Rise of the Angel of Death

A pegasus flew at its fastest speeds. This pegasus had a message it had to deliver. Discord was taking the clouds causing them to be altered. He was going to find a way to make water taste like chocolate soon. A pegasus slammed into the cloud causing a lightning bolt to shoot out. The pegasus pulled himself out. He was a full grown blank flank which Discord knew meant he was a member of his worshippers. The pegasus bowed.

"Hail to Chaos my lord I bring troubling news." He said. With him was a note. Discord’s magic elevated it to him. He read it and looked at him. With his eyes closed an astral projection of him was sent out to confirm this. He opened his eyes.

"Send word to Twilight immediately; tell her to meet me at her castle I need to get someone first.

Mal was walking down the halls of government when a flash appeared behind him. Discord placed a claw on him and they disappeared with Mal asking. "What’s..." Before he could say anything else they were gone. Discord placed him down. "Going on Discord?"

The deity turned to the angel. "We must wait for the others."

"What do you mean the others?" Mal asked as he looked around where he had been taken this time.

"I mean Twilight and the others of course." Discord answered with a certain amount of worry in his voice. "Oh, but first we should get you a change in attire first." Discord then snapped his talons and Mal was overcome by a flash of light. When the light dimmed Mal dropped down in pony form. He looked down at himself and shot Discord a little glare.

"Why did you put me in a pony body?" "We're going to a pony settlement and I thought it would be best if you blended in."

"And why is that?"

Before Discord could answer a voice called out, "Discord, why did you call us out here?" Judging from the voice, it was Twilight. And her friends were close behind.

"Good you're all here." Pinkie Pie raised her hoof. "Yes?" He asked.

"Who is that?" Pinkie pie said pointing to Malthael in Alicorn form. "That’s Malthael, you know the Angel of Death Archangel of wisdom?" Mal rolled his eyes.

"Discord what is this about?" Discord formed a map of Equestria with a display of the cutie marks of them all, even Mal’s mark based on his status as the angel of death floated around. They came to the border lands of Equestria.

"One of my more sane cultists has informed me of something unnatural in the borders of Equestria." Twilight looked at the map. "But the only things near the borders are insane cultists, bandits and monsters." Twilight finished.

"Yes I know and there is something unsettling there is a place where everyone has the same cutie mark!" Discord

Discord’s magic showed the town. "This is unnatural because?" Mal asked.

"A cutie mark is actually more than a sign of harmony it’s also a sign of individuality despite its nature any pony has free will they can even go against their very nature but this is not nature because of the magic involved." Discord turned away. "In a flash a robe appeared on Mal to block out his wings. "Go find out why this has happened." The group nodded.

"Alright," Mal said with a bit of a nod. "But why did you grab me for this?"

"Just a precaution just in case the girls run into any resistance."

"I guess that makes sense, though I wish I could keep my hands."

"I'm sure, now here's hoping you figure this all out soon." Discord said as he snapped his talons and causing Mal, Twilight and the others to disappear in a flash of light. When the light subsided the group was standing on a ridge that overlooked a uniform looking village.

"Well, this must be the place Discord was talking about." Mal said as he scratched at his chin with a hoof.

"You're right. And if what Discord said is true we should keep an eye out for whatever is causing the cutie marks to be the same. Fluttershy was shaking slightly as they looked at the town.

Pinkie Pie glared. "I don't like it." She wasn't the only one. Mal sensed something was messed up. These ponies souls were in a word yelling at something.

"This is wrong." he said as they walked in. Using Star Swirl’s soul he scanned the magic. He was going to find what happened and hopefully put an end to it.

'Tirek’s soul is just about regenerated. I might use it if I need to remove the magic here hopefully that would work if not.' He looked down. However he stopped as he felt it, the evil that is hidden inside a facade of righteousness.

'No one is righteous only the Insane would believe otherwise.' Mal heard a voice in his head say.

Mal stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the voice in his head. 'That... that couldn't be what I thought it was, could it?' He thought as he tried to reach out to the voice that had just spoken to him. In the end nothing happened and he decided to just ignore it, hoping it was nothing. Mal continued to look around the town and finally saw some of the locals. Discord had been right, each of them had the same equal sign cutie mark, and smiles that just seemed too big. Fluttershy smiled a little as she calmed down.

"This place doesn't seem too bad actually."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Fluttershy," Pinkie said with a wary look. "I know smiles, and these ponies' smiles don't seem right."

