped as she saw a bone-white hoof reach up from the edge of the crater and latched on, pulling the rest of the body up to reveal probably the strangest thing that both Luna and the guards have ever seen since Discord.
It was an Earth Pony stallion with a bone coloured coat and a short fiery green mane and tail, with pale green eyes that looked like they could drive a pony insane by just looking into them, and on his flank was a black pit that had the souls of different kinds of creatures swirling around in it, their ghostly faces contorted in pain, sorrow, and most of all, despair. but what really made them look twice at the pony was that it didn't have a muscular Earth Pony build, in fact, at first glance anypony would have assumed that he was a Pegasus due to his scrawny frame. Luna cancelled out her magic and was about to ask the mysterious pony what he was doing here before he looked directly at her and spoke.
"Where the Hell am I?", his voice was raspy, almost as if it were a corpse, and unnerved Everypony that heard it.
Luna quickly regained her composure and walked up to the stallion, fixing her steely gaze on him. "Thou art trespassing upon the grounds of the Castle of the Two Sisters, home to our sister Celestia, Raiser of the Sun, and ourself, Luna, Ruler of the Night," she answered, "now, who art thou?"
The stallion looked at her as if she had spoken a foreign language, before hitting his face with his forehoof in a matter most undignified for being in the presence of royalty and groaned. "Great," he said as he dragged his hoof down his face, "I just find out that I can talk with my mouth and I end up on a world that still speaks ancient Human." Before Luna could ask what he was talking about, he continued. "And to answer your question, my name is Despair, Mount to Death, the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, yada yada yada."
Before anypony could come up with a response there was another groan coming from the pit, causing Everypony present, including Despair, to look back at the still smoking crater. Just as Luna was going to clear the smoke to get a better look, a shape rocketed upwards into the air, before quickly circling around and cutting off the heads of all the spears the guard were using, then landing with a thud, causing Everypony, even the Princess of the Night and the Mount to Death, to gasp in surprise at what they all assumed was the true creator of that blast.
This pony was tall, just barely a head taller than Luna, with a corpse-grey coat and a black mane and tail that flowed off of his body like a flame (imagine Sombra's mane), all four of his hooves were rapped up in old wrappings that looked like the gauze found on mummies, strapped to his left shoulder was a steel pauldron that depicted a demon scowling in anger.
his horn was curved upwards, like a dagger, and had a deathly green color to it, and was glowing with royal purple mana. Luna then noticed the two scythes levitating at either side of the pony, they were identical to the smallest detail: they were a strange metal that resembled a mixture of ebony and steel that had depictions of faces of the dead forged onto both sides that ended with a curved tip, and on the other end was a skull with an opened mouth, giving the illusion of it regurgitating the blade, and the handles that connected the blades were wrapped with purple wrappings, almost hiding the matching magical aura that was levitating them.
His face was very handsome, causing all the mares present (even Luna) to blush upon looking at it, and his eyes were an orange hue, upon first glance showing the eyes of a gladiator or killer, Luna saw past that, showing it to be a façade to hide pain, misery, sorrow, and regret. Upon his flank was a black horse skull, with black runes surrounding it, which the princess immediately recognized as runes of the dead, chiseled onto the walls of ancient tombs to allow the dead to rest in peace. His wings were flared out on either si- wait, WINGS?!
Everypony gawked at the wings on him, then back at the horn on his head, then to their princess, who was staring wide eyed at what seemed to be the most impossible thing to exist: a male alicorn! She walked up to the stallion with her eyes still wide. "Who art thou?", she asked. He turned his gaze to focus solely on Luna, causing the female alicorn to blush.
"My name, is Death." he answered, then proceeded to fold up his scythes and levitate them to the loops on the belt he was wearing, before bowing deeply with his wings flared and eyes closed, causing Despair to do the same, "and what would be the name of a beautiful mare such as thineself?"
Luna's entire face and muzzle changed from dark blue to bright red in a matter of seconds.
"M-my name i-is Luna," she stuttered out, completely forgetting the royal 'We', before shaking her head to clear her blush before continuing, "Come, I shall take thee to mine sister, Celestia, she will want to see you."
Death and Despair got back up from their bows as the Night Princess' horn began to glow, and in a flash of blue light, they disappeared from the gardens.
***
To say Death was confused would be the understatement of the millennium. One second, he was talking to the Creator Himself, then the next he was at the bottom of a crater (which he had a feeling that he had something to do with its' creation), he then saw a group of what appeared to be bat-pony hybrids in black and dark-grey armor. He's seen stranger. they all had their spears trained on the perimeter of the pit he was in.
Death attempted to stand up, only to stop at dog-position for some reason before realizing something: he couldn't feel his shins on the ground. He craned his head back to look at legs belonging to a horse, the insignia of the Horsemen surrounded by runes of the dead on his flank, a belt that was holding Chaos Fang on either side, and wings on both sides of his abdomen. He groaned louder than he intended to at the Creator's, as the modern humans called it, 'trolling', because all of the ponies immediately snapped their heads back towards him.
