> A Reaper's Tale > by hollowsbest > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 - Griffins Can Do Things Too! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tour guide wound her way through the statue garden to perhaps what was the second oldest statue there, it was a depiction of two bipedal figures with odd looking weapons in their hands and wide grins on their faces; some said they looked creepy, others avoided the area all together; feeling like they were being watched. Not Gilda though, she liked the statues. They were pretty cool, even if they were named lame names. Which were "The Undertaker" and "Jack The Ripper", though Gilda didn't mind. Seeing as she had visited the statues almost every day since she discovered them, not that she'd let anyone know; being the "cool" griffin she was. Currently, Gilda was waiting for the group to move on so she could dawdle and stare at the statues for a bit longer. Oddly enough, they made her feel safe; she wasn't creeped out like some ponies, nor was she weirded out by what they were. The statues were misunderstood, like herself. Which, was probably why Gilda had taken a liking to them. Gilda glanced up at the guide then back at her favourite statue/s, she slowly slunk into the shadows behind the statues; as to not cause any suspicion she held her breath and counted to a hundred before moving. She came out from behind the pedestal type thing and sat down in front of the statue, trying to figure out what the creatures were; and why they made her feel safe. The creatures looked like deformed minotaurs, they seemed to have a mane and wore clothing. Their weapons seemed odd to say the least, one was recognisable as a scythe; the other... Gilda had no idea. Gilda's lion tail flicked back and forth as she stared at the statue, trying to find out it's secrets. Not that she'd find any the way she was going about it, it was like she expected the statues to speak or something of the sort. Gilda's head shot up as she heard a cracking sound from the statues before her, she watched the stone crack before crumbling into dust around the two figures and who seemed to be stretching. "Hey, Griffin; don't let anyone use the Elements on you, it hurts like hell when you free yourself from a stone prison." The one with the red cloak-like thing said, Gilda nodded dumbly; her eyes wide as she watched the scene take place. "I do believe that is Gilda, I wonder why she's the one to witness this?" The other said, twirling it's scythe. Gilda shook her head. "What are you?" She asked, not bothering to be polite. "Well, we're... Um, Undertaker; are we Shinigami or humans?" "Shinigami, no human could survive being stoned." The silver-haired one began to snigger hysterically, while the red-haired one just sighed in disappointment. "Anyway, I'm Grell; this is the Undertaker. And we've got no idea what time it is." Grell said, it's odd weapon seemingly had disappeared; the Undertaker's scythe had as well. "It's-" "Is Twilight an Alicorn yet?" The Undertaker asked, it jumped down from the pedestal and smirked. "What?" "Y'know, the purple unicorn who lives in Ponyville?" "Oh, her. Yeah, she's an Alicorn." Gilda said, her disgust apparent. "Grell?" "Mhmm?" "We are totally screwed if word gets out." "That's true." Both broke out into giggles, Gilda just stared at them both incredulity. "Okay, I've got some questions. One, why was it; when I visited where you were 'stoned' I felt safe?" "Huh, seems you've been drawn into the fold. Welcome Gilda, because now; whether you like it or not, you're stuck joining us on an epic quest!" Grell said. "What." "What she means to say is, you were somehow drawn to us; so if you want answers, you'll be joining us in our quest as we adventure across Gaia." Undertaker said with a chuckle. "Wha- tha- I-I-" Gilda closed her beak, staring at the two; they both grinned back. She realised that they both had what seemed to be very sharp teeth, and the Undertaker had referred to Grell as she; so Gilda assumed Grell was female. "Undertaker, I do believe we're the first type of our 'kind' that Gilda's seen. So let's get this straight, I'm female; Undertaker's female for reasons I don't know, and you're female. 