"Pinkie's right," Twilight agreed. "We need to be careful. What does your soul scanning say, Malthael?"

"This is wrong." He said. The souls screamed at him over and over again. They appeared happy on the outside. However they screamed in anger and rage on the inside. This was a sign of a dystopia that was painted as a utopia.

‘Something is wrong here no wonder why that Discordic cult member came running." However coming next was a unicorn. The unicorn Mal knew caused this. This unicorn almost could have been Aria as a unicorn, but Aria was well a siren.

‘Remove her soul let evil ones break her.’ He heard a voice in his head, the voice sounded familiar.

Mal shook his head again as he tried to clear it of the strange thoughts that he just had. 'What is causing this?'

"Welcome all of you. What brings you to our happy little village?" The mare asked with a bright smile that made Mal uncomfortable. "And one of you is an alicorn no less. This certainly is an honor for us."

"Hi there, my name is Hades, and these are my friends. I happen to be a traveler of sorts and I make a habit of going places where no one else does." Mal said as he tried to put his goofy smile back onto his face. The mare seemed to perk up when she heard that.

"A traveller you say, you must be looking for some sort of meaning in your life. Well don't you worry, you'll find plenty of that in this village. My name is Starlight Glimmer, and it's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Mal had to laugh at the irony. What was his meaning in his life? Simple he was death incarnate literally his meaning in life was death. Well he was also wisdom but honestly he rarely used it.

"Yeah something is definitely wrong here." Mal said under his breath. Twilight decided to ask about this place leading to a song and dance thing making Hades’ eyes twitched. Their souls were literally screaming. Also he hated spontaneous song and dance. It was so tacky. "Ok are you done?" He deadpanned the song and dance was that annoying.

"Oh come on M... I mean Hades," Fluttershy said with a warm grin. "They're just trying to be nice."

'Really, she calls a boring song and dance number about uniformity, nice? I think we need to get Fluttershy some help when we're done here.' He thought.

Out loud he just chuckled, smiled at her, and said, "You're right, that was thoughtless of me. This place seems really great."

"Umm, excuse me Starlight," Twilight interrupted. "I was wondering why you all have the same cutie mark?" She asked.

"Well that's simple. All of us have given up our cutie marks. We prefer to abandon those pesky talents and embrace uniformity. All of this has let us achieve true friendship. Now that we're all the same, there are no disagreements and we've achieved perfect harmony." Starlight said smiling.

'I believe I’ve heard of this somewhere before.' Mal thought. Honestly he wondered why Discord didn't just come here himself. If anything he could read everyone’s minds then unleash the power of Chaos to… ‘Yeah it’s best I’m here.’

"Yeah how did you do something like that?" He was grateful for Chrysalis showing him how to hide his emotions because honestly if he had his hands things were going to get messy. Starlight motioned for them to follow her.

"Right this way."

-------------Back in Ponyville Discord was deep in thought and stopped as the doors opened up. Walking in was Nightmare Moon, Trixie and Sunset.

"Discord, do you know where Mal is?" Moon asked. Discord turned to them.

"Well I asked a favor I'm sure nothing wrong is going to happen to him."

-------------Back in the village Mal was using his magic to try to stop whatever it was that was happening to him. 'Why did I walk into this?' He asked. Starlight had never seen anyone be able to fight their cutie mark removal before.

Of course Mal didn't have one what was really happening to him? His mark finally left as he used too much of his magic, collapsing unconscious.. As the mark was stored a voice was unfortunately heard coming from it. "Let me out!" Of course it was barely a whisper. However now that Mal was not in control of his body another personality was freed.

Mal's body twitched and spasmed on the cave floor and his body was going through more changes. Finally his body stopped convulsing and he laid motionless.

"What did you do to our friend!" Twilight called out as her mark turned to an equal sign. Starlight regarded Mal coldly as she put down the staff that she had used to remove their marks.

"I'm not sure, nopony has had that reaction before. Though that's what he gets for resisting our wonderful process. Double Diamond, carry him to where we'll lock the others. Don't worry, you'll all come to love your newfound equality." Starlight said as she led them out of the cave."

Mal, or his spirit watched them leave from his new prison and tried to reach them. "No! Don't leave me here! Stop! LET ME OUT!" He cried.
Mal tried to break free with his magic, but felt nothing. He was utterly powerless. Mal felt a shudder run through as his spirit as his mind started to drift back to his last imprisonment. 'Calm down, Mal," he told himself. "Even if Twilight and the others can't get you out of here, Discord won't let you down. You just have to be patient until someone lets you out. Still, I can't believe I just walked right into a trap. I was stupid and careless. When I get out of here, I'm not letting something like this happen again."