He decided to give his new body a test run, before realizing that, as a horse, he didn't have hands, meaning he couldn't grip his scythes. The former Nephillim looked back at his scythes and concentrates, hoping to summon the power of the Reaper to hold the blades, instead, the handles of Chaos Fang glowed a royal purple, before detaching themselves' from Death's belt and unlatching the blades. He looked up at his forehead to see a long, curved horn protruding from it.
So, I'm an Alicorn, he mused to himself, before stretching his wings out and jumping up into the night sky. Flying was easier than Death thought, because he was able to get out of the hole, use his scythes to cut the heads off of the spears the guards were using, and successfully landed in in the direction the ponies' were looking towards. The Rider looked up from his crouching position to see a bat-pony stallion that was clearly dressed as a commanding officer, possibly a captain, a pony that was definitely Despair, and the most beautiful woman (or mare), he's ever seen.
The Creator must have given Death the local's viewpoint as well as their body type, because he didn't find horses attractive until just now. it was an Alicorn like him except with a dark blue coat that matched the color of the night sky, she was a full head shorter than him, and her horn was segmented, like a Unicorn's, and on her flank was a crescent moon against a black background, but what cut him off guard was her mane and tail: they both blew in a non-existent breeze and had stars shining on them, resembling the night sky above them, Death also noticed the black tiara on her head, signifying her being royalty. The female Alicorn trotted up to him, never taking her eyes off of the former Nephillim.
"Who art thou?", she asked in what was admittedly his favorite dialect: ancient Human English. Death decided that it was no use keeping secrets as she didn't seem to recognize the symbol on his flank, meaning that they've probably never even heard of the Nephillim in the first place, much less the Horsemen.
"My name, is Death," the Pale Rider answered, before deciding to go into the deepest, most respectful bow that he's ever done and asked, "and what would be the name of a beautiful mare such as thineself?", he asked in ancient Human.
"M-my name i-is Luna," He heard the mare stutter out, Latin for moon, appropriate, Death thought to himself, before he heard Luna talk again.
"Come, I shall take thee to mine sister, Celestia, she will want to see you."
Death got up from his bow and saw Luna's horn begin to take on a blue color. Before he could ask what she was doing, he was blinded by a flash of blue light and saw that they were now in some sort of bed chamber that was decorated to look like the day. The Rider then looked at Luna as she made her way to the sleeping form in the bed in front of them, she stopped at the side before looking back at Death.
"You might want to cover your ears, Despair." Death looked to his side to see that his steed was next to him, they both shrugged as they turned back to Luna as she took a deep breath and roared so loudly that it could only be likened to a dragon fornicating a thunderstorm.
Celestia has had a really long day. She had her hooves full in dealing with all the Nobles that were actually brave enough to venture through the Everfree Forest to reach the castle, where she and Luna resided, to demand that the Princess of the Day permit them to tax the Common Ponies' more than she currently allows (she wouldn't even tax her little ponies in the first place, but the kingdom needs something to pay for the resources and labor required to build buildings and forge weapons for the royal guard).
The only thing that kept her from ordering the guard to kick the stuck up brats' out was Prince Redblood, a very kind, brave, and generous pony who earned the title of 'Prince' for infiltrating the Crystal Empire without consent of either of the diarchs and freeing a mare by the name of Rose Quartz, whom he is now happily married to, and her two foals, a colt and filly, who were about to be punished by the newly crowned tyrant King Sombra himself for accidently tripping him while they were being taken to the crystal mines with the other children. The Prince actually requested that Celestia LOWER the taxes on the commoners, saying that he'll pay the audited fine with his own bits.
But we are getting off track, so let us return to the VERY exhausted Solar Diarch who had just lay down for a good nights' rest while her beloved little sister, Lu-
"WAKE UP, TIA!!!!"
I'm going to kill her one of these days... Celestia thought to herself as she slowly rose from under her sheets, unaffected by the Royal Canterlot Voice (as all Alicorns' ears had an immunity to it), but still peeved that Luna had woken her up in the middle of the night. She turned her head to see the Lunar Alicorn smiling brightly at her, which caused the Solar Alicorn to smile as well, despite previous thoughts, as her young sister had not smiled like that since they were both foals.
"Sister, not that I am complaining, quite the opposite in fact, but what has caused thee to become so merry?," Celestia asked.
"Well, big sister," Luna replied, "we have a guest."
Celestia's ears perked up, who in the name of Faust would visit at this time of night? She saw her sister turn her gaze to the foot of the bed, which the solar alicorn followed.
What she saw made her jaw drop almost comically to the floor.
Before her was the biggest pony she's ever seen besides herself and her parents, just a few inches shorter than the Ruler of the Day and a head taller than Luna not counting her horn, which had an identical shape to King Sombra's, but was royal purple instead of red. He had a pale grey coat with a black mane and tail that also resembled the aforementioned tyrants' in the fact of its' flowing and licking of the back of his neck and flank like a pair of black flames.
But what received her full attention was the wings that were folded neatly against the sides of his body.
Impossible... Celestia thought to herself, but the proof was right there in front of her.
Before anypony could say anything, the Solar Princess was out of her bed and in front of the stallion, looking at his bright orange eyes with her own soft magneta ones.
"Greetings," said the alabaster mare, smiling brightly, "my name is Celestia."