'Kay?" "Uh, okay." "Now let's go adventuring! Preferably away from Princess Stone-All-Unknown-Creatures." "Who?" "Celestia." Grell deadpanned, Gilda looked sheepish. Grell turned to face the city; Canterlot and she smirked. "Say, who wants to go adventuring in the Everfree?" She asked, snickering slightly. "Oh! I do, I do!" Undertaker said, jumping up and down like a foal. "Why are we going there?" "Because before we were stoned-" the Undertaker let out a snicker- "we hadn't explored much, so that's what we're doing today!" "The Everfree! Haven't you heard what goes on in there?!" "Is the chicken, chicken?" "I'm no chicken!" "Then prove it... Chicken." Gilda let out a cat-sounding growl. "Fine." "Okay! Let's go!" Undertaker said, breaking her quiet snickering to stop the teasing. Grell quietly snickered as the trio walked, more of jumped and in Gilda's case flew. They were avoiding Canterlot for obvious reasons and they had decided to go straight down the mountain, and head straight for the Everfree; which to Grell and the Undertaker, seemed more like "home" than anywhere else on Gaia. "I wonder how long it'll be before Gilda finally asks why we decided to let her come along?" Grell mused, the casual grin her face replaced with a line; which made her seem more terrifying. "Oi, you two; just what exactly is a Shinigami? And why are you letting me tag along? I'm obviously slowing you down." "Shinigami are Death Gods, Grim Reapers if you will; and we're letting you tag along because you were the first creature in under a hundred years that didn't bolt, scream or freeze up when you saw us. And you said you felt safe with us, so it's a best bet if you continue to stay with us so we can figure why." "...I guess that makes sense." Gilda replied to the red-headed Reaper. "It kinda does, and most of the time; who can understand the sense you make?" "Bassy can!" "I don't believe we got lucky enough to be sent to a Equestria with Sebas-chan on it, and since when are you fantasizing about him?" "We might've been, who knows?" Grell said, doing a series of backflips to avoid a few sharp rocks- midair I might add. "Perhaps." The Undertaker trailed off, before glancing over at the town near the forest they were heading to. "Isn't that Ponyville?" "Yeah it is." Gilda answered the silver-haired Reaper. "What else did you think it was?" Grell asked, trying to sneakily adjust her bra which was digging into her skin. "I know what you're doing." "Gonna stop me?" "No." The Undertaker said, a wide grin on her face. Grell rolled her eyes and pulled the coat on properly, the wind was slowly gaining in strength. "I didn't realise there was a storm scheduled for today." Gilda said, glancing up at the stormclouds; not realising they had finally reached the Everfree Forest. "There isn't, we're in the forest." Grell said, pulling her cloak tighter around herself. "Undertaker, think our little home survived 1200 years?" "The magic little Golden Shield used couldn't be broken by anyone other than the caster and the owner of the thing being shielded." "So it should've, 'kay." Grell said, spinning happily. They tromped through the forest going slowly but carefully, after an encounter with a few timberwolves both had their weapons out; Gilda got to see Grell's Death Scythe in action, and she also got told what it was; and chainsaw, and her Death Scythe. After an hour or so, the trio stumbled upon a cottage in a clearing; it seemed small, but once you stepped inside it was quite bigger than expected. You expected it to be a one-roomed cottage, but in reality it was a 3 bedroomed house with a kitchen, living room and workroom with several machines in it. Among other rooms, which would only get explained if you found them. The Undertaker giggled when she saw the expression on Gilda's face; it was priceless, she didn't break into full blown laughter though; that was best saved. "Great! This place survived." Grell said, she headed into the workroom before coming back out with a bottle and rag; she grabbed a chair from the kitchen and placed her Death Scythe on the table in front of her, she carefully started to clean the chainsaw and started to hum while she worked. "What's Grell doing?" Gilda asked, she watched in mild interest as the Reaper cleaned her weapon. "She's cleaning her Death Scythe, I have no need to clean mine; nor does she really, but she does anyway." "Oh." Gilda said, the room lapsed into silence for a few minutes before Grell let out a giggle. "I wonder if we can find one of Golden Shields relatives? I know she got married, and had kids; Undertaker, can you track the family tree?" "Eh, why not." She said, the Undertaker's eyes closed and Grell ceased humming. My eyes slowly opened and I watched as ponies flicked pass my face, I found the one I was searching for; Golden Shield. A young white golden-maned pegasus, surprisingly she could cast shield spells which were nearly as powerful as the Alicorn's. No one knew why though, we had befriended the slightly brash pegasus when we had first landed on Gaia. Her cutie mark was a metal shield that looked like it was growing out of the tree behind it. It represented her personality quite well, she was a strong believer about nature and how the world works and loved working with plants; the shield stood for her drive to protect others. She got it in protecting the trees around her home from a unicorn who wanted to destroy the lot to build a store to get more bits, the shield she had made that day had been quite impressive; or so I've been told. I quickly flicked through