Mal's body and the other six were placed in what would best be known as a conditioning chamber. However what no one noticed as the mark on him constantly pulsing. Finally it was gone another replaced it, his sickle with two souls circling it. His right eye opened up. What you could tell was Mal was not there. What was there you may ask? The eyes of an ancient being who seen enough war to know his enemy. Standing up a tendril of fog appeared around him. Before the six knew it he slammed his hoof against the wall blasting it apart with his hood raised.

"None can stop....." He was gone moving with the fog. "Death!"

The mane six gaped as they watched Malthael slowly move through the village.

"What the hay just happened!?" Rainbow Dash cried.

"I don't know," Twilight admitted. "I thought Malthael's powers over death would've been taken with his cutie mark."

"Well obviously that aint happenin' so what's goin' on with him?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know, but we have to stop him." Twilight admitted.

"How are we supposed to do that darling?" Rarity asked. "None of us have our talents. And even if we did I don't think we'd be able to stop him." Twilight had to admit she was right. She bit her lip as she tried to think of something.

"I think our best course of option is to evacuate everyone and hope Discord notices this large magical disturbance."

"Twilight," Pinkie said softly, "is Mal gonna be okay?"

Outside the village Malthael changed back into his human form.

Back in the vault Mal was still waiting. What he learned was that cutie marks were more than basic talents, they also were formed by the pony themselves. In a way it wasn't the cutie mark that defined the pony it was the pony who defined their cutie mark. They even had an imprint of their personality which was the reason why they acted like they did. That was why he was captured in this he didn't have a cutie mark but he did have a personality. A familiar flash appeared with Discord, Trixie, Sunset and Moon.

"Mal should be here I know his mind anywhere." Discord reached out with his mind.

"Discord over here!" Discord and the others turned to see the vault. Discord blinked.

"This is even worse than I thought." Discord walked up and placed his claw hands on the mark of Malthael. "Hey can you get me out of here?" It asked being able to be heard by everyone.

Starlight looked out as the sky started to darken "None. Can. Stop...." The clouds gave out as Malthael was seen with his blades at the ready the clouds where his death fog. With a landing the fog gave out the land around the village died. Starlight looked up to see the village sounded by a waste lands. "DEATH!" With a sickle raised the wood in the buildings started to decay and ponies near him collapsed as their souls left them.

Starlight cowered as she saw Malthael approach her. "What in the hay is that thing!" She cried.

"Your time has come." Malthael called out. Starlight paled as she heard that. She then turned and started to run as fast as she could. Malthael just continued to slowly approach her. He knew that he would catch her soon enough.

Back at the vault, Sunset, Trixie, and Moon pressed themselves against the glass to look at Mal's mark. "Mal, what happened to you?" Sunset asked.

"I got careless and walked right into a trap," he admitted.

"Oh Mal," Moon said. "Discord, could you get me out of here?"

"That’s easy." Discord trapped the glass it formed cracks then shattered. The cutie marks, Mal included flew out. Discord saw the magical stick with a thought he set it of fire as it was no more. The marks flew out into the fleeing ponies returning who they were the mark of hades hit right into Malthael However original Malthael didn't stop moving the mark flew off as it landed it formed into another Malthael.

"Stop right there!" He demanded. Malthael simply refused. Mal summoned the fogs but got nothing. He didn't have death. He had wisdom.

'Ok, how do I even begin to do this?' Mal thought as he squared off against Malthael.

"You cannot stop me." Malthael coldly stated.

"We'll see about that." Mal said. Mal rushed at Malthael hoping to catch him off guard. The two clashed and sparks flew off of their weapons. "I won't let you have your way," Mal growled, "that's my body you're running around in."

"No, it is mine," Malthael replied.

Sunset, Trixie, and Moon were confused at what they were seeing. "Discord, what is going on?" Moon asked. "Why are there two Mals?"

"From what I can gather, Mal has another personality buried deep inside of him. It seems when I changed him into a pony his personality formed his cutie mark, and when that was removed his other personality came out." "

Do you think you should help him?" Trixie asked.

Discord however turned to Starlight. "Perhaps but I need to have a chat with the pony who’s bright idea was this." He turned to her. Discord used his powers to remove her horn effectively making her powerless.