The stallion returned the smile, showing four razor sharp canines reaching past 28 smaller, but no less sharp fangs. Concerned with how this stallion was turning out to be an almost identical copy to a certain tyrant, she promptly asked the next few questions.
"what is thine name?" the mare asked.
"Death," the stallion answered.
"Where dost thou comest from?"
"Thou could say that I came from the stars."
"So, thou art an alien?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"What is strapped to thine sides?"
"Chaos Fang is the name, they were gifts from a shaman who rewarded me for the good that a... 'close friend' of mine has done."
On and on it went like this: Celestia asking a question, and Death answering without hesitation. In truth, it was beginning to annoy Luna, as she found no interest in her sister interrogating Death, so she just lifted Despair, who was knocked out by the Night Princess' Royal Canterlot Voice, and placed him on the bed so he could rest. Finally after what seemed like forever, Celestia asked Death the final question.
"Last question," the Solar Princess began, her flowing pink mane magically straightening itself out, eliminating all traces of bedhead, "dost thou have any relations with a black Unicorn who looks like thineself?"
The male Alicorn looked at his female counterpart with curiosity before shaking his head and answering with a 'no'.
Celestia stared into Death's eyes, looking for any sort of deceit, finding none, she smiled and stepped back from the stallion. "Sorry for asking all those questions, I had to be sure that thou art telling the truth."
Death chuckled at this before replying, "Trust me, I would be wary if thou believest me. But might I ask, Why wouldst thou question if I knew a black Unicorn, and in what ways are we similar to one another?"
"Well," She began, "it is just that thine horn, fangs, mane, and tail look eerily familiar to a Unicorn who goes by the name of Sombra, King of the Crystal Empire, I believe that the name of this kingdom is quite self-explanatory as to what it is like."
Death wasn't surprised by this, if anything, he was interested as to how these ponies could build structures out of solid crystal. But Celestia's next words caught his undivided attention.
"Sombra staged a one-pony coup against the former king and queen, and made himself the sole ruler, and now enslaves his subjects, forcing them to mine for crystals to feed his magic. While it pains me to see these ponies under such subjugation, we cannot attack Sombra directly without the fear of him harming the Crystal Ponies, so I am having Luna leave in three days to hopefully convince him to sign a treaty between Equestria and the Crystal Empire, that way we can lure him into a false sense of security and take him out while he's not expecting it."
Curious, Death asked, "Why send Luna? While I am more than sure that she can handle herself, would it not be wiser to just send an ambassador?"
"Actually, no," Luna interjected, gaining the attention the stallion, "Celestia believes that Sombra will be more cooperative if one of us were to attend, also," the Lunar Alicorn turned her head away from the Alicorns, with an annoyed look on her face, "he has been pinning over me ever since he came to power, begging me to be his special somepony."
For some reason, Death grew to hate the king more than he previously had. Sure, he could see the genious of such a tactic, to use Sombra's desires against him, so that he will agree to any demands that the sisters make, therefore making it easier to get close enough to him to knock the Mad King of his throne. In fact, the former Nephilim recalled that the humans once had a Queen who used a similar tactic to have more of her demands met at peace negotiations. But something about this, using Luna, just rubbed him the wrong way. But this was not his kingdom to rule, and he had no say in what the sisters choose to do, especially since it'll help take this bastard down a peg.
"Very well," he answered, getting up from his sitting position, "I guess I'll leave you to your devices, but I do require a place to stay."
"Say no more," Celestia replied, giving the male Alicorn a playful smirk, "If thou desires, I can have thee put in the chambers just across the hall from my sister, in case thou would wish to see her for any activities."
At this, Luna and Death both blushed, while the latter agreed and quickly snatched up the still sleeping Despair in his magic and ran with the blue Alicorn to their respective rooms, both hoping to get away from the elder sister's teasing.
Luna and Death, the latter carrying a still unconscious Despair, slowed their pace after making sure that they were no longer within earshot of Celestia. The male Alicorn looked over at his female counterpart rather thoughtfully. I wonder why I got so flustered? the former Nephillim thought to himself, confused as to why and how, when Samael and Lillith couldn't even make him blink, some white pony with pink hair and a big fat sun on her butt made him run out of the room like a madman, just barely remembering his former mount.
Death, luckily, was able to catch himself staring at Luna for longer than deemed necessary, and averted his gaze to the hallway before she noticed. After walking down the halls of the castle for a while, Death finally broke the silence.
"So...," he began, remembering the Solar Diarch's plan for her sister and the 'Mad King', as he liked to call him now, "how serious is this stallion's crush on you?"
Luna looked at Death with a confused expression, "What dost thou mean?"
"Sombra," the Pale Alicorn answered, "thou hast implied that he has been stricken by thee, as it were, wouldst thou like to tell me why?"
The Lunar Diarch then nodded her head in understanding. "Very well, I shall answer thee as to the best of my understanding. But first, I believe that thine guard would like to be informed as well."
Death gave her a confused look, before remembering that he was still holding Despair in his magic. The male Alicorn blushed at his negligence and immediately released the flow of his magic, causing the Earth Pony he was carrying to drop unceremoniously to the marble floor.
The former mount shot straight up with his eyes wide. "Who-what-where-why-?" Despair asked, before he turned to see a pale Alicorn with the biggest shit-eating grin he's ever seen, as well as a dark blue Alicorn trying, and failing, to suppress her own laughter.
