The Reaper

Twilight woke up to a shiny glass ceiling. Whaa?... Oh. The events of the previous days came back to her. The familiar knot of pain, shame, and guilt coalesced in her abdomen. Trixie... I'm so sorry. I'll bring you back if I can. She thought in a melancholy manner until a nearby candle sputtered her out of regret. Spark candles! How clever! The sound of the sparks would wake you up... like a rooster! Swinging off her bed, she was greeted by a note.

I await you by the castle entrance. Finding your way there is the first test.

-Your friendly and loving Queen of the Damned

Twilight sighed at the note. By going into Thanatos's training, she would renounce Princess Celestia entirely. While many pony's thought Luna the solar princess's opposite, Thanatos was closer. The Queen of the Damned was often cruel, murderous, and malicious. About the only thing the two shared was a liking to pranks. Oh, and immense power.

Try as she might, Twilight could not help but feel a little resentful to her former mentor. As she had explained it, it was outside of the solar goddess's power to heal her protege. Twilight could go out in the sun, though. And she suspected she had Celestia to thank for it. Apparently vampires were weak to sunlight, they would die, lose their powers, or become incredibly weak just by coming into contact with the sun's rays. However, she was not. She had felt absolutely no difference anywhere in the light.

The lavender alicorn stretched her wings out, happily releasing the cramped and stiff muscles. Wings do not like to stay still. They like to move and feel the air moving through their feathers. Flapping them a little bit before settling them against her sides, Twilight cautiously peeked outside her door. Oh, no... What she saw took her breath away.

The hallway was PACKED with demons. All shapes and sizes. From a manticore to a parasprite, various spawn of Thanatos bustled into doors and adjacent hallways. Shouting and snapping at their brethren that got into the way, the castle's residents hurried along.

Oh, well, here goes! She put a hoof tentatively into the hallway, before drawing it back with a squeak. Maybe flying would be better... Little space to take off though. Twilight didn't exactly have the fine-motor skills that Rainbow Dash possessed, but she could at least try. Backing into her room, she breathed deeply before launching off. Careful not to disturb the numerous scrolls that were in her room, Twilight delicately flew out the door.

Apparently, not delicate enough. As soon as she was out the door, another flying pony smacked into her.

"Hey!" said the other pony indignantly.

"Sorry!" squealed Twilight automatically. "Are you okay?"

"I suppose," grumbled the voice, still obviously miffed about being run into. He raised his eyes to her face. "Oh, another vampony!" he said, obviously brightening a bit.

His latter comment defintely got Twilight's attention. "Another?" she coughed.

"Well, of course. Thought you were the only one?" He flew up with a flourish. "Well, think no more!" He grinned down at his bewildered new acquaintance. That is, until a griffin smacked into him.

"Watch it, glitters!" shrieked the brown griffin, swiping his vicious talons across his "attacker's" face. The vampony yelped and, once more, bowled into Twilight. He held his bleeding cheek, applying pressure to staunch what bleeding he could.

"Help, maybe?" said the bleeding pony dryly.

"I will, if you'd get off of me!"

"Oh! Sorry," said the other equine, freeing her from his body weight.

"Well, then, let's get you fixed up!" Maybe I can make a new friend... Twilight pulled the bleeding vampony into her room. She gestured for him to sit down. He was a light grey, with a wild white mane and tail, and his irises were blue. His cutie mark was a wind swirl, and his wings were also somewhat larger than those of a normal pegasus, though most certainly not as large as hers. "First things first, what is your name?"

"Aer. And you're an alicorn," he said,  having noticed her horn.

Twilight winced. He had to bring that to attention. "Yes, I am. What of it?"

"Well, there's the obvious. You are magical. So can't you heal this with magic?" Aer complained.

"Of course I will!" Twilight scoffed, and true to her word, began a healing spell.

Healing was an interesting branch of magic. The magic doesn't actually do the healing, but encourages and speeds up the body's reaction to the wound or ailment. So, first,Twilight goaded the platelets into closing the scratch. Then, she summoned the white blood cells to the wound. They began to their work. Last, she convinced the body to heal the cut from the inside out. Soon, all that remained was a small white scar.

