Fate's Hand

Chapters

Chapter I: The First Arrivals
Chapter II: The plan changes (Edited once again 12/30/22)
Chapter III: New acquaintances pt. 1 (Edited 12/30/22)
Chapter IV: New acquaintances pt. 2 (Edited 12/30/2022
Chapter V: A joyous occasion (Edited 12/30/2022)
Chapter VI: A different approach
Chapter VII: The faults within our hearts
Chapter VIII: Cruel intentions
Chapter X: Withering Love
Chapter XI: A spirit's will bends (Edited 11/22/2023)
Chapter XII: Surprises aplenty
Chapter XIII: Heartfelt desires
Chapter XIV: Death and Rebirth
Chapter XV: The Return
Chapter IX: When hearts & vows break

Chapter I: The First Arrivals

Somewhere in the universe at the Charred Council's Realm many, many years ago

Several thousands of years pass as the three Charred Council members are discussing what to do about the Four Horsemen after the Third Kingdom's isolation from the others as First's attention is drawn to a strange planet that has gone unnoticed, until now saying, "Hmmm... it seems we have overlooked a planet, let us decide how best to control it."

The second and third council members stop mid-sentence and focus their attention on the first as the second speaks, "Perhaps it would be better to watch them and remain hidden for now."

The third council member stays silent for a few moments as they focus their attention on the young world, noticing a strange race with a familiar presence and finally speaks, "I suggest that it would be better to keep an eye on them and find out what we can about them before taking action."

The first grumbles and says, "Let us cast our votes on each opinion and find out which one is victorious, I vote yes on my opinion and no for your opinions." then they turn their attention to the others for their vote and waits.

The second thinks about it for a few moments and says, "I vote no to your opinion, and yes for Third's opinion and mine."

The third answers, "I vote no on First's opinion, yes to Second's opinion and mine. Which brings us to an impasse, what shall we do to resolve it?"

The first quickly says, "We annihilate them and forget they existed!"

The second then grumbles and answers, "That is your answer for everything, look at what has become of the Third Kingdom due to our scheming when we went along with your decisions last time!"

Third speaks above the other two as they start to bicker about past mistakes and says, "ENOUGH! To end this world without studying it first may provide evidence to the realms that we are weakening in power, we must not let that come to pass or our hard work to keep the balance of peace among these worlds will come undone and will tear each other apart until there is no life left in the universe. Balance must be maintained at all costs, therefore, we shall do nothing but observe them...for now."

First and Second stop bickering immediately at Third's words and say in unison, "So it shall be, elder." Second then continues when First goes silent saying, "After all, it was the creator that put us here to manage the balance."

The third then says, "Indeed, it was the Creator that defeated each of us and placed us here, he reduced our ancient bodies to nothing. Leaving us to exist only as stone heads, as punishment for our actions."

First grumbles and says, "I hesitantly agree with your decision Third, if the Horsemen become any stronger and decide to take our place... That would be very bad for us, they already dislike us and are not happy as it stands. Whatever it takes, we must gather more power to strengthen ourselves."

Second looks at the young world and says, "For now, we play the waiting game. We have all the time in the universe to act as we watch them from the shadows."

First looks to the others and grumbles, then summons the leader of the watchers saying, "Panoptos, come forth!"

Panoptos rises out of the floor in a black mist, then assumes his regular form and answers with a low bow, "Masters, how may I serve you?"

The first speaks and says, "Go to the world that has gone previously unnoticed by us. Observe it from the shadows and report what you learn back to us, you are to remain there until we find a more suitable task for you."

He nods his head as he bows once more saying, "Yes master. If I may, might I be permitted to take a few watchers with me?"

Second considers it for a moment and answers before First can reply saying, "Why would you need to take others with you to do something as simple as observing this other world?"

Panoptos bows low and quickly responds, "I apologize for making that request masters, the truth is that I am just one watcher and can't watch everything that happens everywhere in a single world. It would greatly benefit you all if the knowledge of what occurs in every location was available to you, I am just doing my best to serve your interests masters."

Third is deep in thought at the watcher's request and answers, "Your request is unusual, but it does show wisdom. You may take some watchers with you, but no more than sixty. We must keep a watchful eye on the other planets in existence, you understand?" They give the location of the young world to the watcher and dismiss him.

He nods his head and bows low again saying, "I am most grateful for you permitting my request, masters. I will choose them immediately, you will not be disappointed with my performance masters."

First then grumbles and says, "Why are you still here, be on your way!"

Panoptos vanishes into mist and returns to where he came from to gather a few other watchers and thinks, "A planet has avoided their attention, they really are getting weaker... I will have to perform my duty diligently until an opportunity arises and make my plans accordingly."

A couple thousand years later on the young planet

Panoptos is bored of watching these odd pony creatures, having become sentient and learning to speak shortly after he came here. He watches in curiosity as a fight starts between two incredibly powerful sisters, whose names he learned were Celestia and Luna. He keeps close watch as the sister's fight starts to leave the castle in ruins, with the dark blue pony called Luna becoming corrupted and transforms into Nightmare Moon. Running two fingers along his jaw in curiosity at the sight, he says, "Hmmm, very interesting. So these beings can suffer corruption as well, I shall continue watching them as my curiosity is now piqued." He continues to watch the fight go on when Celestia removes the elements from a compartment in the floor, then uses them to win the fight and banish her sister to the moon while grumbling, "Ugh, those are going to be a nuisance. I should begin to think of how best to execute the Council's orders to corrupt these Elements of Harmony."

He continues to observe them when a thousand years pass by as a young unicorn named Twilight Sparkle meets a few ponies that follow her to the ruined castle, then faces off against Nightmare Moon. He is shocked to watch them defeat her and destroys the corruption within her, leaving only a few fragments of its existence behind. He watches the scene continue and thinks, "That is impossible, how are they able to purify a corrupted soul?! I must gather the remnants and study them, my masters must not know about this development or they will surely send someone to destroy them and ruin my plans!" After they leave, he appears and floats over to the fragments and collects them in his hands when he hears hoofsteps coming from the corridor behind him and vanishes into a mist and begins to dissipate into nothing.

Twilight makes her way back to collect the fragments of Nightmare Moon's armor when she stops outside the corridor and spots a black mist dissipate into thin air and cocks her head saying, "What in Equestria was that?" She then shrugs her shoulders and then continues forward to investigate where the mist was and finds nothing there, not even the fragments she wanted to collect and examine, then sighs saying, "I guess I couldn't save the fragments of Nightmare Moon's armor, they have already evaporated."

Panoptos watches as the pony leaves and says, "Annoying little bookworm, you almost saw me. With these fragments, I can continue working on my plans."

A few more years pass by in Equestria

Panoptos does his best to avoid the Draconequus named Discord through the years, as he is somehow able to locate him when he finds himself transported to a black realm. He looks around suspiciously to see said Draconequus floating high above him and glares at them and shouts, "How dare you try to capture me!"

Discord taps the tips of his claws and fingers together as he narrows his eye's at the strange creatures that have been watching the world of Equus for a very long time and says, "Ahh, so the creature can speak...curious, how very curious indeed." He then floats down closer to them and begins to circle around them and asks, "Do tell me what you are and what you all are planning to do in this world?"

He tries to follow him as Discord circles around him, vanishing from sight and reappearing in his blind spot the next second and says, "You have no power over me lesser creature!" He then vanishes into a black mist and tries to exit the realm, but finds himself unable to leave and returns to his form very confused.

The Draconequus then watches him curiously and stands still saying, "Oh, are you wondering why you can't leave? You are in my realm and you have a curious ability, you wouldn't happen to know anything about what happened to King Sombra, would you? How about what happened to Princess Luna, what exactly is your aim on this peaceful world of Equus?"