The former Phantom Steed stood up and gave the two Alicorns a deadpan stare. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Death confirmed, before turning to Luna, "now, I believe you were going to tell us."
"Oh, yes," the Night Princess responded, her face taking on a more thoughtful look, "It all started but a few months ago, when a courier barged into the middle of our court, claiming to have a message for me. Wondering who in all of Equestria would write to me, I promptly took the letter and read it in my room later that night.
"It turned out that it was from the newly crowned ruler of the Crystal Empire, Sombra, and he wrote to me, complimenting my beauty and such, leading to his request to become the queen of the Crystal Empire, so that we may rule. I, of course, heard about his coup from the spies that my sister sent, and was quite appalled that he had the audacity to ask for my hoof in marriage, and immediately wrote a letter to him, declining the offer and requesting that he burn in Tartarus with Tirek for all eternity-"
Death raised his eyebrows at the mention of this 'Tirek', but chose not to interrupt the princess.
"-for all that I care, but the letters still kept coming! each one with offers of love, gold, subjects to rule, but what I find the most disgusting about that pony," Luna spat out the last word as if it tasted bitter on her tongue, "was that he also claimed that our children would have his power and my beauty."
Death could already tell that it was a wise decision to not suggest accompanying Luna to the negotiations, because he honestly had no clue what he was going to do if he ever saw the Mad King. The former Nephillim looked over at Despair to see the Earth Pony's undivided attention.
"So," Despair asked, "what gave your big sister the idea to use you?"
"Well," Luna responded, "it was actually after a Noble by the name of Redblood returned from a six month undercover excursion without the consent of Celestia or myself, as we had all of our spies quickly escape the Empire after Sombra had taken over, and ordered that none of our subjects were to go near that place until we could kick him off the throne. He saved three Crystal Ponies-"
"Wait, 'Crystal Ponies'?" Death asked, confusion written in his expression.
"Crystal Ponies are a Sub-Tribe of Earth Pony," the Princess of the Night explained, "what separates them is that, while Earth Ponies look like any other pony in Equestria, save for their lack of horns or wings, Crystal Ponies' coats appear translucent when within the perimeters of the Crystal Empire, making them look like living crystal, hence the name. Their coats reflect their personality as well, for example, if they are outside the perimeter of the Crystal Heart, a very powerful artifact of theirs, then their coats will closely resemble any other ponies', with the exception of it being brighter and their manes and tails will look well kept if they're in a positive mood.
"But, if they're depressed or scared, then their manes' and tails' will droop, and their coats will become duller than a normal ponies'."
Death, while appreciative of the clarification, didn't need a biology report.
"In any event," Luna stated, getting back on the main focus, "Redblood saved a mare named Rose Quartz, as well as her two foals, Obsidian and Aquamarine, from being punished by Sombra and escaped the Crystal Empire with promises of freedom for the other citizens. When Redblood returned, he shared all the intelligence he gathered, as well as Rose Quartz' hoof in marriage, since her husband was executed a week prior for openly supporting both my sister and I, and she happily accepted, without knowledge of his Noble rank, until we granted him his new title as 'Prince'.
"Celestia and I agreed that this... this... 'Monster' is too nice a word."
"How about the 'Mad King'?", Despair offered helpfully.
"Why, thank thee," Luna answered, before continuing, " getting back on track, we both agreed that Sombra must be stopped. Of course, one does not simply single-hoofedly conquer, and enslave, an entire empire without knowledge of negotiations and war tactics. That was when I brought up Sombra's little love letters, and my sister came up with the idea that we could use his obsession against him in negotiations."
Despair and Death both nodded at this, their curiosity sated for the time being. The Princess of the Night noticed that they had reached their destinations. The door leading to Luna's bedchambers were made from the purest ebony, with a platinum full moon in the middle, while the guest one was simple obsidian. She then turned to address the two newcomers.
"This is where I bid thee a good night, for I must continue on brushing up on negotiation tactics for my summit."
Both ponies nodded while Death was starting to feel the events of the night start to catch up to him, stifling a yawn before replying. "Very well then, we shall not keep thee waiting," he then turned to the door and bid Luna goodnight before both he and his former steed went to turn in for the night.
***
Unbeknownst to all those in the castle, a shadow was watching the entire lecture that Luna had given Death. The shadow felt nothing but burning hatred towards the latter for looking at HIS mare like that, but not as much as he had towards Celestia for brainwashing his love into thinking that she hated him, when it was obvious that the two were meant to be together till the end of time.
The shadow then smiled, showing four vampiric fangs much similar to the Alicorn stallion.
"So, that foal believes that she can keep us apart?," he asked in a deep voice to no one in particular, "then I will just make sure that my beloved Luna can see that we were meant to be together, her as my Crystal Queen."
And with that, Sombra vanished, his two glowing green eyes the last to disappear.
