"So, having fun yet Nick?"
"Dude, we just got here, and... holy shit that's one hell of a queue!" I said as my jaw dropped at the sight of what was in front of me, the queue wrapped around the side of the building and back to the front multiple times before spilling down the road.
"Huh, it's shorter than last time." I just gaped at my friend at that bit of knowledge. "We might be able to get in within the next hour or two, sweet."
Standing there and staring at my best friend, better known as David, I just picked up my jaw and worked my mouth to reply, "I-I... nope, not gonna bother, let's just get in the queue." I said as we began walking to the end of the queue, shaking my head as we walked.
As we arrived in the queue we went through our usual routine of putting in an earphone in one ear so we could listen to music whilst still talking to each other when we felt like it. That was how the next hour and three quarters was spent, good music, a bit of idle talk here and there and a lot of shuffling forward about a foot at a time.
"Woop woop!" was my eloquent response once we finally gained entry to the fabled comic-con, land of dreams and cosplayers of all variety.
"So where do you wanna go first?" He said looking at me as we both put our earphones away.
I just looked back at him with a smirk before deepening my voice, "from the shadows I come."
After a few seconds of blinking he turned away while shaking his head with a smile. "Right, so the Blizzard booth." And with that we started walking, only to stop a few seconds later as he turned to look at me. "Welp, I actually have no idea where that is, random wandering?" After a nod from me, our adventure began. If only I knew that it would be lasting a lot longer than just a few hours.
Dozens of booths, several groups of Spartans and one quick go trying out the latest Starcraft 2 expansion left us with the choice of what our next preferred destination would be. As we stood there swivelling our heads thinking, my eyes caught something, a booth with a large variety of items that most seemed to just pass without even looking at. Tapping David on the shoulder and getting his attention, I then pointed at the booth and walked up to it with him trailing behind me.
"Wow, now that's what I call a selection." I said getting a hum of agreement from my left where David was standing before I looked to my right, spotting the other guy looking at the table in front of us. He looked up at me for a second before looking back down at the table. 'And there's that urge to hit a stranger in the face again, I really wish that would stop happening.'
Focusing again I started looking at all the things this booth had to offer and it wasn't long before my brain came back with it's conclusion, 'nope, I have no idea what most of this stuff is.' Within a minute my eyes were drawn to three cloaks at the back and after looking at the prices I had to ask, "what's the difference between those three cloaks?" Finally looking at the guy running the booth I noticed he seemed to be cosplaying too, 'huh, well, if he was going for shady character, he got it down to a T.'
"The £30 one is a traveler's cloak, the £65 one is a reaper cloak and the £100 one is a sith cloak," the guy running the place said as he turned to look at me. I vaguely heard David saying something before going and talking to a guy nearby dressed as Dante from Devil May Cry.
'I don't have much money and they all look the same to me... fuck it.' All of five seconds later I made my choice, "I'll have the reaper cloak please." I handed over most of my money before getting the cloak off him and putting it in my bag.
Turning around, the last thing I heard from him was, "have a pleasant trip," followed by the guy that had been on my right the whole time moving his foot in front of me, just in time to trip me up as I started walking away.
What happened next was, in a word, weird. One second I'm falling over face first and the next I'm lying face down in someone's back garden. Standing up and brushing myself down I began looking around which showed I seemed to be in a village surrounded by trees and a few mountains on either side.
Done with viewing my new location I proceeded to check myself. 'Cargo trousers: check, awesome shirt: check, steel tipped boots: check, new cloak: missing, fuck, panic attack... later.'
Taking my first step forward as I began my new adventure, I finally noticed the screaming, the smoke and the strange golden shimmering between the village and the surrounding trees, leaving me to sum up my situation in a single word, "Balls."
… Anguish… Death… Re-spawn
Meditate… Pain… Agony… Anguish… Death… Re-spawn
Meditate… Pain… Agony… Anguish… Death… Re-spawn
Meditate… Pain… Agony… Movement… Ponies… Discord… "I may be free but my fate is sealed for now, yours however is unclear and you have suffered enough, rest friend, may you find peace in time." *snap*, *crack*, "Goodbye Seventh." *snap*, *flash*
Chaos… Order… Anguish… Death…
...Freedom!
"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