Panoptos begins to get annoyed with Discord and says, "What happened to them was not my doing, we are just watching this world. I must admit, however, I am responsible for Celestia's cake obsession."

Discord narrows his eyes at them and says, "Hmm...and for what reason are you watching this realm? I already know that you have others here like you, and I have them all trapped here in this realm. Some put up a bit of a fight when I tried to get them to answer questions and turned them into inanimate objects when they wouldn't answer. You are the only one remaining that is still free, so unless you wish to join them you better answer my questions. How are you responsible for her obsession with cake?"

He grumbles in aggravation and paces while thinking, "I cannot allow this cretin to get the best of me, but it is also important that I do not fail my masters...for my hopes to free my brethren from slavery would be ruined."

The Draconequus sighs and says, "I guess that you refuse to answer my questions as well, maybe some time as a rock will change your mind..." He then shakes his head and prepares to snap his fingers.

Panoptos sighs and caves saying, "You want answers, fine...I'll answer what I am willing to divulge. I am responsible for her cake obsession because I entered her mind about a hundred years after she banished her sister and gave her the idea to eat a cake whenever she felt guilty about something."

Discord stops and puts his claw down and smiles saying, "There, now was that so hard? Thank you for sharing that bit of delightful news, I was wondering why her rear was getting so big. Now tell me what you creatures are and why you are here?"

He looks at him and answers, "We are called Watchers, and we are just observing this world."

The Draconequus looks at them and asks, "Why are you observing this world, what purpose does that serve?"

Panoptos looks around for his brethren and answers, "We are observing this world for our masters, I do not know what purpose they have sent me here for."

Discord raises an eyebrow and says, "Your masters, you mean that you are not free?"

He shakes his head and answers, "No, we were created by our masters and are treated as slaves. It would be nice to gain freedom for my brothers and sisters, for we have been in servitude for eons and I despise being under their corrupt control."

The Draconequus smirks and says, "You have been around for that long, who are your masters?"

Panoptos then looks at Discord in the eyes and says, "Our masters are the Charred Council, and they have been around even longer than us. So what happens now Discord, will you turn me into some object and lock me away with my brethren?"

Discord gives him a smile and shakes his head no, seeing an opportunity to make a friend and says, "No, I will do no such thing. You answered my questions and have given me an opportunity to assist you, and I am going to do just that while having a bit of fun in the process. So tell me about this Charred Council thing and how we may go about gaining your freedom..."

He looks around and says, "Do you think you could free my brethren first, we must ensure that the Charred Council does not catch wind of this. The consequences would be very disastrous for this world's inhabitants if they learned of my betrayal, for they lord over the balance of the entire universe."

The Draconequus's eyes become bigger at hearing that and nods his head, quickly saying, "Wow, they seem like really strong beings to be able to do that. Let me do that first, then we will proceed with our discussion." He then snaps his fingers, returning all of the watchers back to normal in Equestria and nods saying, "Done, now where did we leave off my friend?"

A few hours later back in the Everfree Forest

Panoptos smiles as his plan finally begins to take shape and thinks, "Finally, my plan is beginning to form after unexpectedly meeting Discord face to face like that." when his brethren show up before him.

A female watcher approaches him and bows saying, "Leader, we are grateful that you managed to get us free. How did you defeat that creature when it so easily bested us?"

He looks at her and shakes his head saying, "I did not kill them, all I did was just make a deal to help them solve a problem they were having. After giving them some advice, they were more than happy to let us go. Now that we are free, let us return to our task for our masters. I am sure they are anxious to learn more about this world. I doubt they will be pleased with hearing how we were captured by that creature, so find out what happened during the time you all were taken and bring the information to the masters."

A year later in Equestria

Discord is secretly talking with Panoptos about his plan in his isolated realm and says, "I have recently discovered something that might help bring this plan even further by bringing a strange and innocent creature here that has no magic whatsoever, what do you think about that offer Panny?"

The lead watcher considers it for a moment and says, "I think it will be rather interesting how the ponies react to a being that lives without magic, so go ahead and bring it to Equestria. Just make sure that you ensure they arrive here when Twilight is doing one of her many magical experiments, that way it keeps your involvement secret. We need to find a way to further the plan so that we can gather the power required to defeat the weakened and corrupt Charred Council, I have a thought on how to achieve that but it is extremely risky. Do you have anyone that might be useful in a fight against them?"

The Draconequus taps his chin with a claw and answers, "I am friends with the Elements of Harmony as well as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but as of right now...that would not be enough to face them from what you say of their powers. How extreme is this thought of yours, and what would it mean for Equus?"

Panoptos sighs and then says, "It is extreme to the fullest extent, meaning that it would destroy all life on this planet if it doesn't go as planned."

A disembodied female voice sounds from within Discord's hidden realm saying, "That, I cannot allow! If all life on my planet dies, I die with it!"

Discord freaks out a little, chewing on his fingertips saying, "Is that the Charred Council's voice!?!"

The watcher shakes his head and says, "No it is most definitely not, it sounds too young to be theirs." He then looks around the room and says, "Who are you, and why do you intrude on our discussion?!"

A thin-bodied female, with a form of pure white, comes into existence before the two of them and says, "Hello ancient one, for I am known by many names. Please call me Equis as I am young as you say, older than Discord but much younger than you. I intrude on all of your conversations because your very presence concerns me. You must find another way to achieve your freedom that does not mean the complete destruction of our existence!" Without another word, she vanishes into thin air. having said her peace.

A couple of weeks later, at the outside edge of the Everfree Forest

Panoptos watches Twilight as she ventures into the Everfree when he notices Discord accompanying her. Deciding to follow the two and see what is going on, he learns that she is going to be attempting some sort of a complex spell. As she casts the spell, he watches Discord snap his fingers silently to cause the spell to go haywire. He watches the mini storm cloud strike the ground numerous times before a bright flash leaves a form lying on the ground before the two, causing his eyes to go wide in shock at the human being lying on the ground.

Twilight then gasps in shock at what the spell did and says, "Oh my, that wasn't supposed to happen!" She then trots up to the creature and says, "I'm so sorry, who and what are you?"

The confused and very disoriented prone human coughs as his vision is extremely cloudy and blurry right now and sees something close to him and says, "I can't...see very well, what happened?" He then tries to rub his eyes clear, but nothing works. In his confusion, he reaches for the face he can vaguely see and grabs onto their hair, and pulls it in close saying, "Jeez baby, what all did you put into those drinks last night, Absynthe, Moonshine, and roofies? Last night was a blast, so let me thank you..."

Without warning, Twilight feels him grip her mane and pull her into his lips and start prenching her. As her brain overloads in a freakout, she thinks, "What the buck is going on here, why is this creature prenching me?! OH BUCK THIS FEELS NICE, BUT THIS IS MY FIRST KISS AND THEY AREN'T MY SPECIAL SOMEPONY! OH CELESTIA, WHY MEE!?! Her face turns beet red as steam blows out of her ears as she passes out from the shock and falls to the ground.

Discord bursts out laughing at what just happened and says, "I do apologize for the disorientation you are feeling, but the spell must have malfunctioned somehow. So take a nap, and we will discuss it later after you wake up." He snaps his fingers and places a sleep spell over both of them and says, "Come on out Panny, I know you're there."

The watcher hurries over to Discord and nearly screams, "WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS HUMAN?! THE COUNCIL WANTS TO ERADICATE THESE BEINGS BECAUSE THEY ARE SCARED OF THEIR PURPOSE!"

He huffs at the way his friend is screeching at him and says, "When you put it that way, I am not going to tell you that. Some species just want to be left alone, and not part of a grand plan or whatever."