Death opened his eyes to find himself in the strangest of places: a library. But instead of the marble and gold decorum of the White City, or the rustic functionality of Earth's, this was a rather small library, with four wings on each side. Death looked up at the wing in front of him and saw a circle cut in thirds, with the outline of a Unicorn in the left part, a Pegasus on the right, and an Earth Pony below. There was also a line coming from the Earth Pony section, leading to another circle with a smaller outline of the former, studded with gems, a line also came from the Pegasus section with an outline of what he recognized as Luna's guard. Like the other two, the Unicorn part also had a line drawn, but instead of solid gold like the other five, this circle was carved from pure obsidian, and the pony on it had a long, curved horn resembling the Rider's, and its mouth was open, showing four sharp fangs.
The hallway to Death's left had a gold circle emblazed above the entrance, but instead of a pony, he was greeted with the silhouette of a creature with what looked like the wings, talons, and face of an eagle and the posterior of a lion, a Griffon. The hallway behind him had a creature with the appearance of a demon on the gold plate, but its' horns pointed straight up like a bulls' instead of curving like a rams', and its' lower half looked satyr-like. The final corridor on Death's right had a dragon carved on the surface of the precious metal.
Strange, the former Nephillim thought, I could've sworn that I fell asleep in the guest chambers...
"And you still are." a voice that sounded like a mothers own said, as if reading Death's thoughts. It was then that the former Horseman noticed the center of the room, which had a pony with her back turned to him, books surrounding her in a golden aura, with quills in the same coloured aura scribbled furiously in the pages. She turned from the podium in front of her to look at the visitor, smiling. She was alabaster white, just a touch darker than Celestia's, and had a rust-colored mane and tail, Death also noticed that like him and the sisters', she was an Alicorn, but for some reason her mane didn't flow in a non-existent breeze, but rather was cut into bangs, she had pale blue eyes that when looked at, contained wisdom and knowledge that no creature, alive or dead, above or below, could fathom.
Before Death could speak, the mysterious mare raised her hoof.
"I know you have many questions, so I'll just answer the ones I'd wager are on top of the list first.," the female Alicorn said in a motherly voice that seemed to reassure the male. "This is my realm, where I keep records of every living sentient being that has, is, and will be born." She looked at Death to see if he was paying attention, after seeing it undivided, she continued, "I summoned you from your sleeping form so I could get a good look at who Big Brother sent to help with my darling baby Luna."
Death's jaw dropped comically to the floor.
"You're the Creator's Little Sister?!," he asked with a look of disbelief on his face. The Goddess chuckled before grabbing a picture frame in her magical aura and floating it over to the Rider, allowing him to see quite the picture. On the far right was the mare standing before him, but a little smaller, and wearing glasses, next to her was another quadruped, but looked a little more outlandish, with deer-like legs, alabaster white with grey, gold, and black streaks, no mouth, and green and red eyes, with a ring surrounding its' midsection. (For those of you who didn't catch on, here's a link). Next to that one were what appeared to be a married couple, the male appearing humanoid, with the exception of an ebony-black body covered in white specs, giving the illusion of the night sky, and his eyes resembling mini suns, while the female was the polar opposite, wearing a dirt-brown dress with forest-green trim, which looked as if she was wearing the earth itself, her eyes a swirling earthen vortex. And next to the couple was the glowing orb that he knew was the one Who brought him to this world.
Before the Rider could say anything, he was swept into a bone-crushing hug by the Alicorn mare. She then looked at Death's eyes with her own tear-filled ones.
"I just wanted to give you my deepest thanks for helping my dear Luna," Faust began, "I kept watching, again and again, how while my eldest daughter kept openly receiving her praise from the Ponies', her sister never took notice of the revelries and feasts in honor of her night.
"But," the mare added, wiping her tears, "I hope you can change that."
As she finished, Death's vision began to blur, until he passed out, the last thing the Rider saw before the darkness the mother of the Royal Sisters' smiling face.
***
The rays of Celestia's sun were peaking through the windows into the guest bedchambers, but what had awoken the rooms' only inhabitants, a bone-white Earth Pony stallion with a flame-green mane and tail, as well as a corpse-grey Alicorn male, was the sound of a hoof knocking on the door, followed by the voice neither one has heard previously.
"The Princess wishes for the company of thee and thine guard at breakfast." stated a female voice. Death and Despair looked at eachother before getting up from their respective sleeping arrangements (Despair had chosen to sleep on the couch, seeing as he could fit on one now that he was 3/4 his previous size and weight) and left their room, following the maid that had awoken them to the kitchens.
Upon entering, both stallions were greeted by a sight most strange to them: a vegetarian feast. The table was filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, each produce looking riper than the last, and at the end of the table was the alabaster Alicorn Luna had introduced the former Nephillim to last night. Celestia's strawberry pink mane was now blowing in a non-existent wind, much like her nighttime counterpart, and was wearing a gilded horseshoe on each hoof, as well as a solid gold chestplate that had an amethyst put in the center. On her head, just behind her spiraling horn, was a golden crown.
"Ah, Death," said the solar diarch as she noticed the aforementioned stallion enter, "come and sit, we have much to discuss."
The male Alicorn selected the chair on the other side of Celestia's table and sat down, confused as to how exactly a quadruped could perform such a feat. He then turned his attention to his female counterpart, his expression emotionless.
