Soul Reaper Pony

Prologue:

Hello, my name is Crimson Tide, an Earth pony that isn't technically alive. In fact, according to records, I was born only 100 years after Discord's defeat, and died at the age of 15. Now, I'm venturing to guess that YOU are guessing how is it that I'm telling you this story now. Well, as it so happens, I can explain everything from the beginning. Or, when I got my cutie mark...

"Mom! I got my cutie mark! Wanna see it?" cried a younger me, about age 6. I had just gotten my cutie mark, and was so excited, although it was... peculiar.

"Oh my Celestia honey, momma is so proud of you," my mother said weakly from her room. The year before, she had contracted a disease that nopony could cure. She was told she only had 3 months to live at the time, but fought it to see her only son grow.

I skipped and hopped into the room, overjoyed with myself. "Look at it!" I cry as I enter the room, and turn for her to see.

"Oh, that's... lovely darling," she managed to choke out. "I've never seen a cutie mark like it. It's... unique." She blatantly lied to me, to save me from knowing that the cutie mark scared her and what it could mean. "What were you doing when you got it?" she inquired.

"That's the thing... I wasn't doing anything. I layed down to take a nap, and when I woke up, it was just there..." I thought out loud, now curious as to how it actually came to be. As you know, cutie marks show themselves when a pony actually does their special talent, and discovers it for the first time. This cutie mark however, did not come about in this manner, but while I was asleep.

You see, the cutie mark was unlike any seen before. Instead of something light and happy, this one was dark and cold. It depicted a skull, of a species we never speak of, and a strange sword of some sort in the process of cutting this skull in half. And the scariest part of it was, the skull had glowing yellow eyes, and two sets of teeth, as it looked to scream in agony and pain.

Later that night, my father returned from the fields that he was tending to (my family resided in what would become Sweet Apple Acres, but we did not grow apples, but wheat). As soon as he arrived, I showed him my cutie mark, and he just looked at my flank in shock. "Well, it's definitely... peculiar," he said slowly, choosing his words as to not hurt my feelings.

"That's funny, Momma said the same thing when she first  saw it," I said, looking at my father, as if trying to solve a complex puzzle.

"Well, enough talk about your cutie mark, now it's time for bed buster," my father said assertively. "Tomorrow, you are gonna start helping me in the field, now that I know for sure you're old enough." As soon as he said this, I went to my bed by the fire place, and quickly fell asleep.

"Hun, did you see his cutie mark earlier?" my father asked my mother as he entered their room (architecture notice: we lived in a two room household, one for the kitchen/living/my sleeping area, and a room for my parents).

"Why yes dear, I did. It was... discouraging to say the least. What will his special talent be? To kill humans?"

"Sweetie! You know that it is taboo to speak of them!"

"Look, all I'm saying is that his cutie mark does not fit with the rest of society! And what is more, I don't care about old laws that were put in place by a being that was defeated before we were even born," my mother explained to my father (I know of this conversation because I was able to see it when I died, don't ask me how). She then coughed, a little blood showing on her forehoof. "But I do know this. Now that I know that my son has his cutie mark, he will find his path, and live a happy life.

That night, my mother died in her sleep. She looked peaceful, smiling. We buried her the next day, when the ponies in the next town (a day travel on hoof) came and helped. But things were never the same again, My father became reclusive, and within 3 years, grew sick himself, only this sickness was of emotional pain rather than a physical ailment.

A year of this, and he was able to regain his health to a point where he could tend the farm again...

Move forward five years...

"Dad!" I yell. At this point, I am about fifteen years of age, and almost a fully grown colt. Oh, I totally forgot to describe myself. My bad. I am just about a few inches shorter than my father, but as big as a fully grown mare. I have a black coat, with a red mane and tail. And you already know what my cutie mark looks like and it's location (at least, I hope you do).  I have dark brown irises, and other than those minor details, I look just like any other pony

"What is it Crimson?" my father calls from his bedroom. "I hope your visit went well with the townsfolk."

He wasn't happy with what I told him. "They will... if we give them a large amount of our land."

"Celestia damn it, how many times have we told them! We give them some of our land, then we won't be able to provide for ourselves!" He yelled in frustration. He just shook his head and went back into his room. "I'll have to think about this, but for now, I need you to tend the fields. I'm not in the best shape right now."

"Yes, father..." I sullenly mumbled, audible enough for him to hear. I head out and grab my gear from our little shed, and get to work harvesting the wheat.

I was halfway through the second field when I heard a spine chilling roar of some sort, coming from my house. Then, I heard my father bellow in agony. Dropping everything but the scythe that I was using to harvest, I ran as fast as i could towards my house. Ten minutes of hard running, and I saw it. It was a biped of some sort, almost two ponies tall, but instead of a normal face, it was a skull, and strangely familiar.

Not presiding over this for too long, I rush forward and attack this monster, but to my utter surprise and horror, the scythe shattered against the monster's skin. It noticed me then, and as it turned around, I noticed my father's lifeless body, mangled and twisted in angles it shouldn't be in.

I screamed in horror and attacked the monster with my bare hooves, noticing how hard the skin really was. It... chuckled. "Do you really think that you, a small pony, can harm me?" It spoke, coldly with evil coating its voice.

I stared in shock at it. How did it know our language? Why was it doing this?

"Unfortunately for you, I am quite full, so I'll just be killing you and destroying this entire area, just for the fun of-" he cut himself short, and looked at me, closely. "Are you... a soul reaper?" he asked me with a puzzled look on his face. "No, that is impossible. Soul Reapers only come from the human world. Oh well, you won't live for long anyway.

He... disappeared right before my eyes. I heard his laughter above me and looked. He was holding his... paw? out with a red ball of energy. He started to laugh maniacally, and the ball grew larger. Making a sound unknown to pony kind, he released the energy, and my world turned black.

And my eyes started to open! I couldn't believe it, I survived! But as I looked at the sky above me, it looked... different. Fake, somehow. As I raised my forehoof, I looked at it, and yelped with shock. I had a paw just like the monster that attacked me, and I began to look at myself. I realized then that I didn't live, nor was I a pony any longer. Before I went into shock, I heard a noise behind me. Curious, I looked behind me to see a really old biped of some sort.

"Welcome, pony. Welcome to the seireitei."