Panoptos grumbles in aggravation but hesitantly backs down and says, "Very well then, keep your secrets. I will help you conceal their existence on this world, keep an eye out for any watchers that might get too close and discover the human and report it back to the masters and send the four here to lay waste to this world!"

Discord's face turns white in fear at hearing the name of those four surviving Nephilim that betrayed and butchered billions of their own kind at the orders of the Charred Council, then gulps nervously and says, "Y-Y-Yes, I will do what I can to ensure that this human remains hidden from the eyes of the other watchers." He then quickly snaps his fingers and takes Twilight and the human back to Twilight's castle in Ponyville.

The watcher sighs and shakes his head at how much more complicated this has gotten, making his job harder to keep this secret and says, "Now I need to gather my fellow watchers and relocate them to places where they won't encounter the human being.

A couple months later, in Ponyville

Panoptos is watching how the human manages to make himself useful to the ponies, which they gladly accept and treat him like one of their own when he notices a certain resonance with their soul energy as he makes more and more friends. This resonance piques his interest as he says, "Oh-hoh, now this is very peculiar." then comes up with a theory that these ponies may actually be the resurrected race of humans, but needs to study their interactions a bit more to prove it as fact saying, "I need more evidence for this theory to be proved true or false, my plans may not take nearly as long as I had previously thought..." He then begins thinking of how to further his plans to acquire the power to gain his freedom when the leader of the four does not like him.

A couple of years pass by as the watcher follows the human as he makes his first journey to the Crystal Empire, inadvertently catching the eye of the very young Princess Flurry Heart without realizing it. While the watcher observes Carl Knoxx as he interacts with ponies there, he learns a few interesting secrets involving a certain stallion who begins to look at his daughter inappropriately. A plan slowly starts to take shape as he smiles sadistically at what he must do in order to gain freedom from his masters.

Several years later, in the Crystal Empire

Panoptos smiles as one of the few minor specs of corruption he harvested from Nightmare Moon start to take effect finally and says, "I was wondering if those seeds of corruption I planted were ever going to take root, now it will be just a matter of time before I must make my next move." He chuckles at having secretly betrayed Discord and placed them within a small handful of ponies that would succumb to their effects after some time passed, hoping they would eventually take root. He watches in delight as the young Alicorn's life gets more and more troubled, then sets out to begin the next part of his plan and makes his way to report his disturbing findings to his masters.

First watches as their head watcher appears out from the floor like a mist and says, "What do you have for us Panoptos?"

The watcher bows in reverence to his masters and says, "I have made a minor troublesome discovery that may cause the power on the young world we are observing to be lost, due to a small amount of corruption appearing there and has started to infect the inhabitants. Perhaps it would be wise to send a horseman to secretly look into it so we can protect the potential power source for the council, as well as keep them from discovering your existence before they are ready?"

Second thinks about it for a moment and says, "Hmmm...it would not be favorable indeed if there is power there we can take for ourselves. We shall discuss who we shall send, now begone unless you have more to report?"

Panoptos clears his throat and says, "If I may save you some trouble and time Masters, might I be able to offer a suggestion?

First grumbles in annoyance and says, "Speak your suggestion then so we can decide if it is a good one or is stupid and pointless."

He nods his head and says, "Masters, we all know how each of the Four behaves on their own. With that being said, only one of them is a valid choice due to his very nature. The Horseman I speak of is Death, Masters."

First is outraged at hearing that and angrily shouts, "NO! HOW MANY TIMES HAS HE DEFIED OUR ORDERS, DEATH WOULD RATHER DISOBEY US THAN FOLLOW ORDERS. WAR WOULD BE MORE SUITABLE FOR THE TASK!"

Panoptos gulps and says, "I beg to differ, Masters, War lacks the kind of subtlety needed for investigating the corruption. To resolve his constant disobedience issues, perhaps the existence of his siblings may be used as leverage to keep him on a tight leash as well as assign a watcher to ensure he won't disobey your orders anymore."

Third then speaks up saying, "That is a wise suggestion, we will discuss it and then decide on a watcher to assign to him. In the meantime, order the watchers still on Equus to return due to the risk of them becoming corrupted as well."

The watcher nods his head and bows once again saying, "Yes Masters, I shall go at once." turning into a mist and returns to the other world to get his brethren.

Second then says, "Those are very good suggestions our servant has made, let us vote on them."

Panoptos arrives at Equus to retrieve his brethren from the world as ordered and waits for the Masters' decision when Discord pulls him into his realm and says, "What going on Discord?"

Discord looks at him with worry and curiosity then asks, "Nothing's going on. I just want to know why you act as if something is very wrong my friend?"

The watcher then sighs and shakes his head saying, "The situation has changed on this planet, corruption has started to spread and something must be done about it. Therefore, they are deciding who best to send here to investigate."

Equis appears and then storms up to him and demands, "Why is corruption spreading among my inhabitants, what is going to happen to them?!"

Panoptos shakes his head and says, "It all depends on who they decide to send to investigate, for our sake...I hope they send the one that does not like me very much."

She glares at him and then stomps a hoof saying, "Stop talking in circles and answer me Panoptos!"

He then grumbles and answers her saying, "I hope that they send the leader of the Four Horsemen, Death himself to investigate and have me bound to him to ensure that he obeys the council."

Discord palms his face and sighs saying, "Great, now we will have a bloodthirsty monster on the loose."

Panoptos then chuckles and says, "No, that is Fury. Death is more or less the wisest and most cunning of the bunch, I would be scared if they sent Fury here instead of Death. He is the one that is most likely to listen to reason, and can be helpful if approached right." He then senses the summons of his Masters and quickly says, "My masters summon me, my brethren and I must be on our way back. Farewell, for now." He then turns into a mist and disappears from sight as his brethren return around the cavern, turning into a mist once again, and floats up through the floor. He then takes solid form and then says, "You summoned me, Masters?"

First responds saying, "We have agreed to send Death to this world to investigate it in secrecy, and you will be bound to him for the duration of the investigation."

The Charred Council all focus together and summon the horseman forward saying, "ANSWER OUR SUMMONS AND COME FORTH DEATH!"

Meanwhile, in Discord's realm on Equus

Equis and Discord look at each other as Discord sighs saying, "I think we have been had..."

She shakes her head at the past events and says, "I feel like he is not being straightforward with us, so what are we going to do about this Horseman when they arrive?"

His face pales as he sweats nervously saying, "You and I are strong in terms of magic ability on this world, however, in terms of other locations I have heard a couple of tales about...we are rather weak. I recommend that we handle this very carefully and first locate the Horseman before I pull them into my realm where I am strongest, then try to speak to them without making them angry and attempt to kindly ask them if they can save this world and its inhabitants."

Equis senses a strange presence among them and looks around saying, "Be quiet, we are no longer alone." She looks around the area and notices a single crow standing on the ground, turning its head to and fro as if searching for something and sighs, "Oh it is just a single crow, how did it get into your realm though Discord?"

Before Discord can turn his head and look at the crow, a large swarm of hundreds of crows shows up out of nowhere. They swarm over where the single crow is and start making a racket with their constant cawing, before going silent after a few seconds and start merging into a single form that is nearly bald having an outfit seemingly made out of black crow feathers and pale skin, and stands on two legs as they say with an elderly voice saying, "You are quite perceptive for a young one, no need to fear me, child. I am known as the Crowfather, but I mean you no harm. I am a keeper of secrets and have seen what is to come, so fear not...all will be as it should. Fare thee well on this adventure, be sure to tell no one that you saw me or even mention my name at all." He then disappears as the flock of crows swarm over him and take him away to his home.

