Reaper: Grand Charade

"Well, here we are," Azreal welcomed his guests as he motioned them into his apartment.

The girls were amazed by what they saw. The floor was black marble, polished so that they could see their reflections. Purple floor lights lined the edges of the room, causing the speckled white marble walls to shimmer. The room was furnished with black leather sofas and a black marble table, with a large TV hung on the wall to the side. At the far end of the room, large window panes made up the entire back wall, giving the group a stunning view of the city below.

"Why, this is simply divine!" Rarity exclaimed. "Is this really your home, Azrael?"

"Yep," Azrael answered. "My old man set me up here when I transferred. There should be enough room for all of you. Make yourselves at home."

The girls quickly made themselves comfortable. Rainbow and Applejack pulled out the game system and got to work on Azrael's game library. Fluttershy fell asleep on a couch, while Rarity continued to admire the decor, and Pinkie began spreading party decorations all over the place. Meanwhile, Daniel sat across from Shimmer and Twilight, ready to fire off several questions.

"So, mind telling me what the deal was with those suits back there?" he began. "Why would those guys be interested in a bunch of high school girls?" The two girls decided to tell him everything that had happened in the past few months. Daniel absorbed all this information, and considered the implications. "Well, you girls managed to tick off the government. Impressive, but it does cause some problems. For starters..." He stood up, and looked toward the city. "...I'd better deal with these guys before they get their hands on your stuff. Who knows what they'll do with the journal or pendant." With that, he took his leave.

Azrael took his spot on the couch. "He seems cold, doesn't he?" he asked.

Shimmer just shrugged. "Anyway, thanks for letting us stay here," she told him.

"My pleasure," Azrael answered. "Look, I know how hard this must be for you all. Your lives have been turned upside down, and it's gonna be some time before things go back to normal. So until then..." He got up, and put a comforting hand on Shimmer's shoulder. "...I'm here for you. No matter what, I'll make sure you get through this." He took a few steps toward the door before turning back to his guests. "I've gotta go run a few errands, but I'll be back in a bit. Just sit tight until then." With that, he too left the apartment.

Shimmer smiled. "What's so funny?" Twilight asked her.

"It's just..." Shimmer began. "I was really suspicious of Azrael when I first met him, but he's doing so much for us now. I'm kinda just laughing at myself now. I was wrong to doubt him."

Well, the address books say this is Twilight's house, Daniel noted as he approached a building on the other side of town. Better grab that pendant now. He approached the house, but then immediately stopped. He almost hadn't noticed in the dark night, but the building was surrounded by black-suited agents. I was right; they did post guards at their homes. Guess I'd better crack a few skulls.

He started from the back, sneaking into the yard, while making just enough noise to attract some of the guards to his entry point. As they got close to the fence, he pushed them all through it, and knocked each one unconscious with a single blow each to the base of the neck. Once that opening was made, he sped around the house, homing in on each agent and incapacitating them instantly. Finally, he turned his attention to the house itself once all the agents had been taken out...

...all except one.

"You just had to screw with me again," Thatch called him out, pointing a gun at Daniel's back with his good arm. "You're coming with me...or you'll die right here."

Daniel just chuckled. "Really? That's all you got? Then do it."

"What'd you say!?" Thatch shouted, jostling his cast.

"You heard me," Daniel replied, casting him a sly glance. "If you think you can kill me, then pull the damn trigger."

BANG!

All the emotion drained from Thatch's face, save for pure horror, as Daniel simply laughed. The bullet had clearly put a hole in him, but he didn't react at all. He didn't even flinch. In fear rather than anger, Thatch shouted and unloaded the rest of his clip into Daniel's back. Still the boy brushed it off like a light breeze. Thatch trembled in fear, dropping his gun.

"What are you?"

"A nightmare," Daniel replied, before casually walking into the house. Thatch fell to his knees and screamed.

As Daniel entered the house, he quickly found that he wasn't alone. He startled a shadowy figure, causing it to flee out the back of thye house. Daniel examined the house, each room left in shambles by the intruder. Finally, he walked into Twilight's study, and noticed a heavily locked and reinforced desk drawer...with all the locks smashed. Realizing what this drawer was meant to hold, he pulled it open, and found it empty.

The pendant's gone!? Daniel thought, panicking. Oh sweet Luna no...

Shimmer couldn't sleep, even as the early morning hours rolled in. Every time she tried, the day's events rushed back through her mind, dragging her back to consciousness. What had happened was going to have serious consequences from here on out. If the government wanted to put a lid on all magical activity, there was no way she and her friends could ever return to their normal lives. Best case scenario, they'd be stuck in that apartment for years. Worst case scenario, they'd be on the run. There was no way Shimmer could sleep when she considered how all their lives had been so thoroughly shattered.

Just then, the door creaked open, waking the other six. "Azrael, is that you?" Shimmer asked.

"I'm afraid not." The mystery man turned on the lights, revealing himself to the girls. He wore a dark purple suit, covered by a large cape of the same color, specked with stars. An even darker purple top hat covered a head of short cut silver hair. A silver mask covered half of his face, while the other blue-skinned half remained bare. He looked down on the girls with one cold blue eye.