"My sister and I plan on introducing thou to the other royals' at the ball here tonight, but first we must choose an alias for thee." explained the Sun Princess, before adding, "It is not that there are any issues with thine name-"
"But thou wouldst prefer my name be a little less... intimidating?", Death interrupted with a slightly amused expression on his face, "I understand perfectly, I would rather try to avoid someone who has named themselves after the very thing that all creatures, mortal or otherwise, fear.
"In fact, I have a name perfect for the occasion, an old friend of mine," the Rider continued, "I believe Azrael wouldst suffice. Where I come from, Azrael is the name of an Angel, who was tasked by the Creator to guard the entrance into the afterlife, as to make sure the forces of darkness don't take control."
The Sun Princess looked at Death and nodded her head, happy with the information provided to her.
"Very well," she responded, "for now, I must attend the Day Court. Luna must sleep during the day as to fulfill her duties as Princess of the Night, so she is not to be disturbed. And I want thee to send thy guard post-haste to the blacksmith for armor fitting, as well as training with my guards in the courtyard." without even waiting for the male Alicorn's response, Celestia trotted out of the room, which, luckily for her, saved her from the seething anger of Death at her demanding tone.
She might be a princess, thought Death, but she doesn't have to be an absolute biiiiii-plothead.
Yet another thing that the Rider wasn't told by the Creator: along with being given the natives' concepts of beauty, hunger, etc., Death was also forced to use their curse-words as well. After calming down, Death sent Despair to see the blacksmith and head to the courtyard, then decided to do some exploring.
That's when things got weird.
While exploring the Solar half of the castle, Death stumbled upon what appeared to be a commoner, as the pony wasn't in guard or cleaning uniform. She was a pigment less grey Pegasus with a straw-colored mane and tail and seven bubbles on her flank, but what confused the former Nephillim was that the mare seemed to be staring at a statue of a Pegasus with its' face covered by its' hooves, as if it were crying.
"Excuse me," said Death gaining the mare's attention, he was again surprised at seeing her left eye obeying the direction her face was pointing, which was towards the Alicorn, but the other still being trained on the statue.
you know what, after seeing Absolom and the Abominations, I'm surprised that I'm even phased by this...
"Hey there, mister!," said the Pegasus quite possibly the most adorable voice that the stallion had ever heard, "Do you think that you could help me watch it?" she asked, gesturing towards the statue.
Death tilted his head, "Why would a statue need watching?"
"Because it's a Weeping Pegasus." replied a voice behind the Rider. He turned around to find the owner of the voice, seeing a chestnut brown Earth Pony stallion with a chocolate brown mane and tail, his Cutie Mark was an hourglass, and he was wearing a white collar and green necktie, in his ear was some device.
But what Death focused on was the eyes.
The stallion's eyes were sky blue and had a thin layer of humor and charm, obviously to fool other ponies into thinking he was as such. But Death was no other pony, and he was easily able to strip that layer away, exposing the true creature that was underneath, and what he saw was something that Death never thought possible. He saw hundreds of years of pain, isolation, madness, regret, and genocide.
What the Eldest Brother of the Four Horseman saw, was a reflection.
The stallion walked up to the Rider with a playful smirk, "Hello, I'm the Doctor," he then gestured to the mare, "and this is my companion, Ditzy Doo. And who, are you."
Before Death could answer, an ear-piercing screech echoed behind the three ponies, and Ditzy realized that with the Doctor here, she focused both eyes on him.
Nopony was watching the statue.
But when Death turned around, the statue was two feet away, lying on its' back with a forehoof raised in an attempt for protection against some kind of threat.
"Is it supposed to do that?" the Rider asked the Doctor.
The Earth Pony shook his head in utter disbelief, "no, they've never even shown any indication of this."
"What?"
"Fear."
Death just looked at the statue, walked up to it. as he was in no mood to deal with this, he used his magic to unsheathe Chaos Fang, then combined the two blades into one scythe. rearing his head back, the weapon following his movements, he swung the blade at the stone sculpture.
The Doctor looked at the scene with horror filled eyes, "Stop! Nothing can kill a-" the sound of metal slicing through stone interrupted him, and he saw the Alicorn separate the weapon and latch them onto his belt loops. Then, the head of the Weeping Pegasus slid off its' neck, shattering as it hit the castle floor.
He killed it... Someone had actually managed to kill the unkillable.
Death just walked past the two dumbfounded ponies with a smirk on his face. He decided that he needed to brush up on the customs of this world. He was whistling a happy little tune he heard the Solar guard do the entire time.
Evidently, Celestia wasn't kidding when she said that all of Equis' leaders were going to visit the party anyways.
Death was somewhat surprised at some of the creatures; he had already meet with the Minotaur chief, Theseus, the Pharaoh of Zebrica, Trotenkhoman, and the Griffin Emperor, Metalbeak (which, apparently, was the title given to him after a rival of his challenged his right to the throne tore the Emperor's beak off, he still one, but now Metalbeak wears a customized helmet so that others don't stare at the spot where his top beak once was).
Death was wandering around until he found Luna conversing with a Rhino that he didn't quite catch the name to before the heralding trumpets blared, which surprised all the royals somewhat, as all the leaders that were invited were here, with the exception of the Alpha Dragon, Paarthurnax, who was in the middle of a civil war with his older brother, Alduin, over who should lead. Before the announcer could introduce who the mysterious dignitary was, the doors to the grand hall burst open, and everyone gasped, while the Royal Sisters glared at who it was.