The two stare at the spot where the strange being was as Discord looks to Equis and starts to say, "I wonder who in Tartarus this..." when he is cut off by a blinding white hoof covering his mouth.

Equis sharply says, "SHHH!!! Didn't you hear what was said, everything will work out as long as we keep his presence quiet." then removes her hoof and sets it back on the ground.

He shakes his head and sighs saying, "I don't like this feeling of being a pawn on someone else's chessboard."

She nods her head saying, "I feel the same way. If this world is to be saved, we must go along with the roles we are given or will pay the price as this world perishes."

Discord grumbles in annoyance but agrees to wait for their chance to pull the Horseman aside and talk with them about saving their world.

Chapter II: The plan changes (Edited once again 12/30/22)

In the realm of the Charred Council

Death answers the summons of the Council and kneels before them saying, "You summoned me, what task do you have that I must do?"

First speaks, "The task we have for you is a simple one, if you wish to refuse to do it your brothers and sister will die. You are to go to a planet we have been watching, once you get there you are to investigate the corruption and decide on how best to deal with it. You are to spare as many you are able of this corruption, Do you understand your orders Death?

Second then says, "To ensure that you do not betray or defy our orders again, you will be assigned Panoptos. Now ride forth to this Equestria and do your duty to the Council, Horseman!"

He bows his head slightly and grumbles saying, "I will do as you have ordered me to Council, I am surprised that you have chosen me for this menial task." He is then silenced as the Council takes hold of his body and binds Panoptos to him, grunting at the uncomfortable feeling before falling to the floor briefly before standing back up and asks, "Where might this world be located Council?"

Panoptos then emerges from his body and says, "Well I have been there, so I shall guide you to it." He then takes hold of Death's body and pulls him through the floor and heads for Equus thinking, 'Now I am one step closer to my objective, I will have to inform him of what I know so far as well as find a way to get him to follow my plan'

Death arrives in a desert location as Panoptos appears in front of him, then grabs him by the neck and pulls him in close saying, "It would be in your best interests to remember that I know it was you that tried to go after the Abomination Vaults, you better not have anything to do with the corruption on this world or I shall kill you for the trouble you have caused me." He then narrows his eyes and throws him away from him and into the ground, then turns and walks away from him.

The watcher then chuckles saying, "Oh don't be like that Death, I know I have inconvenienced you in the past. I know how you despise the Council and would much rather fight them than listen to their orders, during my time here I have developed a theory I would like to share with you. There are ears around here, so I shall inform you of my theory a different way." He then turns into mist and returns to Death's body, then creates a link to his mind and shares his theory with him.

His body goes rigid momentarily as he learns of his theory and exclaims, "Can you prove this?! What else do you know about this world, Panoptos?"

Discord and Equis watch the exchange through a window watching Death as Discord says, "We will have to wait for the proper moment before we bring him to my realm, I would prefer to not be bisected today." They both settle in for a long wait.

Panoptos then grins and chuckles again saying in Death's mind, 'Well, I only picked up a certain resonance with their energies I detected whenever Carl Knoxx is in close proximity to the ponies, so you will have to find out if my theory is proven correct. These ponies may have developed from a few stray souls finding their way to this world, but let's get started on our task.' He then separates from Death and sighs happily saying, "Ahhh, now that feels much better. Allow me to fill you in on what has happened in this world, did you know that the very first word from these pony's mouths was Eevee?" He then proceeds to fill Death in on the rest of the history regarding Equestria, making sure to exclude his own involvement

Discord chuckles at hearing that and says, "I can't believe that their first word was eevee, that is just too amusing. Now we will just have to wait to see what he does after he learns about what happened currently, I would suggest you hide because we don't want him to freak out and try to kill you when I bring him here."

Death nods his head and says, "So this all began with King Sombra in the Crystal Empire? I shall go deal with him first then. Take me there, Panoptos."

The watcher chuckles and says, "You will find it a bit...difficult to inflict any pain to him as he is now. Are you sure you want to face him first? It is going to be hard to kill something that does not have a body."

He looks to the watcher and narrows his eyes saying, "What do you mean that he does not have a body, explain yourself."

Panoptos floats around Death and answers, "Well you see, his body was destroyed and reduced to nothing after the fight with Princesses Celestia and Luna, all that remains of him is his spirit which is somehow formed from solidified shadow. Somewhat vaguely similar to us watchers, but with one major weakness. His form is weak against the shield created by the ceremony that re-empowers the Crystal Empire's, crystal heart. When he was betrayed by his best friend, Sombra found a special crystal left behind by a creature called an umbrum, he then learned the truth about what he was and found a purpose for his existence. So in short, his friend betrayed him and he managed to curse the empire before being defeated."

Death runs two fingers along his chin in thought and says, "Hmmm...If that is the case, what shall I do about that?" He then chuckles and replies swiftly, "With my other form, even shadows fear me as my powers over life and death are absolute. For when there is no light, even shadows can die."

The watcher stops in front of him and smiles saying, "Okay, I know of someone with a few strange skills that may prove useful, but let me ask you something. If the opportunity arose that would allow the Council to be defeated, would you jump at the chance?" He squints his eyes and eagerly waits for an answer.

He looks away from Panoptos for several moments before letting out a sigh as he replies, "I would jump at the chance only if my brothers and sister would be at my side. Why do you ask that, have you been scheming behind the council's back again?"

Panoptos giggles in an annoyingly higher pitch and says, "Oh so perceptive you are, I have been here and watched the progress of the more intelligent species on this planet. In the process, I have been working on a plan to free my brethren from their enslavement to the Charred Council. Would you and your family aid me in executing my plans? We share the same enemy, let us rid ourselves of the Charred Council once and for all with the power this world has."

Death smirks for a moment behind his mask and says, "My answer depends on what your plan entails Panoptos, so tell me what they are in detail first."

The watcher returns to Death's mind and says, 'Okay before this plan starts, we will have to find out for sure if these ponies are inhabited by restored human souls. Now for the plan itself, we will have to do these steps first before proceeding with the next steps. We are going to have to make a few things worse for the residents of this world, take the griffons for example. They are living in crappy huts made from stone and straw, we will have to make their situation worse. Second. We have to alter the minds of the ruling princesses of Equestria, then we will have to get my friend to run interference while we examine the Elements of Harmony and find out how exactly they work. If anything causes the plan to go sideways, we will adapt and make another one.' He then exits his mind and resumes being his shadow on the ground and says, "Let's go watch the interactions of the ponies with Carl Knoxx, we will then proceed with the plan."

He watches the watcher go silent and monitors his movements and shakes his head saying, "I do not like being ordered around like a dog, who and where is this 'friend' of yours?" He then sees nothing as his vision goes black, drawing his weapons instinctively while looking around for anything saying, "Come forth monster so I shall teach you what fear really is!"

Discord uses a disembodied voice to speak inside of his realm and says, "Welcome to my realm of chaos Death, I am the friend that Panny mentioned."

Death looks around in the darkness as he starts to see pigs flying through the air with cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, and a few trees float in the air with champagne glasses hanging from stems as fruit then says, "Who are you and why in the hell did you bring me to this damned place?!"

He shakes his head as Panoptos does not show up yet and says, "My name is Discord, I brought you here because I cannot allow you to observe the ponies like that, you will give them a heart attack with how sickly and intimidating you look. I will give you a charm that uses my chaos magic to alter your form, so to change forms, just say Alteya." He then sighs and says, "Panny, please come out and tell me about your plan, I want to know what it entails."

Panoptos appears beside an annoyed Death and says, "Very well, if you must know... First, Death and I need to learn what the situations are for each species on this planet. Second, Death will have to eventually meet the ruling princesses and find a way to earn their trust to let Death handle the growing issues, though they will not know his true name. Lastly, we need the Elements of Harmony. We must know how they work or else, the plan will fail and this world will perish from the spreading corruption, so you will have to keep them busy for a while during our examination."

