Chapter 2: Seven Deadly Ponies

As the sun began to set over the smoke covered skies of Canterlot, a group of ponies walked down the halls of of the castle of Canterlot. “Yo Cords, got the time?” the youngest of the group asked the bigger one next to him. He grunted annoyed as he pulled out a pure gold pocket watch out of his coat pocket.

“It’s 7:43 at night, four minutes later when you last asked. So if you ask again, I am gonna shove this watch up your flank. So shut the hell up already!” the big stallion, Cords, replied aggressively. the younger one snickered to himself.

“I get it, take a joke already, don’t be such an prick, geez,” he teased playfully as they made their way down the hallways. After a short walk later, they all made their way to a set of double doors to the left. A pair of guards stood by the doors, looking over as they approached.

“Gentlecolts. The Boss is already inside,” one of the guards announced. The two palace guards opened the doors for them. The big one of the group bowed while the younger one snickered. Them and four others walked in all wearing mafia suites and took their seats around a large, circular table. One of them sat down, a unicorn with glasses, fixing his glasses with a blank stare on his face.

“Alright, house call. Train Rail?” The unicorn called out. He wore a blue mafia type suit with black strips. He had a very well groomed mane that was dark orange, slicked back behind his ears and a cutie mark of a clipboard and a quill. An earth pony wearing a black suit with green stripes raised his hoof, smiling to himself.

“Yea yea, Train Rail is here and present, sadly,” he announced as he sat back in his chair keeping his eyes closed the whole time, yawning. He had a crimson red train track for a cutie mark. The original pony had a clipboard out and made a little mark next to his name.

“Alright, next is, Lust Dust,” the clipboard pony asked out. The youngest pony shook his head with a cocky smile and looked up at the pony with the clipboard. He had a rose red mane with crimson highlights through it. His fur was light blue with crimson red eyes, wearing a red heart with the bottom half crumbling into dust.

“Yea yea. I’m here, so don’t get your panties in a knot,” the young earth pony joked around, wearing a mafia suit like the rest. Only he kept his sleeves up and his collar propped up. The pony in glasses glares up at him from the clipboard and looks back down, giving it a check mark.

“Alright, Hammer Hoof?” he called out. A pegasus next to him had his eye twitching, holding back his anger, and failing. He slammed his hoof onto the table, cracking it where it laid impact.

“Enough of these stupid road calls! I am sick and tired of doing this every single time! You know who is here just by looking at them! I will shove my hoof so far up your flank, that every time you want to have a thought, it is gonna have to tip-toe past my hoof ring, got it?!” the enraged pegasus screamed out, grabbing a hold of the other pony by his collar, pulling him out of his seat. The unicorn held an emotionless stare back up at him as he slowly pried his hooves away from him and setting him back down, then returning to his own seat while Hammer stared him down with much rage.

“I suppose we could skip it this one time. Please learn to control that rage of yours, please. Now I suppose you all understand why we are here?” the pony with glasses asked calmly, again not showing emotions as he spoke. All of the ponies in the room nodded their heads. One overweight pegasus with a cowboy outfit and a stetson cuckled a bit.

“Yea, ya’ll are here because Lust Dust is scared all because some pony whacked two of his pathetic thugs” he exclaimed, chuckling as he did, snacking on an apple. Lust Dust turned to him with a stern stare.

“They were good. They did what I told them and never complained, and now their are dead. Some pony butchered them and impaled them through the chest. This is series! So stop stuffing your face and focus already!” he cried out in anger. The pony across from him stared at the apple, licking his lips. He had a short tealish mane and grey eyes, with a matching suit.

“Hey Table Top, can I have an apple?” he asked quietly. The cowboy turned to him with a smirk.

“Hell no, Grey Hound, these red beauties are mine!” he declared selfishly as he continued to eat the apple, savoring every bite. A unicorn next to him smiled as he leaned back in his chair and bit into a red apple as well.

“Yea Grey Hound, just take it, like me!” he exclaimed, chuckling to himself. Table Top turned around, seeing the apple and grabbed onto the unicorns collar.

“You son of a bitch! You stole one of my apples!” he exclaimed aggressively.