her family tree hoping that her family didn't die out, it hadn't thankfully. But her Great (Plus several greats) Granddaughter was quite surprising, I knew exactly who the pegasus was. The Undertaker's eyes opened (Not that you could see it.), she gave a sigh. "I know who it is." "Who is it?" Grell asked, "Fluttershy." > Chapter 2 - Grell's Slightly Crazy Idea > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gilda gave a squawk. "Wh-what?" She asked, "the pony that cast the shield spell on this house so it wouldn't rot is the Great Great Great Great Great something or other Grandmother of Fluttershy's?" Gilda said, her eyes wide. The Undertaker nodded. "Yes, it seems so. I wonder if she also inherited Golden's shield casting and flight speed?" "Wouldn't bet on the flight speed, the shield might be a thing though." Grell said, her Death Scythe had vanished again. "That's true." The Undertaker admitted. "Let's go visit her!" Grell said suddenly, the joy evident in her voice. "You're gonna have to find a way to still be you but without the teeth, otherwise she's gonna faint." "Well you have to not talk about the dead while we're there." "Fine." "Fine." "Don't you both think this is a bad idea?" Gilda asked, having no idea how she had been pulled into this craziness. "Nope!" Grell said, a wide grin on her face as they walked through the Everfree. "Yes." The Undertaker said quietly, Gilda heard but barely. A few minutes later and they were at the edge of the forest that was near Fluttershy's cottage, Grell had tried to walk right over but the Undertaker stopped her. "We're not in disguise." She said, Grell nodded and pulled out a necklace from her pocket. "Why are you-" "I really hope this works." She muttered, and in a bright flash of crimson light she vanished. After the spots had cleared from the Undertaker's and Gilda's eyes it was revealed that Grell had turned into a pony, a pegasus. "Idiot, you know how much it hurts transforming. But I guess it must be done." The Undertaker pulled out a similar necklace and put it on as well, though after the spots had cleared from their eyes she had become a unicorn; though they still couldn't see her eyes. "Huh, last time we did this we became Alicorns; I wonder why?" Grell said, flapping her new-found wings. "No idea." The Undertaker said with a giggle. "Though you must remember, it was a life or death situation; perhaps it thought we needed both magic and flight." "That's true. I wonder if we could become griffins?" Grell wondered, she tapped her chin before checking it off; neither the Undertaker's or Grell's clothes were being worn, they had vanished. The only things that survived were Grell's glasses and the Undertaker's top hat. "Now that's just weird." Gilda said as she watched the two newly transformed ponies. "Okay Undertaker you stay here with Gilda, I'll go and talk to Flutters." "Remember not to let her faint!" The Undertaker said with a giggle. "I know!" Grell's wings fluttered open and she hovered for a second before she shot off towards the cottage, she quickly landed once she reached the front door; she had gone so fast she had been a blur, certainly faster than Rainbow Dash; but who cared. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door with a hoof, which I had to get used to again; the door opened to reveal a Draconequus in an apron, the Draconequus was Discord; whom seemed to be making lunch for Fluttershy. "Yes?" He asked, leaning against the door. "I'd like to speak to a Miss Fluttershy." I said, I quickly fully folded my wings which hid my chainsaw cutie mark. "One second." Discord said, he shut the door and I heard a squeak and a sound of a soft "Nononono." after a few seconds the door opened again by the timid pegasus. "C-come i-in." Fluttershy said, I nodded and trotted inside. Fluttershy followed slowly, Discord plonked the pegasus on a chair before heading back into the kitchen. "You're Fluttershy right?" The butter yellow pegasus nodded. "I just want to know, do you have an ancestor name Golden Shield?" "I-I think so." "What do you know of her?" "I know she could cast a shield spell nearly as strong as an Alicorn's using her wings, she could also fly really fast; the only one who could match her speed was a red pegasus who ponies used to call the Red Twister as occasionally when Golden Shield and Red Twister raced they would cause tornados. I also know that she was called a traitor for befriending the creatures who supposedly killed a few ponies, the creatures were turned to stone and put in the royal statue gardens." "That's all correct other than she wasn't a traitor, she was the only one that would interact with the creatures because the other ponies were afraid because of how they looked; the killing ponies was made up so Celestia had a reason to stone them, they were turned to stone for nothing other than they were different." Fluttershy