“Here’s another one, another guard of ours,” Called out a stallion wearing a leather vest and blue jeans, a cowboy hat on his head and a shotgun by his side. Another pony wearing similar clothing but his jeans wear brand new and his hat had a golden medallion on the front with a pair of rifles crossed. He was an overweight pegasus and his blond mane was messy, eating a sandwich.

“Well, that’s thirty three we found dead. So far no survivors by the looks of it. Is this our target’s handy work?” The other stallion looked up and nodded.

“Yes, sir. They were butchered, and some are cut to pieces. Perfect match to the killing styles of our stallion. This is without a doubt Grim Reaper,” The southern pony chuckled, shaking his head.

“Well, sounds like this was as much of a fight as a rabbit fighting a dragon then. Looks like he doesn’t just target us, he killed all the customers too. I wonder if any of the youngins survived this blood bath,” He turned to look behind him at the bodies littering the floor in the hallway, the blood long dry and still smelt of gunpowder.

“Over here sir!” The pony called over, opening a door labeled ‘Emergency Exit’. They looked inside and found dozens of corpses of those who tried to escape. The bodies piled upon one another as if they were killed while climbing over them. The fat pegasus leaned down and pushed one aside, revealing a little filly dressed as one of the dancers. An open wound showed that she was stabbed in the head, through a body that seemed to try to protect her.

“It’s a filly! Looks like we got ourselves a cold hearted bastard stirring up trouble in our town. Get word to the Princesses, this should be good enough to get the guards to come into play now. I want a meeting with the others, we need a higher bounty on this one,” He looked up to him, biting into his sandwich. He nodded at him and ran out. Once alone, he stood up and shook his head in shame.

“Damn waist. We should have taken his more seriously and maybe fortified his place more. I hope Lust Dust made it out with his hide, or else we’ll lose money! I don’t want a lesser pay check just because this little punk died,” He walked out of the room, munching on his sandwich, looking up and down the hallway. When he looked where he came from, a small, shadowy, dark unicorn now stood there, smirking at him. Making the pegasus jump.

“So. . . what’s the deal here?” The cowboy pony glared at him.

“Damn you, Sneak Thief! You scared me!” He glared at him for a moment then looked down the hallway. “So far, we haven’t found any survivors, not even the children were spared. I think Lust Dust is also-” Sneak Thief pushed him aside with his magic, levitating his sandwich away from him and took a bite out of it.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what happened to the ponies. Did they take the safe? Can we salvage anything and still get a profit? I only care about money here, so get to the point, Tabletop, or we can add a fat pegasus to the deceased list!” The pony in question glared at him furiously, getting back up and clutching his right hoof.

“How dare you! You come in here, take my food, and disregard the dead here like they are just dollar bills to you?!”

“Yes! That’s all any of you are to me. I will keep you guys alive and work with you if it means I get a pretty paycheck at the end of the week. Now answer my question, you fat slob!” Tabletop was getting ready to jump up and clobber him but another pony walked around the corner, surprising the both of them.

“Four Eyes! What are you doing here?” He took a couple steps towards them and pulled out a clipboard and quill out in front of him using his magic. He took a quick glance over at the hallway and wrote some notes on it, his emotions completely extinct.

“The Boss heard about the matter here, and it is worse than we thought. Lust Dust is dead, only two ponies survived this whole mess. The names of those survived are Cords and a filly named Shiver Shambles. There is a total of eighty seven ponies who were killed here. Tabletop, you are in charge of cleaning the bodies. Sneak Thief, you will be finding Lust Dust’s secret stash and salvage anything that is in there. You are allowed a fourteen percent for yourself by worth,”

Tabletop grunted in annoyance and started to slowly walk downstairs. Sneak Thief shot his hoof in the air victoriously with a proud smirk.

“Sweet! I get the cool job! I’m on it!” He gave a quick nod and teleported away. Four Eyes looked around and looked through his notes, flipping back and forth between two different pages.