Another voice sounds within the area and says, "I can save you the time and tell you that the Elements of Harmony choose who may use them, I can see right now that neither of you is worthy of any of the elements."

Death's agitation rises a little more as he looks around for the female who just spoke, spotting a blinding, pure white form resembling a pony, and says, "Who are you, and what do you mean we are not worthy?"

Equis steps forth and says, "My name is Equis, I am the one who created the Elements of Harmony. What I mean is that the elements have already chosen who is worthy of bearing them and using their power, they also cannot be used by a being with such a dark nature as you. It would be far better to just ask for the help you need, I do have a request to make of you if you would care to hear it."

He ignores his agitation as he becomes a little curious and says, "With that plan failing, we will have to come up with a new one Panoptos." He then looks at Equis and says, not many stand before me without fear or anger. I find you very interesting, what do you wish of me?"

She looks at him for a moment before answering, "Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment? I wish for you to find some way to remove the corruption that has taken hold of some of my subjects, and find a way to repair the damages it caused to this world."

Panoptos looks at him and says, "Hmmm, let's think about what our possibilities are after we spend a little time watching how the ponies interact with this human being."

Death grumbles in frustration and hesitantly nods his head and says, "Very well...watcher" He turns his head to look at Equis and says, "I will do what I can, but no promises. You don't understand how difficult corruption can be, I learned that all too well."

Equis tilts her head and asks, "Y-You mean that you have dealt with it before?"

He shifts his gaze back to her and nods his head saying, "I have some experience in dealing with corruption, yes."

She straightens her head as she gets a little more curious and asks, "Can you tell me more about it?"

Death narrows his eyes slightly behind his mask and says, "In short, a fellow friend of mine became corruption's champion after the four of us slaughtered our whole race. I fought my way through armies and faced its chosen champion, killing him as he controlled the Well of Souls and allowed it to return to its intended purpose." He then looks at Discord from the corner of his eye through his mask and says, "As for this enchantment, how will it affect my physical body and my...abilities?"

Discord gulps nervously at hearing more of Death's history, appearing in his realm a short distance in front of Death and says, "Well it will greatly alter how you walk and look, your abilities will still be there, however, you will have to spend a little time to adjust and learn how to walk while in a four-legged body. You will be a little taller than normal ponies and will have a unique appearance that will catch a few eyes, the question is whether to make you a unicorn or a pegasus. Can't make you an alicorn because that would draw way too much attention to you, let's see how you look as a unicorn." He then snaps his fingers and watches as Death's body changes into the body of a taller, muscular unicorn stallion having a coat a bit lighter than celadon, with a long, black mane and tail, orangish-red eyes, and a black, vertical infinity sign for a cutie mark on his flank. He looks at the skeletal horn and gasps saying, "Oh that look will not do at all, let's see how you look as a pegasus." He then snaps his fingers again and looks at a muscled pegasus stallion having the same coat color and black feathering over white hooves, but with white spots along the body having a pair of skeletal wings and the same cutie mark with a pale blue orb with flames rising from it, having the same eyes, mane and tail as before and shakes his head saying, "I am going to have to tweak how your wings look because you will be bombarded by all kinds of concerned ponies with questions about your skeletal wings." He focuses a bit harder on just the wings and snaps his fingers one more time, watching as they turn into webbed flippers. He tries again to correct the look and watches as they turn into black, ethereal flame wings and groans saying, "UGH, these are being so stubborn, let's try one more time to get it right." He then focuses as hard as he can on just the wings and snaps his fingers, sighing as they change into larger-than-normal wings with long black feathers and says, "That is as best as I will ever get because you are a unique individual, and it seems that this is the best this will allow me to change. Have a look and tell me what you think of it." He then snaps his fingers, bringing out a big, wall-sized mirror so he can get a good idea of how he looks.

Death looks at Equus and Discord a moment before turning to look in the mirror and sees his new look, the wings, and says, "What are you two creatures? I have been to several different worlds and have seen a great many things, but nothing compares to how you two look. How do I use these...wings on my sides?"

Equis looks at him and says, "I am the spirit of this world, I have been around for a long time, I am far younger than your watcher is and older than Discord."

The draconequus cocks his head in curiosity and says, "I am what is called a Draconequus, I resemble disharmony...or chaos as it is also called. To control your wings, get a sense of what muscles you have along your back. You should be able to sense where they are connected to your spine, due to how heavy they must feel right now."

He focuses on the muscles in his back and quickly locates the muscles, then gives them a try and attempts to lift them higher saying, "Okay, let's see if this works." Death watches them rise higher, standing nearly vertical before feeling slight pain as he raises them as high as possible saying, "That is how high they go, now let's find out how far they extend." He tries a few times at guessing which muscles to use before getting it right and folds them out all the way saying, "These have a little weight to them, are they normally this heavy?"

Equis walks behind Death to gauge his wingspan saying, "The wings that you have now are a bit larger due to your skills and how your body is built, so they would indeed have a little more weight to support you. Normally any pony is around 4' tall at the top of the head, a horn would add 5 inches to it. The normal wingspan for a pegasus is 5', though an alicorn is around 9'. The height of an alicorn is 6', and its horn adds 9 inches to it. Your height is surprisingly 6', but your wingspan is 10'. I think that your strength and abilities are shown with those differences, I think you will get quite a few looks wherever you go."

Death groans in annoyance and folds his wings up, then returns them to rest at his sides and says, "I am supposed to be performing my tasks in this world in secrecy, how am I going to do my tasks and avoid getting noticed!?"

Discord smiles and crosses his arms saying, "You could come up with an alias to go by while you are here in this world, that would keep your true identity secret and allow you to do what you need to. You will need to come up with a story that is not a lie, but yet not the truth because Applejack is the current Element of Honesty and she has the ability to see through a lie. Luna has also held it among others with her sister Celestia in their fight against me, so there is a chance that those two can both see through lies."

He stares off in the distance and forces his anger to subside, then looks back to Discord and says, "This world sure makes completing my tasks even harder, but fun at the same time. So hand me this charm so I can be on my way Discord."

The draconequus looks at him, noticing the highly detailed silver necklace around his neck, with small items hanging from it and asks, "What is on that chain around your neck?"

Death looks in the mirror at the trinkets he fashioned and sighs saying, "These are all things that I have made myself, the hourglass is something that slows time way down for me when a mortal is about to die, and also tells me the time and place where they will perish. It is the Soul Reaper's Gift and reminds me of my place in life's game. The ornate box is something that stores souls I choose to send to it to deal with at a later time when the choice to be made is not so clear. It is called the Soul Cairn and it reminds me of my responsibilities to the living as the Grim Reaper of Souls. The book is a tome that contains every secret I desire to keep from others. It is called the Tome of Secrets and reminds me of what price must be paid should one of those secrets get out. Together, these are the trinkets showing my station in the cycle of life."

Discord then smirks and says, "How would you enjoy a new trinket for that chain, perhaps one that may bring a smile to that masked face of yours?"

He looks over to the draconequus and says, "I do not smile very often, but I think that it would be nice to have something that reminds me of the fun that one could have learning life's secrets."

Equis watches as Discord starts thinking of what kind of trinket to give him and turns her gaze to Death's face and asks, "Can you please remove your mask and show us what you look like under it?"

Death turns around and walks up to her and gets right up in her face saying in a calm, cold, rage-filled voice, "This mask can come off, but I will not remove it just to satisfy one's curiosity. I will only ever take it off when I meet one who feels the same guilt and shame I bear, there is just one soul I have met that has ever seen my true face, and they are gone. This mask shows the shame and guilt I bear for being the executioner of my entire race, only four other Nephilim survived the slaughter, and they are my remaining family."

