The Celestial Lie

"Has Discord’s statue been safely placed back in the garden?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, your highness." The guard replied, she was about to dismiss him but the look on his face clearly showed he had something else he wanted to say.

Celestia just looked at him for a few seconds with her usual calm expression, that didn't give away the fact she found the guards expressions amusing at times. After a minute she decided she'd step in and help him with his choice, "is there something else on your mind Sergeant?"

The answer however was nothing like she had expected. "Yes, your highness. Both the staff and guard in the area of the garden of statues have reported a smell. I checked it out myself and the closest I can come to describing it, is the carcasses left over from gryphon feasts that have been allowed to rot in the open but way worse, um, your highness." He said regaining his composure.

That caught her attention, her face instantly shifting from her calm demeanour to a curious one. "Were you able to locate where the smell was coming from?" She asked.

"The best I can tell it's coming from the statue of The Reaper, your highness."

The guard had just enough time to finish speaking before Celestia’s face became unreadable and she disappeared with a pop, leaving behind a confused guard, unsure of whether to wait for her to return or to go back to his post.

Appearing in the garden, Celestia began trotting to her destination, quickly taking note of the smell the guard had mentioned causing her mind to fill with memories. She arrived at her destination, a statue of a strange Minotaur like creature with a plaque that read only 'The Reaper', it's story long forgotten by most.

As she stood there, staring at the small crack running along its forehead her horn sparked to life, quickly scanning the statue, but as her magic faded, her expression quickly shifted from worried to something darker. "You should have stayed dead." She muttered before a smile worked it’s way onto her face, “and now the hunt begins again.” Her horn ignited again, this time shattering the statue to pieces.

She had only a second to regret her action before the full force of the previously trapped smell hit her, causing her to lose her breakfast instantly.

Relief, that's the first thing I felt. The next was the breeze, the grass beneath me. I lay there for an unknown amount of time before my finger twitched, the sensation making me euphoric for a moment before my stomach rumbled, alerting me that I would need to eat soon if I wanted to avoid the pain that had plagued me for so long.

It took a while to stand, the feeling of moving again felt so foreign but after some time I was able to look around and get my bearings, I was in a forest, a rather ominous one at that. It was then that I heard a twig crack in the bushes in front of me.

I could only close my eyes with a soft smile on my face and allow what was likely about to happen. I was proven right when moments later I felt myself falling to the ground with a sharp pain running through my throat, it only took a few moments before I fell to death’s embrace again, the small smile never leaving my face as the animal began dragging my corpse. Dying like this is so much easier.

It was a while before I opened my eyes again, but this time my body was numb, it only took a look at the snow that had started to cover my body to realize why. I closed my eyes again and it wasn't long before I succumbed to the cold and I died again. Until I could rebuild my ritual site, my re-spawns would be random in location and time, but I could live with that, or die as the case may be.

The next time I opened my eyes I was met with a pair of teal eyes staring back at me, "Who are you, and why are you here?" I heard the eyes ask.

The eyes took on a confused look before they narrowed but I spoke with what strength I had left, "don't let her get me again."

She tilted her head slightly before asking, "who?"

Before I slipped into unconsciousness I was able to whisper her name, the name of my hunter. "Celestia," and with that, I was met with darkness again.

She looked down at the creature before her. It had just appeared in her throne room a minute ago, splayed out on the floor and just as she had begun poking it, it's eyes fluttered open before locking onto hers. "Who are you and why are you here?" she asked it.

It was at that moment that she sensed its overwhelming fear, but what confused her was that for once, it wasn't directed at her. What she did feel aimed at her however was the smallest amount of hope, which caused her to narrow her eyes in suspicion. Then it spoke with a weak but decidedly male voice, "don't let her get me again."

Tilting her head out of curiosity as to whom could instil this much fear, she asked the most important question, "who?"

"Celestia." As it, no, 'he', whispered the name, she picked up on one last feeling before he passed out. Pure, unadulterated, malice, at such a level that it caused her to take a step back instinctively.

She looked to one of her children in the room, "take... him, to the medical wing, alert me when he wakes."

Her child nodded as it and three others moved to the creature and carried it out.

She went back to her throne, where she sat to ponder this strange event. 'What have you done this time, Celestia?'

"My queen?" Chrysalis turned to regard the drone that had spoken beside her. Nodding her head, the drone continued, "I have seen that creature before."

"Why was I not notified before now?" She said narrowing her eyes at the drone in front of her.

His response however only confused her, "Because it was a statue."

Thinking for a few seconds she asked the next obvious question, "Explain."

"Three months ago, right after the statue of Discord was replaced in the Canterlot gardens, one of the other statues disappeared, I was in the palace at the time and found it suspicious and decided to investigate. I apologise my queen, but the only intel I could find was that it was called 'The Reaper', and that shortly before its disappearance there was reported a smell similar to rotting carcasses.

Chrysalis frowned