“ENOUGH!” shouted a pony in the head of the table, his figure shrouded in darkness. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to him. “You all are so pathetic, squabbling on and on about your own dame problems! We have more important things to deal with!” They all got back into their seats and focused on him. Table Top turned to the Unicorn and glared at him.

“I’ll get you back, Sneak Thief. Just you wait!” he whispered. The unicorn just chuckled at him as he continued to eat the apple. The pony at the head of the table cleared his throat and turned his attention to everyone at the table.

“Now, as I was saying. This pony killed two of our employees. Although that is no real problem, but if we let this pony think they can kill off our little thugs, this might increase in proportion and trouble us later. We need to deal with this problem before it gets worse. The obvious thing we need to do is to place a bounty onto this particular pony” he explained with a stern voice. the other six at the table nodded their head in agreement.

“Yea, these were my colts that got killed, so I am willing to use most of the bounty money from my own personal wallet” Lust Dust said with a confident smile.

“Good, less money I have to use from my own pocket” Sneak Thief replied calmly. Train Rail sighed bored.

“As long as we don’t have to really do anything, then it doesn’t matter, can we call this done already? I wanna get out of here” Hammer Hoof was about to punch him in the face when the door opened, all of them grabbed a hold of their weapons from their sides besides Train Rail. A pair of mares in a sexy maid outfits came in with trays of tea cups, giving each of them a cup, steam lightly raising from the cups. Lust Dust looked at them smiling seductively, removing his hoof from his side arm, rubbing his hooves together in excitement.

“Come to papa, ladies!” Lust Dust called over, giving them a cat call. They smiled over at him and one of them walked towards him, handing out tea to everyone. Lust Dust gave a rough smack on the one stopping at him, smacking her flank with a wink, she giggled and winked back. He stared at her, glanced down and back up at her, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Table Top saw his cup and looked back up.

“Where are the finger sandwiches?! I was told there would be finger sandwiches!” The maid nodded and headed out the door in a well mannered rush. He sighed in annoyance. “Geeze Lust Dust, your maids can’t do anything right!” Lust Dust chuckled as his face tensed up.

“Naw. . .they are pretty good. . . at what I. . . taught them” he chuckled again and and held a straight face. They all looked at him odd but shrugged their shoulders and continued on.

“Anyway, I kinda agree with Lust Dust. If this pony causes enough trouble, it could affect my business as well, so how much of a bounty should we put up?” Sneak Thief asked the group.

“Well this is a small matter, so much isn’t needed. How about six hundred?” asked Grey Hound quietly. Everyone took a moment to think about it.

“More” Lust Dust whispered with his eyes closed.

“Agreed! Ya’ll shouldn’t take this pony so lightly in the manner these thugs were killed. Six hundred wouldn’t bring anypony good enough for this job here. Ah think eight hundred should do the trick” explained Table Top, looking around the room confused.

“More!” Lust Dust whispered again. Everyone looked back at him slightly confused and then back around.

“Well, I guess we could raise it a bit more. Nine hundred should do the trick. Just to make sure the job is done, no need to make any mistakes right?” Grey Hound asked quietly. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement once more. Table Top looked around the room once more and then back at the group.

“Wasn’t there two maids that brought tea over? If one left, where did the other go?” he whispered to himself.

“Almost there” Lust Dust grunted. Cords looked at him shocked.

“Wow, you really do not want to screw around with this!”

“Yea, I am a bit surprised with this myself. Lust Dust normally does not take an interest in these affairs so much, and you can see the focus in his face! It is kinda supernatural really” Train Rail commented.

“So what price will satisfy you then? What are you looking to put a thousand bit bounty on this worthless, piece of shit pony that sacked your colts like they were nothing?!” Hammer Hoof asked angered. Lust Dust tensed up and his eyes shot open wide.

“YEEESSSS!!!”he screamed as he slammed his his hoof onto the table, shaking it with a loud BANG, almost toppling over everyone’s tea. Everyone was breath taken as they witnessed his reaction. The room was quiet except for his panting. the pony with glasses and the clipboard was the only one on affected by his outburst as he was taken notes, but glanced up over at him with a raised eyebrow. The pony at the head of the table chuckled.

“Very well then Lust dust, you will be paying 60% of the bounty’s payoff for his head then, we will pay off the rest. Pretty ballsy of you to put such a high price on a no pony” he explained as he glanced over at the pony with the clipboard. “Four Eyes, do we have anything on the pony in question?”