"Who are you?" Twilight asked, terrified.

"You may call me Charade," the man answered. "You all have something valuable to me, and I'm here to collect." He reached into the folds of his cape, and pulled out Twilight's pendant. Before the girls could react, he opened it, siphoning all of their magic.

"Wh...what...?" Shimmer asked, recovering from the drain. "Why would you...?"

"So sorry for this," Charade apologized, "but my own source of magic has run rather dry as of late. I need your magic to continue my work. Don't worry, I'll put this to good use."

With that, he simply walked out the door. Shimmer acted fast, rushing after him down through the building. She chased him down to the street, and rushed him for the pendant. However, as she approached him, he seemed to disappear, sending her careening into the sidewalk. Charade simply reappeared behind her.

"Are you surprised?" he inquired. "One of the results of my experiments with magic. A shame that my own powers are limited." At this point, the other six girls caught up. "If you girls are so intent on getting this trinket back, then perhaps I should introduce you to one of my greater successes..."

Charade snapped his fingers, and the far side of the street exploded in a massive fireball. When the flames died down, a demon boy with flaming claws emerged from the crater. Fluttershy cowered in fear as she locked eyes with the demon, and saw within him a desire to burn everything around him.

"Baphomet, could you please destroy these pests?" Charade asked, disappearing before he could get a response.

"Gladly," Baphomet replied with a smile, the flames around his claws glowing brighter. Shimmer squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the end...

"You'd really harm a helpless girl?" Surprised, Baphomet turned to see Daniel standing in the middle of the road.

"Stay out of this, worm," the demon growled at him.

"Here's an idea," Daniel rebutted. "How about you take me on before slaughtering a bunch of helpless teenagers?"

"If you want to die that badly, then fine!" Baphomet yelled. The flames around his right claw became white hot, and he chucked a fireball at Daniel. It hit, and the road around him burst into flame. All of the girls gasped in horror, and Baphomet laughed. The demon turned his attention back to the helpless kids...

"The people of this world don't learn, do they?"

Baphomet did a double take as Daniel sighed through the inferno. The next thing he knew, an astral spike shot forth from the blaze and caught him in the shoulder. Daniel rushed out of the flames, scythe in hand, and took a massive swing at the demon. Baphomet barely dodged the blade, and swung back with his claw, only for his blow to be blocked by a shield of astral mist.

"You girls get out of here!" Daniel called out. "I got this!" The girls nodded and ran.

"You're not getting away!" Baphomet yelled, rushing toward the girls. Before he could get far, Daniel caught him with his scythe blade, and slammed him into the ground. Enraged, Baphomet erupted into an inferno, but Daniel jumped away just in time, and retaliated by shooting out a few astral spikes. Baphomet dodged away and took to the skies, narrowly avoiding more astral spikes as Daniel kept on the offensive. He fired back a volley of fireballs, but Daniel simply dashed around them, using his astral mist as footholds to lift himself further into the air with each fireball he dodged. As the last fireball passed him, he leapt into the sky, bringing his scythe down on the demon. Baphomet caught the blade in one claw, and channeled his flames into the other.

"This is goodbye, worm!" Baphomet told him triumphantly.

"Yes it is...for you!" Daniel shot back.

A large astral spike tore through the air, ripping the arm holding Daniel's scythe clean of Baphomet's torso. As he screamed in agony, and Daniel began to fall, the grim reaper spun around and caught the demon square in the torso, sending him crashing to the ground. Before Baphomet could recover from the forceful impact with the asphalt below, Daniel followed him, plunging his blade straight into the fiery demon's chest. Baphomet's face contorted in agony, then fell still. As Daniel removed himself and his blade from the corpse, it burst into flame and smoldered away.

Shimmer came back around the street corner just in time to witness this spectacle. "What did you just do?"

Daniel turned to meet her. "He won't be bothering you ever again. I saw to that." He held out his scythe arm. The scythe was swalloed by astral mist, and disappeared. "Anyway, I'd better head after that Charade guy. He has no idea what he's in for."

"Wait!" Shimmer called. "Twilight needs to know about all this."

"I thought she already did..."

"No, I mean Princess Twilight, over in Equestria."

Daniel's eyes widened. "Uh, that might not be the best idea."

"And why not?"

"Wouldn't Charade just steal her magic, too?"

"She still deserves to know!"

"I'm telling you, this is a terrible idea!"

"Then tell me why it's so terrible!"

"Well...uh..." Daniel had an answer, but it wasn't one he was willing to give. He couldn't bring himself to tell her what had happened to Equestria, and how Twilight had been reduced to an animated corpse... In the end, he decided to just go along with her. "Fine. Where's that journal of yours?"

This time Shimmer's eyes widened. "Oh, whoops. I left it in my locker...back at the school."

Daniel sighed. "Well, we would've had to deal with this sooner or later. Come on, let's get going."