looked at me with her eyes wide, tears started to well up in her eyes. "Nonono don't cry, it's okay Fluttershy." "Th-those p-p-poor creatures, t-th-they must've b-been s-s-so scared." Fluttershy said, her Element of Kindness showing through. "No, they weren't. Know why?" "W-why?" Fluttershy asked, wiping away her tears. "Because they knew it would happen, because a pony named Golden Shield told them what was to happen; they accepted their fate, they-" Fluttershy dove at me, she hugged me and cried into my shoulder while I hugged her to try and calm her down; I was inwardly crying along with her, as well as facepalming because I made Fluttershy cry. "Shh shh. It's okay." "N-noo it's nooot, those p-poor creatures." "Will you stop crying if I tell you they broke free and are fine?" "M-maybe." Fluttershy pulled away from me, her eyes puffy from crying. "My mother told me stories of the creatures, said they were kind; though one had a weird sense of humor and the other seemed slightly crazy." She said, watching me. "She is so naive, and it's adorable." I took a deep breath, the Undertaker was totally gonna kill me. "Fluttershy, I am Red Twister; better known as Grell Sutcliff, and former friend of Golden Shield." I opened my eyes to a thump, Fluttershy had fainted. > Chapter 3 - That Could've Turned Out Better > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I groaned, she had fainted. Course she had fainted! I'm such an idiot. I sighed, certainly I had lied slightly about a few things but that didn't matter; what mattered was getting Shy out of here before Discord came back. "Why couldn't I have been a unicorn?" I muttered, gently hefting Shy onto my back and flicking my ears towards the kitchen where I heard whistling. "I'm so screwed." I whispered, flaring my wings opened and carefully heading to the door; I opened it slowly and glanced at the animals who were quietly watching. "Buck." I thought for a second. "I'm taking Shy to the hospital, since I don't have any smelling salts and I think she hit her head." I said, the bear that I just noticed stopped bearing it's teeth at me; I left through the door and shut it behind me before carefully flying back to where I left the Undertaker and Gilda. "What did you do?" Came the voice of the Undertaker as I flew into the clearing. "Go fish." SHe said to Gilda, who growled and took a card. "I just told her who I was." "Idiot." "I know." I hung my head and watched the two. "You got any threes?" Gilda gave a grumble and passed the card over to the Undertaker who grinned. "This is why I never play Go Fish with her." I say, not feeling Shy's weight at all. It was slightly challenging getting her on my back, but damn! Was she light. "We better get going, Discord's gonna get pissed once he realises what happened." Gilda stared at me. "You just grabbed her and left?!" She asked, her eyes wide. "Yeah, so we better get moving. The house will block her magical signature from Discord so let's move quickly, I also wanna dump her so I can go and kill things in the Everfree." I said with a grin, my mouth full of fangs showing. The Undertaker facehoofed. "Let's move it then." "Uh huh." I replied, my wings flared opened and support Shy better as I walked. Once we reached home I carefully put the adorable pegasus on the couch and sat down to wait for her to wake up, the Undertaker had changed back from a pony and switched to griffin for a reason I didn't hear. She was a white griffin with grey head feathers which still hid her eyes (Which I still didn't know the colour of) and darker grey lion's body. I was still a light red pegasus with crimson hair which was still quite long. Gilda sat in the corner trying to play Solitaire which the Undertaker had taught her, she was failing miserably. So we played Go Fish together for awhile until I heard Shy start to stir. "Gilda, pause K?" "Ok." I stood up and trotted over to Shy and sat down in front of the couch she was on, Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes and spotted me; she eeped and tried to hide behind her mane. "Hey Fluttershy, you okay? It seemed you hit your head pretty hard." "I-I'm fine." She murmured, thankfully I heard her. "That's good, do you remember what I said?" I got a nod. "Is it true? You're really Red Twister?" "Yeah, but my pony name is really Blood Chainsaw. But call me Grell." "Bad name!" I heard the Undertaker yell, she poked her head in and gave me a glare. "Her pony name is really Crimson Ruby, she's just being a pain. But call her Grell, I'm the Undertaker." Fluttershy nodded meekly, I glared at my friend who stuck her tongue out at me. "Nice to meet you both." She said, I almost nearly d'awed at her expression; she was so cute! Even though she seemed terrified, I was hoping I could calm her down. "You've met Gilda I suppose?" Shy nodded. Gilda glanced over and gave a scowl. "I don't see why she's so