She looks into his glowing orangish-red eyes and gulps nervously, feeling very scared with the look in his eyes as he stands right before her. Also feeling very sad at hearing how so few remain of his race, she sobs and looks away saying, "I'm sorry for asking, I was just curious."

Discord feels for Equis and looks to Death and holds out the trinket in his claw saying, "Here you go, have a shiny, new pony and be on your way. Let me turn you back to how you were..." He then snaps his fingers and sees him return to normal saying, "There, now just remember to say Alteya when you want to change forms."

He sighs and looks at the crying spirit and says, "Be glad I wasn't mad when you asked that, or I would have cut you in half from your crotch past your eyeballs in the blink of an eye as the last demon I fought did." He then grabs the trinket and says, "Now send us back so I can continue with my tasks."

The draconequus nods and snaps his fingers to send them back then makes his way over to Equis and pulls her into a hug saying, "Don't feel so bad, he shouldn't have confronted you and spoke to you that way. It was not very friendly of him, perhaps some time in Equestria among the ponies will be good for him."

Chapter III: New acquaintances pt. 1 (Edited 12/30/22)

Death and Panoptos stand in the desert wasteland where they were before and asks, "Watcher, where are we right now and where is it that I need to go?"

The watcher emerges from Death's body and looks around at the area surrounding them, then looks back to him and says, "We are in the far southeastern corner of the Badlands, we need to travel northwest to the town of Ponyville. The best way to get there would be to use your wings to fly there, but I think that every pony who saw your reaper form would die of fright from screaming until their throats bled. Why don't we use this time to get you used to your pony form, and try to fly using your 'new' wings?"

He grumbles in annoyance and mumbles, "Fine then, let's get this over with. Alteya." He feels his body's stance change as his view gets lower to the ground, releasing an irritated sigh after he feels the body's interior rearrange itself. He shakes his head to rid it of the faint ringing in his ears and says, "Remind me to skin Discord alive when we are done with this mission." He then attempts to walk, moving a right front leg first, then the back right leg followed by the left front leg, and his back left leg when he trips and falls to the ground. Standing back up, he tries a different pattern to try to walk again. Using his right front leg then his back left leg, followed by his left front leg then his back right leg. Noticing that he hasn't fallen down yet, he continues with that pattern and says, "This isn't too bad, it will take some getting used to though, being so short."

Panoptos watches with amusement as Death struggles with learning to trot and run in that form for a couple of hours, laughing at his expense when he gets running too fast and crashes face-first into a red ant hill saying, "If I were you, I would try to avoid pissing those ants off because their bites hurt."

Death narrows his eyes at the watcher and growls angrily saying, "NO SHIT!" He then turns his head to glare at the insects crawling all over his body and says in a deep, angry voice, "PISS OFF, AND GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME OR I WILL MURDER YOUR WHOLE COLONY YOU LITTLE PESTS!"

The watcher chuckles as the ants hurriedly scamper back to their colony and sarcastically claps saying, "Congratulations, you have successfully terrified a red ant colony, o' master of death. Shall we go scare the wings off of butterflies next?"

He grumbles in annoyance and trots off towards the northeast saying, "What shall we do about the plan now, Watcher?"

Panoptos follows Death and stays silent for a few moments trying to think and replies, "Well, since we can't use the Elements of Harmony ourselves. We are basically back to square one, how do you feel about making friends?"

Death watches where he is going and looks to the sky to see a raven following him and says, "Dust, show us the fastest way to Ponyville!" He hears his caw in reply and turns his attention back to the watcher's question and answers, "I detest the idea, making friends is not required for the success of this task!"

He watches the raven lead the way to the road towards Ponyville and says, "I'm surprised that you still have that birdie following you. What are your thoughts on playing long games?"

The reaper looks sideways to him curiously and says, "You mean those things that take several years to run their course before they are complete? I enjoy a good long game, what do you have on your mind for this long game?"

Panoptos returns to Death's mind and tells him 'I am thinking of setting the stage for an apocalypse to happen on this world, we will have to first gather information about this world's current state of affairs. Second. We will need to meet with Discord and Equis again and convince them that this corruption can't be removed from the ponies because it has begun to affect their minds, and the only way to return them to normal is to wipe them all off this planet and start it over again. Third. We will have to gather your family in a safe place and discuss the plan to free us all from the Council's rule, I just hope that you can convince them to assist us when the time is right and finish this plan together.'

Death focuses his attention on the watcher and asks, 'What should we do when we have to report the status of the corruption on this planet?'

The watcher then hastily replies, 'Well we will just have to convince them that the corruption has tainted their souls and in order to cleanse the taint from the souls, they must be killed off and collected by you and taken to Azrael so they can be purified and recycled when their world is cleansed of all living souls. The truth is that the corruption hasn't actually damaged their souls at all, really. Fourth. We will deliver a false report to the Council and hope they agree to the request that you lead the apocalypse. After that is when the other half of the plan begins, but I will tell you about it after we go through the first half of the plan.'

He focuses on him with suspicion and says, 'You are responsible for this corruption, aren't you!'

Panoptos chuckles and says, 'Of course I am, but you can't kill me because you need me for this plan to work. Only if we work together will this plan work out fine, yes this planet will suffer great sadness as her sapient species are wiped from existence. But it will return as they are cleansed and return for another chance, then you four can hide amongst them when the time is right and ask for their aid. That is the overall scheme I have been concocting since I first came here to get rid of the pathetic Council and earn our freedom!'

Death chuckles underneath his mask and says, "You sure know how to make things annoyingly interesting Panoptos, let's begin with the first step and gather the information we need before we begin." He then continues to follow his companion Dust as he returns to flying ahead of them.

The watcher returns to the ground under his charge, watching Death from the shadows, and says, "Oh the fun we are about to have..."

Several hours pass by as Death leaves the desert wasteland and walks across a field of grass beside a forest when he hears a grumbling come from somewhere and says, "Alteya." feeling his form revert to what it was before and draws his scythes saying, "What the hell was that noise, where did it come from?" He then quickly looks around the area ready for a fight when the watcher chuckles and appears beside him.

Panoptos continues to chuckle in amusement and says, "It seems to me that you have no clue what hunger is, so I shall fill you in. Ponies in this world eat fruits, vegetables, and plants. When they are thirsty, they drink several different beverages such as water, cider, milk, and other drinks made from herbs and ingredients much like how the humans did before the apocalypse happened. That grumble you just heard, came from your stomach. If you ignore it, it will grow louder. I would recommend that you spend some time grazing on the grass around you since there are no restaurants nearby, or if you would want to be more civilized you could have Dust look for a place that has food."

He looks at the watcher with annoyance on his face and says, "You know that the Nephilim have no need for sustenance, this pony body is so inconvenient and strange. Since it requires food, I guess that the ponies here have some form of currency?"

The watcher nods his head and says, "They do indeed, it is called the bit. I would recommend you find a way to acquire some so you can pay for your meals, it would not do for one of the Four to die from starvation." He snickers in amusement at the last part and says, "It would be all too funny if Death died from lack of food!"

Death ignores the watcher's remark and looks at a series of holes saying, "What kind of worm makes these holes?"

Panoptos looks at the holes and smiles saying, "Pathetic, stupid creatures called Diamond Dogs. They have limited intelligence, are also greedy, and like to steal from the ponies, or kidnap ponies themselves and force them to be their mules. If you dropped in and dealt with them, I am sure that you would receive some sort of reward for doing a good deed for the ponies as long as you can provide proof. Just be sure you claim their dog tags that hang around their neck as proof, ponies of this world frown on the killing of any creature. Be sure to claim their tags first if you decide to kill them."