Aer looked impressed. "That... was fast! Thank you, my fair lady!"

Twilight blushed and looked away. "No problem!"

"May I be as bold as to inquire the fair lady's name?" Aer bowed, pushing her further.

Desperate for a cheer, and getting into the spirit of things, Twilight replied, "Of course you may, my audacious sir. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Aer choked on his words, whatever they were originally. "Twilight... Sparkle? The Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight backed away a bit. "Yes?"

Aer's ice blue eyes widened. "You're in training to be a Reaper! Cool! And," he said, dramatically pausing, "you should get going now," he pushed her towards the door. "Here, I'll help!" He barreled her out the door and into the mayhem in the hall.

Twilight eeped.

Thanatos tapped a hoof by the entrance. Where was she? Based on Twilight's history, whenever she was confronted by royalty, she'd throw her self across puddles to make sure that they didn't get wet. But then again, there was that "traffic" problem. Thanatos smirked, no, she did not envy the poor pony. Navigating those hallways was a nightmare.

The Queen of the Damned was an interesting character. She was privy, by way of souls, to much of the information in the world. She knew many secrets, both buried and fresh. The dead... The walls of her mind were painted with blood. Death was a bittersweet thing. Thanatos had to send creatures to be tortured or to euphoric existence until they were reborn. Did any of them deserve torture? The sins of the immortal were far greater. Sure, some of them needed to relearn their morals, but eternal damnation? Really?

In the eons of inequality, Thanatos's mind had suffered the consequences of her post.

Was it fair? Was it fair? What was fair? Should those who did not do much deserve to not do much in the afterlife? Or were they merely victims of circumstance? If they had been thrust in a time of war, of trouble, would the have acted differently? Would they have been remembered? Celebrated? Hailed? Would they have brought peace? Who knew? There was hardly a way to find out. Cast them into the world once more? What if they did great evil?

These questions had tortured the black alicorn for as long as she had held her post. She used to have a hard time sending the poor souls to their torment. But no longer.

The millennia of her station had rendered her indifferent.

It would not be long until she enjoyed it.

"Aer! I! Can! Fly! BY MYSELF!" Twilight shouted over the roar of the wind. This pegasus would give Rainbow Dash quite a run for her bits. He pushed her at such speeds that she was stuck and unable to move. Also, he was taking quite the unnecessary detour. Great, now I'm going to be late.

Aer grinned maniacally and said something she didn't quite catch.

Twilight sighed. Wait... I can teleport... TWILIGHT SPARKLE! YOU IDIOT! And with a poof of magic she was gone.

Aer came to a halt.

"Thanatos! I'm so sorry!" Twilight squealed.

Thanatos sighed. "It's quite alright, for now. But if you wish to remain whole and with your blood in your body, follow me."

The purple pony shuddered at the mental imaging. Curse her overly accurate mind! Thanatos was ruthless, so would she really inflict that much punishment on her? She wouldn't even have to make her bleed. The dark alicorn could just disturb her nerves and fool her body into believing she was in agony.

The darker aspects of magic. Magical beings merely needed to be creative. Magic was energy that was bound by your own strength and mind. Imagination, the most deadly thing in the world. Never mind power, you could be weak and defeat enemies many times stronger with imagination.

Ponies were magical creatures.

And that was why Pinkie could do what she could.

The pink Earth pony could twist reality as she so wished because of her imagination.

Thanatos began to lead her outside. Swallowing her fear, the vampony began to meekly trot after her new mentor. Oh, how I hope she'll be reasonable... thought the mage.

The great black doors opened, and the keening of the dead assaulted her ears. Gritting her teeth, Twilight stiffly walked out into the red light. Still, it was magnificent. The red light reflected of the glossy fortress, casting patches of condensed light around the landscape. But Twilight only had so long  to inspect her surroundings, as Thanatos was impatient and soon took to the wing.