special." Spat the griffin, who was pretty nice once you got to know her. "We do, which is why you're gonna get along or I'll put you on a strict exercise regime." Gilda gave a grumble and I ignored her, I offered a wing to Fluttershy and she instantly snuggled up against me. I closed my wing over her and sighed, we needed to bring out assertive Fluttershy but only a moderate amount. So she was still the adorable mare, but didn't be a doormat if she was threatened. She seemed terrified and I was the only one she knew that wouldn't scream in her face, Undertaker can be scary without her coffee. I sat thinking about how I could bring out a badass Flutters but still keep her naive innocence. A few minutes later Fluttershy had seemed to have fallen asleep in my hug, I had been in my thinking mood until something crashed into my head. "Ow, what the hell was that?" I muttered, gently untangling myself from Flutter's unconscious hug and staring at the object on the floor. It was odd to say the least, it was a black and green cylinder with a button on one side. I pulled off the necklace the kept me in a pony form and cringed as I shifted, it hurt pretty badly. I reached down and grabbed it. I turned the cylinder thing over a few times to get a good look at it, before I heard a voice come out of it. It startled me enough I nearly dropped it. "I am the changer of shape, seeking to understand the many forms of life. Call for the man of many shapes during your hour of need and I will come, a one man army. Activate the cylinder and in a flash I'll be ready to clash." "What?" I said, staring at the thing. Hesitating to press the button. I toyed with the idea, but I put the item on the coffee table and let it sit there while I stewed. I glanced at Gilda who was staring at me. "Did you realise that just appeared?" She asked, I was going to aluad her calm voice. "It might be Discord-" Her voice cracked "-or worse, you did ponynap one of the Elements." I nearly facepalmed, she seemed so calm but the crack gave it away. She was terrified, she didn't show it; but she was. Discord terrified her, for good reasons; she did a good job hiding it. "It wasn't Discord, it's a thing." "A thing?" "A thingy thing." "What?" "It's a thingy thing." "Okay!" Exclaimed Gilda in a huff, I smirked. Replying like that always pissed people off, and it let me avoid the question without saying I don't know. "You've got no idea, right?" And there comes the bane of my existence! "It's a thingy thing." I replied. the Undertaker was back in her normal form. "Okay." She gave a shrug, and spotted FLuttershy. "Ohmygod! She's so CUTE!" Squealed the Undertaker, she had been a long-time brony after all. I was amazed she had lasted this long in Fluttershy's presence. My Cute meter was sated from giving her a hug. I stifled a few giggles, afraid they would wake up Best Adorable Pony. Pinkie and Luna fought for the best spot in my mind. "So, any luck bringing out Assertive Flutters?" "Nope, not yet." "You fell asleep." "Did not!" "Did so!" "Did not!" "Did so!" "Did not!" "Did so!" "Did not infinity!" I cried out in victory. "Hate you." She muttered. "No ya don't ya silly Reaper." She grinned at me. "That's true, it's probably 'cause you're Grell you're so irritating." "Nah, that's my natural charm." I replied back sassily. "Not something to be proud of." Undertaker said, a smirk on her face. "I wanna see your eyes." I said suddenly, glancing at my friend. "Wha... No." "Are they pink?" "No." "Demon slitted with the sparkly pink and red?" "No." "Bright bright yellow?" "My eyes aren't Claude's colour." "Then what are they?" "You know." "...No." "Yes." "AWESOME! They're rainbow!" "What? No! They're normal Reaper coloured, greenish yellow." "Awe." The Undertaker rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen, I grinned and twirled a crimson lock around my finger; asking what her eye colour always freaked her out, no idea why. She also didn't wear the Reaper standard glasses, no glasses at all. I didn't need mine, actually I do; they let me see the cinematic records. Perhaps Undertaker had contacts and was embarrassed, nah; it was more like they were an embarrassing colour. There was no way in hell they were normal Reaper coloured. I bet they're a bright pink... No idea why my mind is so stuck on pink. > Chapter 4 - So I'm A What-Now? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I stared at the little cylinder on the coffee table, wondering if it was a bomb or something else exciting. I glanced around making sure the Undertaker wasn't around and picked it up, I tapped the sides and finally hovered my thumb over the button on the top; kinda wishing someone would stop me. I snuck a glance at Gilda, she was watching with an avid fascination as I held the odd item. I groaned, of course she wasn't going to help. In one quick fluid motion I pressed the button. The device went off in a flash, dropping what looked like a young human male on the floor. "Seriously?" he asked, getting to his feet. He brushed himself off, looking around. "Ok, who summoned me and why? i'm kinda busy at the moment for Yggdrasil sake!" I just stared at the guy, who I assumed was human for a few seconds before grinning; showing off my teeth. "Summoned? Is that what I did when I pressed the button on that thing?" I asked, pulling off my coat and draping it over Fluttershy so she wouldn't freak out when she woke up. Gilda just sat there staring at the two of us before she sighed. "I'm going to go to my room, and try and forget this ever happened." She said simply and left, I rolled my eyes seeing as she would probably get lost; it was bigger on the inside, magic was the best. "Yes summoned," he said, turning to glare at me, "Now please, tell me why the hell am I here? I'm you know, rather freaking busy." he ran a hand through his hair, sighing loudly. "I'm Jason, and you are?" he asked, looking into my eyes. "I'm Grell, and I was just wondering what the button did; not like I knew it was going to open a portal to who-knows-where!" I exclaimed, I adjusted my glasses and stared at his cinematic record; it looked breathtaking, I fought the urge to grab my scythe out of my hammerspace and just run him through. I quickly pulled my glasses off and let them hang on their chain, the urge lessened slightly; but not much. "Grell! Why was Gilda stuck in your spider's room in her web?!..." The Undertaker yelled, she trailed off as she realised someone else was here. "Who the hell is that? I thought we agreed no more-" I cut off her rant. "We did, I pressed the button on that cylinder thing and then he appeared; said I summoned him. No idea how I did though." I turned to Jason. "Jason this is the Undertaker, Undertaker this is Jason." "Ok, I'm not liking the tense in the room," Jason said, eyeing the Undertaker wearily, "Should I be worried for my safety?" he asked, reaching into his pocket, narrowing his eyes slightly. Undertaker gave a cackle, I groaned. "Not this again." I muttered. "Perhaps, perhaps not." She said with a giggle, she then pulled her scythe from midair. Lucky bastard, I had to use an object to access my hammerspace. She spun it around her fingers smirking the whole while. "Knock it off." I said, trying to grab her scythe without having one of my fingers lost. "Nope!" She replied with another insane giggle and spun around like she was dancing. I epicly facepalmed, it was normally me doing the crazy stuff; she was probably more pissed off at me than I thought for nabbing Fluttershy. Jason just groaned, running a hand down his face. "I always get the crazy people don't I?" he asked, watching the Undertaker spin around like an idiot. "Whatcha mean?" I asked, ignoring Undertaker's attempts to annoy me further. "Just tell me what you need, please?" Jason asked groaning, running a band through his hair. “What I need? I don’t need anything really. And you sound pretty annoyed, so what’s your problem?” I replied. "I was in the middle of something important thank you very much," Jason said, crossing his arms, his eyes glowing a bit. “Can I ask what?” I asked, wondering now; what exactly was so important. "I am helping my friends restore Griffonstone thank you very much." “Griffinstone? Isn’t that the place- where- stuff, happened? Nah screw me, I’ve got no idea where that is. Care to explain further, Mister Portal Hopping Man?” "It's the griffon kingdom that became a hellhole after they lost some mind if idol." Jason explained “Huh, I’ve heard of the Griffin kingdom. Never been there, I was planning to though; I wonder what the cinematic records of griffins look like.” I mused. “I’ve also never heard of you, have you been in Griffinstone for the last thousand years; I’m assuming you’re immortal to some degree… Seeing as the only ‘humans’ here are Undertaker and I, and now you are added to that list.” Jason just started to laugh, finding that human but rather humorous apparently. “What’s so funny?” I asked, cocking my head. "I'm not exactly human, never have been." He said with a smirk. “Then what are you?” I asked, slightly confused. I frown starting to appear, Undertaker had vanished; to who-knows-where. "I am a jotun and I'm not from this universe in the first place." “Isn’t that what Loki is?... You’re not from this universe? Well that makes a lot of sense, well; Undertaker owes me a look at her eyes. I knew the multiverse theory was true!” I said with glee. “What universe do you come from, if not from mine?” I asked, now extremely curious. "A universe based on post-Ragnarok Yggdrasil, where Asgard has become Equestria." He explained, leaning on the wall. “Uh huh… How did you get here then? Can you dimension jump? Kinda like we can but only to the Reaper Office? (Which totally shouldn’t exist.)” "Again, you summoned me," he