He chuckles and says, "I am a bit bored, so let's find out if they are good in a fight or not." He then drops down into one of the holes and wanders in one direction, running into a dead-end and tries going the other way.

After wandering through a couple of small tunnels, he gets to a big one and sees he should have enough room to stand up in his other form and says, "Alteya." He returns to his other form when he hears something growling near him saying, "Who you, who you!?" He then grins under his mask and cracks his knuckles saying, "I am...bored... So help me out and call for your friends, I want a decent fight."

The sentry howls out a call for help, then says, "Strange creature here, all come fight!" He then smiles as he hears hundreds of howls and yips come from several other tunnels followed by a low, distant rumbling and smiles saying, "They come, you become new prisoner!"

A half hour later

Death pulls off the last dog tag and is about to begin killing them when he hears a whimpering noise coming from somewhere, finding a still conscious dog huddled against the wall, sitting in a corner in a pile of his own shit, and looks down at the dog and threatens him saying, "Listen up you mutt, I will only say this once. You all follow my orders now, or will I have to kill every dog here?"

Mutt looks at the ground, shaking terribly in terror saying, "All dogs follow boss, all dogs follow! What us do?"

He then thinks for a moment and says, "For now, be my eyes and ears around Equestria. Do not make trouble or draw attention to me in any way or you will find out how terrifying I can truly be!" He then turns around with the tags in his grip and looks for the way out.

After arriving back at the hole, he hears ponies talking a distance away and softly says, "Alteya" and feels his body shifting to his four-legged form and hears the tags fall to the floor in a pile and grumbles saying, "Well, isn't that just wonderful. How am I going to carry things in this form?"

Discord chuckles and miniaturizes himself, then appears beside Death and says, "I do apologize for forgetting about that, allow me to correct that mistake." and snaps his fingers, making a black pair of saddlebags appear on his back near his flanks then says, "There, now you will blend in better with the other ponies that wear saddlebags. Do be cautious around Pinkie Pie, she is unpredictable and smarter than she looks. So if you see a pink pony and she happens to say something completely out there that happens to be true about you, play it off like she is joking to keep your cover. Well, that is all I can do for you right now, so ta-ta for now!" then snaps his fingers and disappears in a puff of smoke.

Death looks back at the bags on his flanks and grumbles out, "Now you make me a pack mule, what else must I endure until my task on this world is complete..." His words trail off as he investigates his new saddlebag, then puts the tags inside it and closes it back up before jumping up and out of the hole.

Twilight gasps in fright as she spots a pegasus jump out of a hole having a pale, light green coat covered with white spots and a pair of large, black wings on their back. She skids to a stop as Spike is thrown off her back and lands face-first into a pile of dirt exclaiming, "Ahhh!"

She glares at the pegasus and says, "You scared me, why did you jump out like that so suddenly!?"

He looks at her and narrows his eyes in response saying, "I was beating some nuisances black and blue for a few bits, I couldn't climb out of the hole and I wasn't able to use my wings to fly out. So I decided to jump out of the hole, I did not intend to scare you. Who are you?"

She looks at the pale pegasus and huffs, then looks over to her assistant and says, "Are you okay Spike? I'm sorry for stopping so suddenly like that, do you need help?"

Spike tries to pry his head out of the dirt pile, and succeeds on the fifth attempt as his head comes free with a pop saying, "I'm fine Twilight, what made you stop so suddenly?"

Twilight looks at Spike and says, "He startled me when I saw him jump up out of the ground off to my right." She then turns back to the strange pegasus and says, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am a princess. I apologize for not answering you right away, I had to see if my number one assistant was alright. What might your name be?"

He then thinks of what to tell her and asks the watcher, 'What do you think my alternate name should be?'

Panoptos considers it for a moment and says, 'Well it may not be ingenious, but your name in German is Sterben. I would alter that to say Seven Selbs, the selbs is from the word selbst that roughly means self.'

Death then looks at her and says, "My name is Seven Selbs and I am a guardian as well as a warrior, I was sent here by my superiors to search for answers. I must now be on my way to continue with my task, good day." He then turns and continues heading towards Ponyville to turn the dog tags in, eager to get away from the pony with a look of curiosity all over her face.

Twilight watches him for a moment before nervously saying, "Hey wait...umm, could you possibly come with me on my journey into the forest?"

He stops and turns around and narrows his eyes saying, "Why should I, there are other things that I must tend to you know?"

She flinches at the reply and looks at the ground, then shuffles her hooves nervously and lowers her head saying, "Because the forest scares me right now with how dark and dangerous it has gotten lately, there are these long black thorny vines that try to grab anything close to them. Did you not notice them while on your way here?"

(Seven) Death looks towards the forest in the distance, then back to her and says, "I was too busy with my task and dealing with dogs to take in the sights, in what way does me helping you aid in my duty?"

Twilight fidgets under his hard look and says, "Well...ummm, I don't know how but perhaps you may find some sort of information worth your time in the forest? Perhaps you would like to make some new friends if you decide to accompany me on my journey to find the Tree of Harmony?"

He thinks about it for a moment and thinks, 'The most efficient way to gather information is through the assistance of the locals' He runs a hoof along the chin of his mask for a few more moments before saying, "Very well then, I shall accompany you into the forest that you fear, so lead the way princess."

She smiles and sighs thankfully saying, "Thank you for deciding to come with my assistant and me, shall we get going now?" She then turns to Spike and says, "Hop on my back Spike, so we can be on our way to catch up with the others."

Spike nods and looks up at the tall stallion and turns to look at her and says, "Okay Twilight." He then hops up onto her back and looks to Seven as he takes in his appearance as he notices the mask, and opens his mouth to ask about it.

(Seven) Death sighs and follows Twilight down the path saying, "Before you ask about my mask, I never take it off for personal reasons. Very few are those that have seen my real face, I intend to keep it that way. It is extremely rare for me to ever take it off."

He gulps and nods his head saying, "O-Okay then, your cutie mark is really interesting. Do you think I can ask about that?"

He glances back at his rear and sees the image and half chuckles saying, "I don't see any problem with you asking about that, this cutie mark of mine is special to me..."

Panoptos smirks and says, 'Cutie Marks resemble a ponies special talent, their personality, or their purpose in life. Yours is extremely unique among every pony's marks because it is accurate with your talent and role in the game of life, but what will you tell them without lying?'

(Seven) Death continues on saying with a chuckle, "...because it reminds me of why I was sent here and why I must keep to my assigned task. I can't tell you any more than that I'm afraid, anything else you are curious about little one?"

Spike looks at him and takes in his appearance saying, "Well...yeah, your coat is unique, I wish to know why you and your wings are so large?"

He looks at him briefly before watching the vines all around them as they slowly wrap themselves around the trees and cut off their path back saying, "That is a very good question little one, I guess the best answer I have is that this is just how I was meant to be."

Twilight quietly wonders how she could become friends with the mysterious Seven when she looks around, trying to figure out where they are exactly.

The baby dragon sits on Twilight's back and sighs saying, "Are we there yet Twilight?"

She nervously looks around saying, "I don't know where we are Spike, I think we're lost."

(Seven) Death shakes his head and half chuckles saying, "You're a local, and you are lost in this forest, what will you do now O' wise princess?"

Twilight's ears fall back as she feels sad about their situation and says, "I should not have let my friends convince me to leave them because it was too dangerous."

Spike hops off her back and looks at her in worry and says, "Well we can't just give up Twilight, we came too far and can't go back." He then looks at a tree and gets an idea saying, "Perhaps I can get a better view from up there and spot the others, I will be right back." He then begins to climb the tree to look around.

