Death In Ponyville

DEATH IN PONYVILLE

CHAPTER 2:

DEATH IN HIS (OTHER) WORK

The sounds of pounding hooves filled the ears of the Earth pony stallion as he ran. His lungs hurt, but he continued to run. He couldn't let them catch him.

He knew what would happen if they caught him.

"Where'd that rat go?!" a loud booming voice shouted.

Hearing that, the stallion picked up his speed, feeling his heart pounding inside his chest. He turned through all the street corners, empty of life in the late hours of the night. He had no clear idea of where he was going, but he was too caught up in his frantic desire to escape that he didn't care.

That is, until he ran smack dab into a dead end.

"Buck!" the stallion yelled, rubbing his now pained head. Then he covered his mouth with his hoof, hoping that nopony had heard his outburst-

"I heard something over here!"

Buck! the stallion thought. He quickly turned on his hooves, determined to escape the dead end alleyway he had turned into and get out of Canterlot as quickly as he could.

That plan came to a halt as his path was blocked by four other ponies, all dressed in the golden armor of the Royal Guard.

"Halt!" the leader shouted, pointing the spear held in his hoof.

"Get the buck out of my way!" the stallion at the end of the alley shouted.

"Candy Corn, you are under arrest for the murder of nine foals," the lead guard continued speaking, ignoring the stallion's shout as he and his comrades began to walk forward, cornering him in the alley further.

"Buck you, I didn't do shit!" Candy Corn snapped. His eyes darted around, trying to find the nearest exit.

"Do not deny your crimes, you scumbag!" another guard, this one a mare, shouted. "How could you do those horrible things to those innocent children?!"

Candy Corn felt a cruel smirk cover his face. "Because it was just so much fun," he said slowly, unable to keep the pride of his actions out of his tone.

And it was. Watching the foals sob for their parents in his special room, hearing them scream and cry and desperately try to claw at anything they could as he dragged them by their tails to his work room. Watching their tears fall as he restrained them, then got out his tools...

It was the best fun he had ever had.

That statement only served to enrage the four guards. "BY THE ORDER OF PRINCESS CELESTIA, YOU ARE TO BE TAKEN TO THE HIGH CANTERLOT PRISON AT ONCE!" the leader cried, advancing forward.

"Over my dead body!" Candy Corn screamed, running forward. He could totally take on this four guards, these guards were pushovers, there's no way he was going to go to jail-

SHNK.

Candy Corn gasped as a sudden pain erupted in his chest. Then, suddenly, the pain disappeared, and he found himself lying on the ground in the alley.

"W-What was that?" he demanded, placing his hooves on his chest. He looked down at himself, and didn't see any kind of marks. He appeared to be fine.

Looking up, Candy Corn saw the four Royal Guards staring down at them. The lead guard had a neutral, hardened expression on his face, and in his hoof was clenched the spear.

The end of the spear was dark red.

Another guard was staring down at Candy Corn with a grimace. "Was...Was that necessary, sir?" he asked unsurely.

"Captain Defiant Scale was clear that, if the criminal attempted to attack, lethal force was authorized," the leader stated.

The mare was glaring down at him. "Good riddance, I say," she spat. "After what he did to those foals..." The mare was visibly shaking at the thought.

"What the buck are all of you talking about?!" Candy Corn demanded, moving his legs so that he could stand up, prepared to fight his way out once more. "Get the buck out of my way, you stupid pieces of sh-HEY!"

Candy Corn cried out as he fell back down to the ground, unable to move. He looked down at himself - dark black chains had appeared on all four of his hooves, practically hog-tying him down. He shook himself, trying to get out of them, only to cry out as every single movement caused a searing, burning pain to shoot through his skin. The murderer looked up at the four guards, who were still staring down at him - or at least, he thought they were.

"What-What the buck did you sods do?!" he shouted, struggling through his bonds, even as they burned him. "Get these off of me!"

"The guards didn't do that," a new voice said. "I did,"

Candy Corn's head shot up, and he stared in shock at a brown Earth pony stallion that had suddenly appeared before him. His Cutie Mark was an hourglass, and he was staring down at Candy Corn with cold eyes.

"What the buck?!" Candy Corn cried. "Where did you come from, this alley is a dead end!"

"Death can move anywhere it wants," the brown Earth pony said. "For now, it's here,"

The words caused a chill to course through Candy Corn's body. "D-Death?" he repeated. "What the buck are you talking about?"

The other pony slowly walked up to Candy Corn. A sense of dread filled up Candy Corn's body as the stallion got closer and closer, until he was standing directly above his face.

The brown stallion lowered his face, until he was staring right into Candy Corn's face.