restated simply. “Which means?...” "Which means YOU summoned me." He said again, sounding annoyed. “I still have no idea who I did that, I pressed the button on the cylinder thing and you appeared… Is that how you summon people? With cylinders and button pressing?” That was my token, most Displaced have them, as should you." “What’s a Displaced?” I asked, sort of more confused than when the conversation started. "Displaced are people that bought something from a weird guy, usually at a con and got sent to a version of Equestria." He explained, fiddling with the device on his arm. “Bought something from a weird guy? Yeah, I was missing my chainsaw; I went with the scissors, but then I spotted the perfect replica… Hang on, you mean there’s more people in different multiverses just like us?” "We're all stuck in the Equestrian multiverse, though Yggdrasil is technically it's own multiverse." “It is? And how many is we’re?” "How the hell should I know?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. “Okay, from that reaction. There’s a ton, and you we’re talking about these tokens earlier; could you explain in more detail?” I asked. "Tokens are your calling card." “How does that work?” H "You take something that represents you, put a phrase in it and toss it out into the void. “That easy?” I grinned. “Wait here, I have an idea.” I left the roof fairly quickly and headed to my workstation, I threw open the door and stared at the mess. I ignored it all and went searching for- “Aha! There you are.” I said, brandishing my scissors. I ran back to Jason and waved the scissors. “Got my token, I knew keeping these were a good idea!” " Those are scissors... someone already has scissors." Jason said, giving me an unimpressed look. “Awe, but these are different! They’re safety scissors! Plus they can cut cinematic records! What if I… Nah, changing their colour is not a good idea. What if they’re yellow and expect my outfit to be yellow!” I gasp dramatically. “You sure these aren’t okay? They’re my little red death scythe safety scissors.” "The f*** is a cinematic record?" Jason asked, looking rather confused. "That some kind of weird ass anime thing?" I pout. “It’s from Kuroshitsuji, aka Black Butler. It’s basically your life story in a movie, reapers like me kill people on the To Die list, and watch their cinematic record and decide whether they live or die. Unless you’re me, who doesn’t follow the rules; until I get demoted and have to use safety scissors. That wasn’t really me, per say. More Grell in the anime. And what the hell is wrong with anime?!” "And what does mine say?" He asked, raising his eyebrow, ignoring the question about anime. “Oh it’s amazing, I saw it when you appeared. You’ve led such an interesting life in Equestria, I can’t see what exactly happened unless I kill you; my glasses help with that. People with amazing lives are very hard for Reapers to avoid. Such as Sebas-chan, and you for example.” I took a breath. “There is a reason I go on a little murder spree now and then, the longer-lived the person; the more tempting to kill them becomes. It’s easy to hold down the temptation, just take your glasses off.” I shrug, unconcerned. Learning about myself during that time period of which I slaughtered a few hundred creatures was interesting. "I highly doubt you want to," Jason said laughing, "Unless you want to piss Hel off. That and I'd set the Omnitrix to self-destruct." “It’s pretty hard to kill a Reaper.” I said with a grin. “So, can I use the scissors or not? I’m not sure what else I could use if I can’t.” "If that's what you want." Jason said shrugging, "I'm not one too judge. Just don't make your message something stupid like Wade did." “Hmm.” I thought for a second and held them up. “Hi! My name’s Grell Sutcliff, call me if you need help or just wanna blow stuff up.” I said, then turned to Jason. “What now? I know it’s supposed to go to the void, but how do I do that?” "Omnitrix, Hodgepodge." He said, vanishing in a burst of light, being replaced by an entirely different being with a different cinematic history. “Th- that’s amazing! How the hell did you change your cinematic record?!” I asked, staring at him. Who now appeared to look a bit like Discord. "Hi!" He clapped, smiling, "I'm Hodgepodge! It's nice to meet you!" He grabbed my hand, shaking it vigorously, grinning all the while. “Uh, hi?” I replied, kinda confused. "What?" He asked, tilting his head innocently. “I’m just kinda confused, why are you introducing yourself to me again? And you still haven’t answered my previous question.” "Well thats because you asked Jason. I'm Hodgepodge." He reiterated, pointing to himself. “So, multiple personalities? And that’s why your record changed, it didn’t change; just switched. Cool.” I said with a grin. "I am no mere personality!" He pouted crossing his arms." “Okay then. Back on topic, Why did Jason