“No, all we have are what he looks like. The suspect was described as a young male with a dark grey, tattered cloak. His face was hooded so no pony got a look at his face. He appears to be hiding something in his sleeves but no pony got a look at what it could be. He sounds homeless, of little to no worth, no name, and recently arrived here yesterday at 6:47 pm. That is all we have on him at the moment sir” the pony with glasses explained in detail. The leader nodded at him and turned back to the others. Lust Dust sat back in his chair with a pleasant smile on his face. Grey Hound looked at him confused.

“What are you smiling about Lust Dust?” Right before he said anything, the other maid came up from under the table, wiping her lips off and rushed out of the room. Lust Dust looked back at Grey Hound with a smirk on his face.

“Cause I got it made, buddy”he replied, chuckling to himself. Hammer Hoof glared cruelly over at him and finished off his tea.

“Another cup!”he called out. At that moment the first made returned and gave Table Top a small helping of finger sandwiches and a tea kettle. Table Top licked his lips and dug into his food. While he did that the maid poured Hammer Hoof with more tea and left the room.

“So now that we agreed on this stuff, can I go now? I wanna take a nap” Train Rail said lazily, stretching himself out in his seat.

“Yea yea, we get it, you lazy piece of shit, why don’t you drag your lazy ass into hell already!” Hammer Hoof yelled over, glaring over at him.

“Well it seems like some pony has gotten their panties in a bunch today. Is it that time of the month for ya, buddy?” Lust Dust teased, chuckling to himself. Hammer Hoof then glared at him, jumping over the table, pulling out a knife to stab him. Lust Dust smiled as Cords jumped in the way and grabbed Hammer Hoof in mid air, throwing him back across the table.

“I wouldn’t recommend that, Hammer” Cords warned, keeping a steady expression on his face. Hammer got back on all four hooves with a face of pure hatred. He threw away his knife and started pulling out his gun. Everyone saw this and started pulling out theirs as well.

“ENOUGH!” Called out the leader. Everyone stopped what they were doing and put their weapons away. “I am getting sick and tired of your constant, pathetic fighting. We are done here, get out of my sights you worthless bunch!” Everyone hesitated but they all got up from their seats and headed for the door.

“Well that was interesting, as always” Lust Dust called over. Cords sighed annoyed and continued to walk along side of him.

“Please stop bringing me to these places, I know I am your personal body guard, and I am supposed to go where ever you go, but these things get a little too annoying for me. Every pony there is so. . . . odd” Cords explained, looking back at the other with a careful stare.

“Hey, chillax man. With the bounty we placed, we’ll catch this bastard and then we will go back to our everyday lives, just like always. Then we will only have to see them once every few months to discuss money” Lust Dust reassured with a confident smile on his face. Cords looked back to Lust Dust who smiled up at him, giving him a friendly wink and a playful jab. “Come on man, let’s go back to the palace and catch us some nice tail! That’ll ease those tensions away from this stupid meet up” he offered playfully. Cords thought about that for a moment and smiled to himself.

“Well, it has been a few days since I got a little action. Oh fine, I’ll take up on your offer, as long as it’s on the house” Lust Dust chuckled at his demands and swung a hoof around Cords’ shoulder.

“For you man, it’s always on the house!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Please. . . we can work things out. I got money, we can work things out! “cried a pegasus crawling on the ground. His legs were severed as well as his wings with a bruise on his cheek. Grim stared down at him coldly through his hood. The pegasus crawled away from him, the stumps on his back dragging along the cold, hard ground. Tears rolling down his face. “I said I have money, how many bits do you want, huh? A hundred? Five hundred? Eight hundred? Name your price and I will give it too you, I’ll give you anything!” he continued to plead. Grim gave no reaction to his cries for mercy as he continued to step towards him.

“You have been judged and found guilty!” he said coldly at the pegasus. His blade was out of his sleeve and drooped out, blood smeared over it and dripped to the ground. He continued to crawl away till his back was pressed against a hard surface wall, he glanced back quickly in fear and disbelief and turned his horrid stare back up at the approaching threat. Grim continued to follow the trail of blood that lead to his prey at the other side of the alley way.