"When you committed those terrible crimes," he spoke in a soft whisper, but to Candy Corn the words were suddenly and unbearably loud. They blasted into his ears, and he moaned as his head started to throb in uncontrollable spasms of pain.

"Did you ever wonder what would happen when your life came to an end?" the brown pony continued to whisper. "What would happen when you're time came up? When the sand in your hourglass ran out? Did you wonder what would happen when you left this life...with absolutely no regret for what you have done?"

"Stooop!" Candy Corn cried, shaking his head frantically back and forth, trying to make the throbbing pain stop. "Please, stop, it hurts!"

The brown stallion chuckled darkly. "Oh, you haven't even begun to know pain, my dear Candy Corn," he said. "Everything you feel right now? Compared to what you have coming to you...this is a tickle,"

Candy Corn shrieked in fear as the brown stallion suddenly took on a completely different appearance. His brown coat had turned dark gray, his brown mane turned pitch black. His eyes, bright blue before, had transformed into sunken, dark and black. The stallion opened his mouth, and Candy Corn nearly wet himself when he saw that his teeth had become deathly sharp, like the jaws of a beast about to feast on its pray.

"WHAT THE BUCK ARE YOU?!" Candy Corn screamed, trying in vain to move away from the horrible looking pony, only to cry out as his chains rubbed against his skin, scorching his fur, and the throbbing in his ears intensified. "G-GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"To answer my own question, dear Candy Corn," the dark stallion said, leaning down and running his tongue across Candy Corn's face. The other stallion screamed - the touch of his saliva felt like burning acid, searing into his skin. "This is what happens,"

"AAAH!" Candy Corn only screamed, tears spilling out of his cheeks. His entire body felt like it was being burned alive. "STOP, STOP, PLEASE!"

"STOP STOP PLEASE! STOP STOP PLEASE! STOP STOP PLEASE!" the dark stallion roared, silencing Candy Corn, who only stared up at him in horror. "Wasn't that exactly what all those foals asked of you? Did you listen? DID YOU?"

"N-No, I didn't!" Candy Corn screamed. His mind wasn't working - all he wanted was to get away from the horrible creature before him. "I-I'm sorry, j-just please let me go, please!"

"You are not sorry, Candy Corn," the dark stallion growled. "If you were, I would be acting MUCH nicer. But, for now...it's time to face eternity,"

Candy Corn yelped in fear as the stallion suddenly moved himself from above him. He lifted up a dark gray hoof, and picked up the end of the chains that bounded Candy Corn's hooves. "I suggest you get used to these chains, dear Candy Corn, and soon," he said, a vicious smirk appearing on his face. "Because they're NEVER coming off,"

Candy Corn cried out as the stallion suddenly began dragging him down the alley, pulling him along by the end of the chain. "W-Wait!" he shouted. "S-Stop! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The dark stallion smirked at him, showing all his razor edged teeth. "Taking you home," he said in a mocking tone.

Behind the dark stallion, in clear view of Candy Corn's eyes, the back of the alley suddenly transformed. The brick walls seemed to melt away like ooze, revealing a blackened tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, Candy Corn could see flames. Dark flames. He could hear the sound of wailing, of ponies screaming in pain. Everlasting pain.

Candy Corn suddenly understood exactly what was happening. He knew what that place at the end of the tunnel was.

And he knew that he was being dragged there.

"NO!" Candy Corn screamed, frantically thrashing, desperate to slip out of the chains. "NO, NO, PLEASE DON'T TAKE ME THERE! I SWEAR, I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!"

The dark stallion did not answer - he only continued to pull Candy Corn along, as the tunnel and the flames and the wailing got closer and closer and closer...

"NOOOOOOOO!" Candy Corn sobbed, desperately trying to find anything in the alley he could use to save himself.

Just like what his own victims had done.

That thought did not cross his mind. It would though. It would many times during the eons and eons and eons of torment he faced.

Nopony escaped the prison that was Tartarus.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A final wail ripped from his throat as Candy Corn felt the dark stallion finally drag him away from the world of the living, and into the dark tunnel.

Watching her fellow guards wrap the body of Candy Corn, a well-known serial killer of foals, for transportation, Moondancer felt a soft brush of wind through her coat. She turned around and looked down the alleyway. There was nothing there.

"Huh," she mumbled, turning back to the task at hand. "Must just be imagining things,"

A few minutes after the four guards left to report what had happened, and deliver Candy Corn's body to the morgue, Time Turner stepped out of the alleyway. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I wonder if there is anything wrong with my mental state with how much I enjoyed that?" he wondered out loud. "Oh, of course not! I'm Death, I do what I want....And I want a smoothie,"

With that, the Grim Reaper pony departed, humming merrily to himself.