Oblivious, Twilight continued to stare around until the Queen said sarcastically, "Oh, waste all my time! It's not like we have important things to do!" Twilight yelped and looked upwards to where Thanatos hovered. "You have wings, so use them! Many dream of flight, but never achieve it,  and you have been given a chance, so use it!" the Queen thundered.

"Y-Yes, my Queen," Twilight stammered. Spreading her great starry wings, the purple demon took off. The air was rather still, but not stagnant. Unusual... she mused.Balancing herself on the air currents, Twilight hovered at slightly below eye level with the Queen.

"I see you have been blessed," Thanatos remarked dryly, casting a critical eye over Twilight's feathers. "Never mind that, we have important business to attend," flashing an evil smile, the Queen flew off. Sighing, Twilight followed.

Thanatos drifted between the almost non-existent air-currents. A blessed? Oh, do I have quite the weapon at my disposal! The Queen of the Damned smiled, feeling the bliss of someone mad with power. I will bind her to me! She is nearly equal in power to many immortals. Thanatos paused, feeling actual wind flicker past her face and caressing her mane. She snorted in mild disgust. Aer...

"There you are!" a male voice cried out in delight.

Twilight gulped, and braced herself for the impending collision. Sure enough, it arrived at the expected time. Gasping as the wind was knocked out of her, she turned around in a fury. She bristled with the weight of her wrath. With her regained breath, she roared, "AER!!!"

Her assaulter looked at her, unabashed. "There you are!" he chattered with a happy tone. Were he not vampony, he would have scurried off to hide. "You ran off!" he accused.

"Because I had to!" Twilight retorted.

"Did not!" he answered, pouting.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Enough!" roared Thanatos. "Aer, you will be taking charge of Twilight's training for mastery of her vampire abilities. However, you are not to rile her up!" she hissed, furiously. "You may stay with us for now," she added, cold as winter's wind.

Aer brightened a bit at this, but soon withered under Twilight's maddened gaze. Her violet eyes flashed red before she calmed herself. "Very well," she said, curtly. Pumping her wings harder, she flew forwards to catch up with Thanatos, as the Queen had sped ahead.

It was not long before they reached their destination.

Unjudgement.

The place where the actions of the dead tipped them toward neither good, nor bad. Where they go when they did nothing of much consequence in their lives. Souls that came here were occasionally reborn, but they were way down on the waiting list. In their reborn lives, they were given a chance to be the hero, not the victim, and not the bystander.

The sea of souls wailed as their tormentor and Queen soared above them. Most of them had long forgotten their names and their lives. But not who kept them there. Thanatos landed, and her "subjects" scrambled desperately to get away from her.

However, one soul was denied such refuge. The Queen of the Damned grabbed her, sparing no care if she hurt her. The soul squealed.

Twilight and Aer zoomed to the Queen. They landed, keeping care to avoid the spirits who fled in desperation.

The Queen turned around and regarded the fledgling coldly. "Twilight, I believe you have... unfinished business." The Queen smirked fiendishly. "I have a gift for you." Thanatos set the being in front of her. "Have fun," she whispered.

Going over to Aer, she instructed, "After you're done, feed her. I want her to remain at full power. Shove it down her throat if you must."

Aer blinked. "What, or who, am I supposed to give to her?"

The black alicorn paused, thoughtful. Twilight would absolutely refuse blood if it was taken by force. "Your own. She'd starve herself if what she drinks if taken with violence." Seeing Aer's expression, she continued, "What? You've had worse wounds, even this morning. A little nick on the back of your hoof isn't anything." He was however, not pacified. Thanatos rolled her eyes, "She can cast a spell to dull the pain, if need be, too."

Twilight was hyperventilating. That... that nag! How dare she!?

For who cowered in front of her, not meeting her eyes, scared witless, was Trixie.

Heeeeyyy... I'm back.

Alright, friends, brace yourselves, a time of indecision is coming! I don't how long it will be until I update, it depends on whether or not I find some exquisite music. My writing actually depends on what I'm listening to.

Followers, I'll have to ask you about some things.