The two angels clashed again. Malthael had a neutral smile a blast of death fog covered him in hopes that Mal was dead but Mal appeared unfazed and gave a slash to his counterpart. "You seem to have developed an immunity to my powers." Malthael said. With that a wave a wave of flames came to Mal.

Discord stood over the unicorn with his arms raised the powers of Chaos arched though his hands. "What should I do with you? Banish you to the sun? Imprison you in stone? Or just outright rip your atoms apart?"

"Please don't hurt me." Starlight whimpered. Discord glared at her.

"You know I really should hurt you after everything you've done. But I suppose I should just make you watch what your actions have caused."

Back at the fight, Mal and Malthael were circling each other again. Mal was the first one to act again. He channeled magic through his sickles and lashed out in a fit of blinding speed. Malthael caught all of Mal's attacks and attempted to counter. Malthael swung his sickle toward Mal's neck. Mal dodged and attempted to counter in return. The two of them pulled apart once more. "Why won't you just die?!" Malthael boomed.

"I could say the same to you." Mal snapped back.

Mal and Malthael clashed once again. Malthael raised his blades. "I am Death incarnate." With his sickle raised the whole village collapsed. "I am the only truth in life I am the only equal thing existence for everything dies the mortals, the gods and even the universes!"." He rose up into the air. Mal followed suit. "And what are you?" Malthael asked.

"Simple, I am life your opposite in every way." Mal taunted him. The fogs formed.

"All will Die!"

Mal gathered his magic at that moment they clash as a shock wave was felt. The wind picked up some more.

Mal just smirked as his and Malthael's blades pressed together. "Why are you smiling?" Malthael asked.

"Simple, it's because you're right."

"What?" Malthael said not expecting to hear that.

"You're right, everything does die. But death isn't just an ending. It's also the beginning. Things are born, they live, and they die. And then that cycle continues. That, is the ultimate truth." Malthael flinched at Mal's words. "Now let's finish this!" Mal cried. Mal seemed to get the upper hand on Malthael and knocked one of his sickles to his side. Mal then slashed Malthael across the chest. The wound wasn't very deep, but it was enough to enrage Malthael.

"That's enough!" He thundered as his wound started to heal. "I will not be bested by a fool like you!"

A flash happened as images of the Princesses’ parents, Star swirl, Unicorns, Earth ponies Pegasus, dragon and others flashed. With a teleport Malthael appeared behind mal piercing him through the back he tossed them into the ground with a bounce Malthael grabbed his leg and slammed him into the ground again before he could react he was tossed into the air. With the gathering of Magic he unleashed a Blast of Magic. Mal Attempted to defend and the sky lit up as an explosion let loose the ground broke under him. Mal landed on the ground beaten and bloodied He struggled to get up. Malthael stood over him and grabbed Mal by the neck.

"Any last words?" He asked. Mal had a smile.

"Yeah." Malthael felt something pierce through his heart. Mal impale him with his own sickle. "I win." With that Malthael broke apart.
A vortex surrounded Malthael Souls and dark fog from the vortex revealed those ponies who had died by Malthael were revived as their souls returned. The souls moved back into Mal and then the fog of death. When it was over he was perfectly healed and his outfit back to normal.

"Looks like I stopped death." He said with a goofy smile.

"Mal!" Sunset, Trixie and Moon cried as they rushed towards him and embraced him. Mal's smile widened as he returned the embrace as best as he could.

"Hey girls, am I ever glad to see you."

"I'm just glad that you're safe," Sunset told him.

"Same here, and as a plus all the ponies from this town are safe. Oh and Discord, the next time you want me to take part in some crazy adventure, ask me before teleporting me to the other side of the world."

Discord chuckled as he heard that. "I’ll try to keep that in mind." He answered.

"Yeah, sure you will," Mal grumbled.

"Anyway, this is the pony that caused your other side to go rampant, what do you want to do with her?" Discord asked as he held up Starlight with his magic. Mal scratched his chin in thought as he tried to think of something to do.

Mal summoned a soul and hit it into his chest. The unicorn then glowed in orange. With pain she felt her magic ripped from her as Mal held it in her hands. "I have taken your magic I can leave you powerless for the rest your life and in a world of magic this is a death sentence however." He placed a magic spell on the magic and gave it back to her. With that the knowledge of the cutie mark spells was gone forever gone.

"I have erased your memory and ability to ever cast that spell, trust me you're getting off light." Mal said.