“Please, I’ll let you nail my wife too if you want, please! I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll do anything, ANYTHING!” He cried out, tears mixed in with his blood on his chest as he pleaded in vain, the ever glooming shadow of death grazing over his form, blocking off the sun from him.

“Your crimes are that of theft, lust, assault, physical and verbal abuse, and murder. You are corrupted and your sentence is death!” Grim stated coldly. A light freezing breeze traveled through the alleyway and reached the bleeding pegasus. He stared up at Grim as he pulled his blade back and jabbed it directly into his chest. He grabbed a hold of Grim by his robes and gripped it tightly through the pain, his grip slowly loosening as his life slipped away from himself.

“The blood of the innocent flows out of you and has been returned into the earth. What lives you have ruined shall be repaired. Rest now, for your life of sin is over. Rest in peace and may the gods of mercy upon your soul as you ascend to the great beyond” Grim chanted as the life of the pegasus left his eyes, leaving a lifeless corpse where he once laid. Grim reached up with his empty hoof and closed the now deceased pegasus’ eyes, and laying him down onto the ground. He stood up and his curved blade shot back up into his sleeve.

“So many corrupted ponies travel through this town, as if this city is the center of the evil in this world. I must put a stop to this as soon as I can, before the plague of damnation can spread out once again!” Grim declared intently. He looked behind him and noticed a grey pegasus staring back at him. She had a blond mane and golden eyes that held an expression of fear. Grim felt a voice in his head speak darkly into his mind. ‘Kill her! She has seen what you have done. Kill her now!’ it chanted in his head over and over. He readied his blade and rushed towards her. The pegasus stood there too stunned to move as Grim charged. He grabbed her and pulled her into the alley way. He brought out his blade and put it to her throat, ready to slice it open.

“I-I-I promise I won’t t-tell anyone, I-I promise!” she cried softly, trying to keep her voice down. She knew if she tried to call for help it would just get her killed, and as if anyone would come to save her. Grim held his stance and closed his eyes, he released his magic and searched deep into the grey pegasus, searching through her soul. That is when he found something no other pony had in this entire city. . . . . . . . . innocence. Her soul was untouched by all of the evil in this city, she was pure.

“You have been judged. . . . and found innocent” Grim released the grey mare and placed her back on the ground gently, drawing the blade back into his sleeve. “Just leave. You can speak of this or not, that is your choice. Just leave this place” he added as he turned his back towards her and started walking off. The grey pegasus looked down at the lifeless corpse and then back up at Grim who walked away.

“Why did you do it?” she asked timidly. Grim stopped walking but did not turn around.

“My reasoning is my own, I do not need to explain myself. If you think what I did is unjust, then do what you want. Cry about it, call the guard, fight me, hunt me down, kill me. I can not control you or tell you what to do”

“But I heard you saying the Prayer of the Reaper, why did you do that?” Grim silently gasped in shock and turned to face her.

“How do you know of that?” he asked surprised.

“Well. . . . I’ve heard of that prayer once before. My mother was killed by my father and he took me away. A few months later you came in and killed him. You said everything that same way. After that I looked for you but I could never find you, no one doesn’t know you, but I looked up those words. That is a chant of some sort, like a prayer or something, right?” the grey mare asked innocently. Grim stared at her for a good long while, both not looking away,both refusing to move from their spots until finally Grim smiled at her.

“I am impressed. You have been looking for me then? Why, to avenge your father?”

“No, to thank you. My father use to hit me and my mom a lot. He was a bad pony. Although I didn’t want him to die, I think he is in a better place now”

“They are, I can promise you that”

“So then you are the Grim Reaper, right? The Angel of Death, the Dark Paladin?” Grim stared at her a little taken back and confused as he noticed excitement building up in her eyes.

“I have heard of those names for myself before. But I just go by Grim, thank you” he explained calmly. The grey mare smiled and took a couple careful steps towards him.

“My name is Dernaty, it is nice to meet you” she said showing a kind smile and bowed respectfully to him. Grim stared back confused.

“No need for such formalities. I need to go, night shall be upon us soon and I yet found a spot for the night so if you-” he started to say. Dernaty looked back up with a concern look on her face and flew over to her.