“Odd. . . . There was ninety one bodies present during this shift and time. . . Two are upstairs. . . eighty seven are dead and one is our target. . . We are missing one. . .

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

The rain started to pour down on the streets of the town. Grim ducked into cover, panting heavily. He looked down at his side and noticed the red blood gently trickling down the cloth of his black robe. He grunted at the pain and looked past him.

“Never in all my years of service, I have never felt pain. . . it’s. . so distracting. . . an annoyance really. I have to get back. . . and tend to the wound myself!” Grim said to himself in the darkness of the alley way, holding his side. He stumbled around the alley way, cutting through short cuts, twists, and turns to get home as quickly as he could. He stopped around a corner to watch a group of royal guards rush down the street, wearing golden armour. A pair of guards flying in the air with more dark, purple armour flew above them. He watched them past and continued to make his way.

“Those are the royal guards of the alicorns who dwell here. If they have been called, then things could get messy if I were to get caught. Currently I am easy to spot out of a crowd,” He made another turn and found himself in front of the apartment complex of his newest, and only, friend Dernaty.

He looked down the roads to make sure no one was watching, then ducked into the building, closing the door behind him. He sighed and looked up the staircase. He sighed in annoyance, shaking his head.

“Had to be the third floor. Not the first, not even the second, the THIRD floor! Such a nuisance,” He took a deep breath and started climbing the stairs slowly, step by step. Every step seemed to be a small jab of a dagger directly into his side. He chuckled a bit as he walked up, muttering quietly to himself. “I wonder if this is what it feels like to be mortal?”

He finally got to Dernaty’s door and opened it slowly. She was laying on the couch, reading a book. He closed the door behind her and walked in a few steps before she called out.

“Hey Grim, did you know that some places have actually started throwing out machines and are started relying on magic more? Sounds kinda crazy to me,”

“it’s a form of purification. They realized that those machines are causing more trouble than good. They have been freed of corruption, and so they are making sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Grim explained roughly, walking for the bathroom. Dernaty turned to look over at him and spotted the wound.

“Oh my Celestia! What happened?!” Grim smirked under his hood, shaking his head.

“They had some sort of special round and a couple grazed me. I think I might have one inside me,” Dernaty dropped her book and rushed over to him, trying to help him.

“Take it easy, let me see,” She tried to looked at the injury but couldn’t get a good look. “I can’t see it that well. Let me take off the cloak and-” As her hoof reached for his cloak, he grabbed it with his magic, holding it firmly in place. He looked down at her with a serious face.

“No. I can handle this. I am paying for my lack of caution, and now I must tend to it alone. Just let me use your bathroom and I will get myself cleaned up,” Grim explained firmly, his voice darkening into a deeper pitch. Dernaty was a little shocked by his tone but let go, taking her hoof back.

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind. that’s what friends-”

“I can take care of myself. I have been doing it all my life, and I can still do it today,” Dernaty took a step back and nodded slowly. He nodded back and walked over to her bathroom, closing the door behind him. She took a deep breath and walked over to the door, putting her head to the door.

“I’ll get you a towel. There is a first aid kit in there by the mirror,”

“I see it, thanks,” Grim replied back quickly. She heard the water turning on and she went off to fetch a towel for him. Inside Grim stripped himself from his cloak without lighting a candle, placing it on a hook on the wall. He sat down on the toilet seat in the darkness, his eyes glowing red. He levitated the first aid kit over to him and opened it, seeing the standard sewing needle, thread, disinfectant, and bandages. He levitated it all and started getting to work on his wound, levitating the bullet out and placed it on the counter, the blood on it was sizzling.

“Such a nasty little thing. No normal criminal could have gotten their hooves on such a thing, let alone think about getting it. Who is this Cords? Such a curious fellow,” He smiled to himself as he disinfected the opening and started stitching it up.

He looked at the bullet and studied it as the blood sizzled and bubbled on the mysterious metal. He poked it with a free hoof and burned it the tip of it, pulling it back.