choose you?” "Cause iz can do this," he said pinching the air, which broke and shattered, revealing a black hole in reality. "Tada! A hole to the void!" “Wow, that’s awesome!” I said, watching the tear. “Is it a good idea to keep it open long? I’ve seen several movies in which a tear in reality destroys the world.” "Don't question me!" He scolded, "Now toss it in the hole!" “Okay.” I said, I toss the scissors into the rip and they multiply and fly off it a million directions. “Well, that was interesting.” "Yup," he said, repairing the hole with some concrete. "Well, I think it's time we got back. We have things to do and people to murder at some point in time maybe. I think" “Okay, see ya then.” I say with a grin. "Just say, 'Jason, our contract is complete." I nod. “Jason, our contract is complete. Cya Jason, Hodgpodge!” "Bye!" He said with a wave, vanishing in a flash of light, his token falling to the ground. “Well, that was fun.” I said with a grin. > Chapter 5 - Montage! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "GRELL GET GILDA OUT OF YOUR SPIDER'S WEB!" Undertaker yells, I groan; of course it's me, not like I have a pony next to me sleeping and I have to be next to her when she awakens... Hey, that sorta sounds like I'm brainwashing her. I groan again, standing up from where I flopped back onto the couch after Jason left. I walked over to the door of the endless hallways (Not really, you got looped if you went the wrong way) and walked down it, whistling a tune. After twenty-odd doors I reached the one where my spider lived, I used to freak out about spiders; now I have a giant pet one. Odd huh? I opened it and saw Gilda, looking terrified as Charlotte started to turn her into a parcel. "Isn't this a surprise." I drawled, watching; amused as Gilda franticly tried to escape. "Grell! Get me the hell outta here!" She screeched, I pretended to ponder it. "What's the magic word?" "Please!" "Nope!" "Th-then what is it?" "Apologize to Fluttershy, Dashie, Pinkie and everyone you abused while you were in Ponyville last." I said. "What! Apologise?! They'd see me as weak, no!" "Fine, be eaten by Charlotte." "You've named this thing?!" "Yes, now don't insult her; she'll make your death slower." "Please, save me!" "Not until you swear to apologize." For a moment I thought she was going to refuse. "Fine! NOW GET ME DOWN!" "Alright, alright." "Charlotte, please let Gilda go. We kinda need her, we'll get you one of those pigs you like so much later. You'll have to be in stasis till then, sorry." The spider glared at me before somehow huffing and letting the terrified gryffon go. "Thanks!" I said with a smile, walking over to her and stroking her head before leading Gilda back to the main room. I smiled at the adorable pony that was Fluttershy, I pulled my coat off the pony and put it back on along with becoming a pegasus pony again. Fluttershy sleepily opened her eyes and squeaked when she saw me, before realising where she was. "H-hi." She muttered, glancing at me. "Hey, nice nap?" I asked, wing around the butter-yellow pegasus for her comfort. "Yes, thank you for letting me sleep." "Welcome." "Sorry if this is really forward, but have you inherited any of Goldie's abilities?" "No, it's fine," Fluttershy said, "I think so, I created a pink shield to save one my animal friends when a tree nearly fell on them..." I nodded, thinking for a moment. "We'll have to train you, and bring you out of your shell somehow; how does that sound?" "I-it sounds good." I nodded, and grinned at Fluttershy; who shrank back from me. I quickly realised what was wrong, I had shark-like teeth after all; I quickly shut my mouth with an audible clack. "Sorry about the teeth, I forgot they're shark-like." I apologised. "No no, it's f-fine." I smiled again, this time without showing my teeth. "Now to show you what I really look like!" I cried out, leaping off the couch; pulling the necklace off and transforming in a flash of red light. I stood with the necklace swinging in my hand, my glasses had fallen off in the transition; so they now hung on their chain. My coat flared out when I spun around to face Fluttershy, whom had a shocked face on. "Tada! Whatcha think?" "Um, you look; very nice...?" "I know I look weird to you ponies, anyway; my name is Grell Sutcliff, I look human but am a shinigami or Grim Reaper." I followed this up with a bow. Fluttershy smiled hesitantly at me. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you do that?" "Transform?" "Yeah." "I have a necklace here that lets me become any sentient creature I wish, or that helps in the situation I'm in; Undertaker has one of the same. Only thing I know about how it was made was it's got some major spellwork on it," I said, "shall we get started on your training then?" "Uh okay." "Onwards! To the training room!" I shouted, gently grabbing Fluttershy and running down through a door.