“Oh, you poor thing! You need a place to sleep!” Grim backed off a bit confused.

“Wait, what, oh no I am fine. I have always slept on the plagued streets of-”

“You have always slept on the streets?! Oh I can’t let this go on any further then! I know you are a good pony, I have heard all of your tales, I can’t let a pony like you sleep in the streets!”

“Look, I said I will be fine, can you please just not worry about me. I will-”

“I can’t just not worry about you, silly! I will give you a warm place to sleep, winter is almost here and I will not take no for an answer!”

“Please understand that you are very kind but-”

“You are coming up with me whether you want to or not!” Dernaty took Grim’s hoof and started pulling him out of the alleyway. He put up a mild resistance but did not fight it. She started pulling him all around town back to her home.

“This is all so very nice, but I have never spent the night at any pony’s home before, I normally never accept things from others”

“Well then this is a first time for the both of us!”

“What do you mean the both of us?”

“You will be the first pony that I brought home to my apartment! Since I live alone I don’t get to see many ponies” Grim blushed lightly and gulped down.

“So you live alone?” Dernaty stopped in front of a large apartment complex and looked up at it quickly before looking back down at him.

“Yup, I have for years, and here we are!” she exclaimed happily. Grim looked up and the building. It was old and worn down. Some of the windows were cracked and the fire escape for the upper floors was missing large chunks as if it just broke off. “I know it isn’t much, but it looks better on the inside, come on!” she exclaimed and pulled Grim inside. After climbing three flights of stairs she unlocked two locks on the door and opened it, Grim walked in and looked around.

“Welcome home! Sorry that it isn’t all that pretty, but it’s home and it keeps me warm at night, that's all I can ask for!” Dernaty said cheerfully as she hung her scarf on a hat rack. Grim looked around the room. It was small, three rooms by the looks of it. A bathroom, a bedroom, and a small kitchen/living room. The place smelt of mildew and candles. A couch laid on the opposite side of the window with a small blanket laying on it.

“It’s. . . well. . . not the worst I have seen before” Grim stated, trying to be polite but stood in the middle of the kitchen awkwardly. Dernaty saw him standing there and giggled.

“It’s ok I know it isn’t all that great. Come on in. This is your home too you know. If you want you can have my bed, I can sleep-”

“NO! I mean it is fine, I sleep on brick walls, a couch is going to feel like heaven to me, thank you” Grim tried to explained. Dernaty hesitated for a moment but smiled.

“OK! You must be starving, let me make you something warm to eat!” she exclaimed excitedly. She flew on over to the kitchen and started pulling out a few pots out and some ingredients from the fridge. Grim sighed and walked on over to the window.”You can take that off if you want, I mean make yourself comfortable”

“I’m fine, thank you. I wish to keep my robes on if you do not mine”

“Oh, OK, if that’s what you truly want!” she called back as she continued to make up something. Grim shook his head and continued to stare out the window. He saw Dernaty’s reflection in the window and blushed a little.

“This would be the first time I have ever gotten close to any pony, the first time I have felt kindness. It is. . . . . soothing. Almost relaxing even. I suppose I can stay here for a day or so. It could be a nice change of pace” Grim whispered to himself. Dernaty looked over from the kitchen with a confused look on her face.

“Did you say something Grim?” she asked slightly concerned. Grim looked back and chuckled nervously to himself.

“Sorry, I am not use to being around other ponies socially, so I was. . . well. . . talking to myself I suppose” he explained nervously. Dernaty giggled to herself and went back to cooking.

“You’re silly!” Grim sighed and shook his head, blushing even more.

“What am I going to do now?”

Author's Note

So I finally got a chapter done in this series. I hope you enjoy it! So the cold hearted Grim seems to have a little. . . . . discomfort around a kind heartted mare. Hmmmmm, no way ANYTHING could build off from this. . . right? So who are these seven ponies putting a hit on Grim? What is Grim going to do about it, and what will he do about living with this new grey pegasus? We will find out in the next chapter, this time it will be delivered to you faster than last time. I cross my heart, hope you die, stick a cupcake in my eye that it will come faster. For if I were to lie to Pinkie Pie, I can kiss my flank goodbye! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to see you in the future chapters ahead. I hope you have a good morning/day/evening