“Triple folded Templar holy alloy. . . strong, powerful, and very useful against beings of dark magic. I thought this metal was destroyed long ago. I butchered the last known family who could make this. Did I miss one, or is there somepony else that I might had missed?” His voice dropped it’s darkness as he smiled down at it, becoming soft. “That was shortly after I turned. . .”

Dernaty opened the door to the bathroom, a towel in her hoof with a smile.

“Hey Grim, I have-” Grim jumped by the sudden intrusion. His flinching made him stab himself and he levitated the cloak to cover himself up quickly from his mouth and down to his knees. She swear she could see something behind his back. Like a pair of black wi-

“Knock first!” He shouted in a panicked, softened shout from his usual dark voice. He levitated the towel from her grasp, pushed her out, and shut the door quickly, leaving her there speechless. She remained in that spot surprised and her mouth gaping open. She shook her head and tapped the door.

“Umm. . . Grim? Look I’m sorry, I just didn’t think about it! If It makes you feel better I didn’t see anything!” There was a moment of silence between the two, not a sound could be heard except for her steady breathing.

“Are you sure?” She smiled softly, placing her back against the door and sitting down, her wings unfolding and wrapping them around herself.

“Yes. . . I promise I didn’t see anything bad,” She lifted her head up a bit, thinking. Although I think I was seeing things. . . but did he have wings? No, he has a horn! Only alicorns have wings AND a horn! On the other side of the door. Grim sat in darkness, holding his knees up. A pair of black wings wrapped around him with his back to the door.

“You didn’t see anything odd. . . perhaps behind me?” There was a pause for a moment before she spoke again.

“No, it was too dark to see. Why?” Grim smiled, sighing in relief. He turned towards the door and smiled faintly, his voice softening.

“Thank you, I don’t like any pony seeing me without my cloak,” Dernaty giggled a little at that, making his cheeks blush at the sound of it.

“It’s ok, I use to be the same, but I got over it. Maybe one day you can too. There is nothing to be ashamed about, I won’t judge you,” Grim smiled at that, a bright smile. “Hey. . . what happened to your voice? It’s sounds like you have a mare in there speaking for you. Grim’s ears perked up as he darkened it back to the way it usually was.

“Sorry, it’s a spell I use. I’ve always had a feminine voice so I changed it. Hard to intimidate my prey if I spoke so softly,”

“I like it, it makes you sound. . . . pretty,” Grim laughed deeply at that.

“Yes. . . because pretty is the way to go with my line of work,”

“Well I’m just saying, it’s kinda cute is all,” Grim shook his head and got back up, returning to his stitching.

“Well I got some cleaning up to do and I need to focus. I don’t want to mess up with something like this,” Dernaty smiled faintly and got up from her sitting spot.

“Alright, I’ll go ahead and make dinner. I got a bunch of stuff from the market today, did you want to have a salad?”

“I’m ok with whatever you make,” Dernaty rolled her eyes playfully and walked on over to the kitchen. Grim listened for her to leave and sighed, tucking his wings onto his back neatly folded up. If she were to find out my secret, I don’t know what I would do. For now I have to keep my guard up and make sure another slip up like that doesn’t happen again!

* * * * * * * * * * *

The boss walked down the halls of Canterlot Castle, a firm expression frozen on his face. All the guards saluted him and he ignored them all. His personal assistant, Four Eyes, trotted by his side with his clip board floating in front of him.

“And so the only two survivors are Cords and the filly, he killed everypony else. Made quite the mess at the palace,” The boss looked down at him with a firm glare.

“What are we looking at for losses?” Four Eyes did a quick math equation in his head.

“Roughly a twelve percent drop, but we are able to pick up the slack from the others if they cooperate,” The boss smirked, looking back forward.

“I want everypony working double time to pick up the slack then! This one killed off not only my guards but civilians as well. We will be able to force ‘them’ to tend to this matter,” Four Eyes looked up at him with his blank expression and then back at the clpboard.