Four ponies, who had extremely dull coats that at one time shined brighter than the stars (Crystal Ponies, Death theorized) were chained to some sort of carriage, which was laid with fine silks and cushions that were almost as black as the heart of the pony riding it, and even though he never saw any depictions or paintings of him, Death knew who this was.
He was an ashen-grey Unicorn, his coat several shades darker than the Rider's, with blood red eyes and was wearing some sort of armor with a cape and crown that went over his long, crimson, dagger-like horn; like Death's, the stallion's mane and tail licked off his body like a black flame, but, instead of all his teeth being sharp, it was just the canines.
This, the former Horseman realized, was King Sombra of the Crystal Empire. But what also got Death's, along with everybody else's attention, was the chain wrapped around the Mad King's hoof, which lead down to attach itself to a collar, like a leash, which chained what appeared to be a... bug?
It had the build of a female child, as well as a pony, but what made everyone stare was how it looked like a bug, complete with insectoid wings and what appeared to be a carapace, which was covered with cuts and bruises, revealing that it was regular skin and fur, it also had holes in its' hooves, but those looked more biological, as if the creature was born with them. two fangs protruded from its mouth, and had a long, silky green mane and tail, it also had a jagged horn protruding from its-no- HER head. Death realized that whatever this was, it was a filly, and he could tell that she had to be no more than five or six years old in the Time of Man, and her cheeks were matted with tears long-since shed.
And that poor excuse for a living being obviously brought her here to impress the nobles' and Royalty, more specifically Luna, and it made Death pissed to no end. But, before he could confront the King, the carriage stopped, and the ponies chained to it were forced onto their front legs as Sombra climbed out, pulling the filly with him.
"Fellow leaders' of Equis!", he called, "I, King Sombra, rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire, have arrived to show to you a wondrous creature that was found trying to steal MY Crystal Heart!"
He gestured to the mysterious pony that was collared, who flinched at the movement, fear showing in her green, snake-pupilled eyes. The king smiled sadistically at the act, obviously enjoying the creature's fear of him.
"I order you, Slave, show them your power.," ordered Sombra, to which the filly complied and immediately transformed as green flames danced around her body, completely encasing her before the flames died down, revealing an exact duplicate of Metalbeak, with the exception of lacking the Emperor's custom helmet, revealing the cracked shell that remains of the top of his beak.
The leaders all gasped, with the exception of Celestia, who walked up to the captive as the latter transformed back to her original form, the Solar Diarch's eyes wide in wonder.
"Tell Us, King Sombra," Celestia asked, "where hast thou found it?"
That was most likely Death's least favorite word describing an organic, sentient creature:It. The word was always used as a derogatory term, meant to convince the one being called that a feeling of misery, that they're not normal.
And Celestia didn't even seem to care as she questioned the very pony she so hated the previous night; while the other leaders, Luna included, seemed to be shocked and disgusted by the pink-maned Alicorn's use of the term. But before the Unicorn could indulge the Alicorn's curiosity, the little filly seemed to regain some sort of courage, as with another flash of green fire she transformed into what looked like a complete carbon copy of King Sombra.
Well... excluding how instead of armor, the clone was wearing undergarments, his coat was urine-colored, his horn was flopping uselessly this way and that, and his eyes were crossed. All of the royals laughed at the humor, including Death, who was lightly chuckling; Sombra and Celestia however, were shocked and appalled at the behavior.
"FOOLISH CREATURE!!!", bellowed the Mad King, his horn glowing, which in turn sent a spark of dark magic down the chain and into the filly's collar, shocking her and causing the disguise to drop. "I let you live, feed you, give you the honor of being shown to gods! And this is how you repay me?!", Sombra raised his hoof to hit the poor thing, before in a flash of purple light, the only thing in front of the Shadow King was an empty collar, and the filly cowering behind a grey Alicorn stallion, who-- while wearing a mask of indifference-- any fool could see the fury in his eyes.
"So...", said the Pale Rider, the ice in his voice causing even Theseus to shiver. "This is how creatures of "Peace" and "Harmony" live their gospel? By enslaving a defenseless child-- one of thine own ilk-- and threatening her with death?"
Sombra was enraged by this, how DARE this pretender act like he is more powerful? King Sombra can raise both the sun and moon with his dark magic and crystal power source, this pony is nothing.
"You will give it back!"
"No."
"Return it to me or suffer!"
Death just rolled his eyes at the colt and craned his neck down towards the bug-like pony. "Art thou alright?", the filly just answered with a quiet nod. The former Nephillim then summoned a Thestral guard and had the filly taken to the baths to be cleaned, then to the guest quarters he and Despair were using to rest and be fed. After a nod from Luna to signal that her male counterpart's will was to be done, the guard gently lifted the child onto his back and trotted out of the throne room.
As soon as the doors slammed close, Death turned to Sombra. "You know, if you want HER back, thou couldst always challenge me to a duel?"
The king pondered this for a moment, before agreeing.