“Yes sir, we still have that. Also Cords is recovering at the hospital. Once he makes a full recovery, we can question him-”

“No! no pony makes ME wait! We will go to him once we are done here. I want everything out of him and I will personally question him, myself!”

“Yes, boss!” Four Eyes said with firmness, writing stuff down right after. They reached a pair of large, double doors which two royal guards stood by at attention. They opened the doors for him, allowing him to enter.

They entered a large, narrow room where on the other side sat the two princesses, Princess celestia and Princess Luna. They glared at him as he approached, walking like he owned the place.

“Sir Cold He-”

“DON’T you dare address me under that name! You know what to call me!” Luna sighed, shaking her head. Celestia flinched at his harshness but overlooked it. Luna held dark eyes on him almost sneering down at him.

“Why does though disturb us from our duties. . . Boss?” The Boss glared up at her, stopping a couple feet away from them and held a strong glare back at them.

“One of my co-workers were murdered in cold blood this night, and many civilians were killed as well. Most of them weren’t even part of my work force,” Their expressions softened up to concern and interest.

“So innocent ponies have been killed? Who did this?” The Boss pulled out a bounty poster of ‘The Grim’.

“This stallion right here! I have proof that he did it and he has been killing ponies on the streets, both yours and mine. Now I tried to offer bits for his head, but no one can do it. I need you to send out your military after him and kill him before he bothers me any further!” Luna glared down at him again, stomping her hoof and shouted at him, blasting him with her royal canterlot voice.

“You insolent fool! Does though think though can command us, alicorns of the sun and the moon! You have no control over us!!”

“but in fact I do,” The Boss pulled out a piece of paper with the title reading in bold letters ‘The Treaty of Industry’. “This little piece of paper states that as long as my men occupy the streets and this city, you are under my control. I could have destroyed you long ago, but you surrendered to me, offering this treaty. So you will do as I say, or else you are looking at another civil war, and well over half the city will turn against you with me but uttering two words. Do you wish to test me?”

Luna and Celestia looked at each other hopelessly, Luna stepping back from her spotlight. Celestia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked back down at him.

“If he is killing innocent ponies, then I suppose we must. I will send an elite squad to search for him,” The boss smiled victoriously, placing both sheets of paper back into his jacket.

“I’m glad we could see through this peacefully. Keep me and my men informed on any information that you uncover. Do this, and you won’t have to worry about any sort of war. . . for now,” He smirked cruelly at them and turned around, walking out. Luna bit her tongue, trying hard not to say anything, Celestia watched every step the Boss made until he was out the doors and they were closed.

“This is quite the situation we have found ourselves in now a days, Luna,” Luna narrowed her eyes over at Celestia.

“How could this have happened?! We were rulers! Commander of armies that crushed our foes! How did we allow ourselves to be as low as dogs! It isn’t right!”

“I know Luna, but for now we must play along. His reign won’t last forever,”

“And to make matters worse, the monster known as ‘Discord’ is still creating chaos throughout the southern lands, and we can’t send our armies outward to stop him!” Celestia softened her eyes over at her.

“Luna, calm your anger, do not let it control you, or you will lose control of your magic,” Luna’s stare softened faintly, taking a few deep breaths to allow herself to vanquish her rage.

“Thank you, sister. We lost thyselves for a moment. We will try to keep that in check,”

“Thank you, dear Luna. Now we must send a unit of each of our forces. I would like your team to watch over the Seven Deadly Ponies and my units will look for this ‘Grim’ pony around the city,” Luna smirked at that.

“Indeed. . . I know just the ponies to send for such a. . . misleading mission!”

Author's Note

Alright, this one is shorter because I just wanted to touch up on a couple of things and that I wrote this while staying awake for a couple of days Next one will be longer, you have my word! So it would appear that Grim has a secret he's trying to hide. Let's see just how long he can keep it, shall we? I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed reading it. I hope to see you all in the future chapters ahead. I hope you have a good morning/day/evening. Bye bye for now, my friends!