One moment, I see that jackass who seems to share my likeness; the next, we're both in a clearing just outside of the ballroom, surrounded by all the rulers of this planet, dueling over who will claim custody and care for a child that was of no known species, yet vaguely resembling Celestia and Luna. The rules seemed to be simple: when royals personally challenged each other in this fashion, the more war-like countries like the Griffin Empire or the Minotaur Confederacy preside over the duel; the challenged would choose the weapon they would fight with, and whoever was killed or submitted first would lose, and the winner would claim the prize that was the cause of said duel.
We were all lead into an open area of the castle's courtyard, where Sombra and I stood at opposite edges of the field. Then, Emperor Metalbeak walked into the center of the arena, wings fully unfurled as per custom; the griffin looked at both of us before calling out.
"Azrael: Prince of unknown origin, has challenged Sombra: King of the Crystal Empire to a duel, the winner of which, shall gain full custody of the child that the latter brought; King Sombra!", he said, turning to the Unicorn, "As the challenged party, you decide the weapon the two of you will fight with."
The stallion thought for a moment, before purple smoke started trailing from his eyes and magic started bubbling from his horn. A crystal of Dark Magic erupted from the ground next to Sombra, before molding itself into the one weapon that I was praying he wouldn't pick: a sword. While my face was completely neutral, my thoughts were a different story as I was somehow able to override the curse-lock the Creator put on me, and was using the freedom to its fullest. You see, while I was expert at gauntlets, scythes--of course--glaives, hammers, maces, guns, and claws, I could never get the hang of swords; I mean, they're so unimaginative, and the blade is only on one side. How War is able to use one as tall as him is beyond me.
"Azrael!", shouted Metalbeak, snapping me out of my inner swearing, "create your sword with your inner magic!" ,I was frozen; great, alchemy, my second least favorite. As I pondered how to go about the situation, His Royal Foolishness spoke.
"Ah, so you are petrified by my magical capabilities already? I'll just have my guard reclaim my p-"
That was when I stopped listening and finally decided this: Fuck. My. Opinions.
My horn glowed it's royal purple hue, as if on instinct, as bones from the forest outside the castle started to crawl towards a spot in front of me; there were teeth, claws, stingers, talons, beaks, and horns being bound together by what little flesh and sinew still clung to them, resulting in my creation. It was a long sword similar in design to Sombra's in the simplistic, general design that children would draw a sword in; but the edges were serrated with talons, claws, and fangs , as leg, wing, and arm bones made up the flat of the blade, and two small femurs took up the hilt and handle. The bones were held together by the same flesh as before, but now the flesh was tanned leather and made the saber appear more frightening, and I could smell the poison from the stingers mentioned before coating the weapon.
Using my magic, I picked up the sword to get a 'feel' for it; it was surprisingly well-balanced, which I've never felt on any sword, and seemed to fit my form perfectly. I looked over at Metalbeak, who seemed to be shocked and pleased with how fast the blade was put together--much faster than Sombra--while the Mad King seemed actually shocked, before putting his mask of arrogance back on. The Griffon Emperor unsheathed his own sword and lifted the weapon high above him, before swiftly swinging it down, indicating the battle's start.
Sombra and I charged before locking blades in the center of the battlefield. We remained like that for a time until I head-butted the Unicorn, ending the stale-mate and started hacking and slashing, the king barely able to keep up with the speed and force that I put into each swing. We both jumped back, panting from the exertion, and started circling around each other with our heads low to the ground, appearing as two predators fighting over territory. I knew he didn't care whether or not he got the child back, he was just doing this to show Princess Luna his strength in combat by defeating a member of a race that is seen as a god to the inhabitants to this world, and that made me even more angry. My combatant seemed to be unaccustomed to swords as well, as he was simply parrying and using moves that I KNOW War would break the blade in half over how sloppy the king was performing.
"You are certainly stronger than I anticipated, Auriel," Sombra said just loud enough for only me to hear, "but do you really believe that some two-bit Alicorn that just shows up the night before, showing chivalry and politeness to MY Luna, and challenging me in front of every important leader on this planet will defeat me? I can see through your façade; all you are is a monster, who chained himself and put on a mask to hide his true face from the rest of Creation." he finished his mind games with something that truly confused me: "How did it feel, killing your own kind just so all those who live because of it, now shun and fear you?"
How did he know- I thought to myself, before a burning sensation appeared in my chest, causing me to almost lose concentration. I knew this feeling: Anger, and it was consuming me as thoughts that weren't my own started filling my head.
He is correct... the voice said in a mocking tone, why did we even bother with killing the Nephillim, if all that would come of it would be hatred and fear from Creation? We were shackled to a corrupt council that sought to blame War for actions he never committed; we pretend to be men, when all we are... is a monster clawing its' way out.
And we should embrace it.
All of a sudden, red filled my vision as I let out a roar and charged Sombra, taking the king by surprise. With one swing of my sword, I sliced his own in half, before breaking his front left leg with my hoof; the Mad King screamed in agony, before falling on his side, clutching the broken appendage. I pointed my saber at Sombra, and spoke in a voice that was barely my own.
"Do you yield?"
The king nodded through clenched eyes, as Metalbeak was snapped out of the trance my anger put him in. The emperor raised his sword, and said, "Azrael wins by forfeit!"