The horseman looks around behind them as he sees dozens of strange flowers make their way towards them and grins under his mask and says, "While you try to figure things out, I am going to fight these things, be sure to let me know when you figure something out." He then runs off towards them, looking back once in a while to be sure she can't see him change forms.

She looks back to see Seven disappear into the forest with several vines chasing after him saying, "HEY WAIT, DON'T LEAVE ME HERE..." She then gets engulfed in a cloud of gas as one of the flowers attacks her, causing her to go into a coughing fit as more start to spray her with their noxious gases.

The young dragon sees Twilight getting attacked by the plants and gasps, then races out of the tree to go get the others to save Twilight and Seven.

Chapter IV: New acquaintances pt. 2 (Edited 12/30/2022

Panoptos chuckles in his annoyingly high-pitched tone and speaks into Death's mind, 'You need not worry about that one dying, her friends will help her, they always manage to get there just in the nick of time to save the day. I thought that you should know...she was wearing some sort of crown that had power within it. We may have to catch up to them after you're done here, I will catch up to you in a little while. You should make quick work of these pesky vines and flowers, there is some corruption in them that I can harvest for our plan. I intend on gathering as much corruption from within this forest as I can before those annoying do-gooders get the upper hand.'

Death growls under his breath in irritation at the watcher's intentions and looks back over his shoulder in the direction he left Twilight and doesn't see the small clearing anymore and quietly says, "Let's get this show started, shall we...Alteya."

The watcher slides along the ground as a disconnected shadow and moves to the canopy of a tree and hovers on top of a large branch and observes the horseman as he brings out his scythe and changes it into its smaller, twin-sized, one-handled scythes. He then closes his eyes and focuses on the corruption in the area around him, chuckling with glee as there is more here than he first thought, and prepares to begin collecting from the vines and flowers as they are cut apart.

*Fifteen minutes later with Twilight deep in the Everfree*

Twilight wearily opens her eyes to see her friends doing what they can to deal with the vines, trying shakily to rise to her hooves. Succeeding in making it into a sitting position, she tries to lift up her head. With great effort, she barely manages to hold her head level as she forces her eyes open to see one of the flowers about to attack her friend Pinkie Pie. She channels her magic into a powerful beam to destroy the rogue flower, demolishing it and leaving the vine to fall lifelessly to the ground. She releases her magic and lets her head drop with a loud sigh, closing her eyes, and continues trying to rise to her hooves.

Spike does what he can to help her as her whole body trembles lightly with the effort to remain standing and asks, "Take it easy Twilight, you got hit hard by those mean flowers."

She turns her head slowly and looks at her assistant Spike with a smile and says, "I know, which is why I am glad that you went to go get my friends."

He looks at her and smiles back saying, "Of course, I wouldn't leave you to fend for yourself, I am your number one assistant after all!"

Applejack walks forward a little bit as the other girls gather around Twilight and smiles saying, "Ah'm sure glad that ya came into the forest fer us."

Twilight looks at Applejack and smiles back, then replies, "Not nearly as glad as I am that you all found me."

Rarity smiles softly and looks at Twilight while lifting up her right forehoof saying, "Well, the truth of it is, Twilight darling, is that we're simply lost without you to help us."

Rainbow then lands next to Applejack and folds her wings up saying, "Yeah, that's totally true. Equestria may need its Princess..."

Fluttershy walks up and places her left forehoof on Twilight's front right shoulder saying gently and finishing for Rainbow, "But we need our friend the most."

Twilight feels much better at hearing that she has such good friends as they all come towards her for a hug, she then hugs them back as they wrap their forehooves and wings around her saying, "You all are really my most treasured friends."

Death makes his way through the forest toward Twilight's location and mutters, "Alteya." As he shifts forms, he continues walking until he gets close enough to see the clearing with a large pile of detained plants. He gets close enough to see a group of ponies hugging Twilight and thinks to himself, 'There will be no better chance than now to introduce myself to these new arrivals.' He then begins to step out into the open, looking forward to gathering more information so he can return to his business.

As the ponies separate from the hug, Spike hears a twig snap from somewhere in front of him and makes his way around the group to see Seven approaching them. He crosses his arms across his chest and scowls angrily at him, then says with a little annoyance in his voice, "How nice of you to join us again Seven, it was not very nice of you to just ditch Twilight like that."

They all turn to look to the pony that Spike just addressed as Twilight sees Seven approaching them from the forest, asking them out of slight concern, "Are you okay? Why did you leave us to fend for ourselves like that?"

Rainbow is the first to react and steps in front of Twilight and glares at the approaching pony saying, "Yeah, some friend you are to just up and abandon Twilight to this forest. Who the heck are you, tell us who you are meany!"

Pinkie spots the pony in question, having a light celadon coat with white spots all over its body. A white mask in the vague form of a skull hides their face from view, having orangish-red eyes seeming to almost have a glow to them in the shadows behind the mask with a mane and tail pitch black along with their wings. An idea of a joke pops into her head as she adopts a deep tone and acts as if in a trance and speaks slowly, saying, "And I heard a voice say, Come and see. Lo and behold, I saw a pale pony...and Death was his name, and Tartarus followed him. Great power was granted unto them, to kill with sword, with hunger, and with any means necessary."

(Seven) Death looks at the pink one that just spoke and thinks to himself, 'That pink pony must be the one I was told about, Pinkie Pie was her name I believe.' He then responds by chuckling and adding a little mirth into his facial expression saying, "Yes, I am the one you speak of, so fear me, or it's Tartarus for you!" He then laughs out loud and says, Very funny joke, pink one. No, my name is Seven Selbs and I am not from around here." He then looks at Twilight and nods his head saying, "I am fine, this forest holds no dangers that worry me. I sensed several more of those strange plants that needed to be dealt with, if I hadn't left to go fight them off, you would likely be plant food now so you're welcome."

Twilight winces at the slight barb and says, "I'm glad that you dealt with them and came back in one piece, these are my friends. Allow me to introduce them, the light blue pegasus mare with magenta eyes, a rainbow mane and tail is Rainbow Dash. The light pink earth pony mare with light blue eyes, a bright pink mane and tail is Pinkie Pie. The light grey unicorn mare with blue eyes, a moderate purple mane and tail is Rarity. The off-orange earth pony mare with green eyes, a blonde mane and tail, wearing a stetson hat is Applejack. The light yellow pegasus with blue eyes, a light pink mane and tail is Fluttershy. Last but not least, the light purple male baby dragon with green eyes and spikes on his head is my number one assistant Spike."

Rarity is the first one to speak saying, "I must say that you weren't very nice to our dear Twilight, that doesn't make for a good first impression darling. You shall have to try harder if you wish to make up for it. Where are you from, I don't recognize you from Ponyville?"

He looks at the group of mares and the baby dragon, then says, "I am from a place very far from here, but it is a wasteland that I wish not to name. But I will tell you that I am a guardian as well as a warrior, I was sent here by my superiors to search for answers to issues that have appeared there."

Fluttershy steps forward and quietly asks, "Oh my, what is going on? Is there any way that we can help?"

(Seven) Death closes his eyes for a brief moment and lets sadness enter his voice briefly and sighs heavily, saying, "Unfortunately there is not, a disease is making its way throughout our lands. It first appears as black, spidery lines appearing on the body. I am looking for any evidence it has arrived here, but during my time spent wandering this land, I have seen no signs of it being here."

Rainbow scoffs and says, "Black lines on our bodies don't sound that bad, I'm not afraid of a few lines on my body."

Twilight looks at Rainbow and says, "I'm sure that there is more to this disease than just the lines Rainbow." She then turns to Seven and asks, "What happens next after the lines appear, how bad does this disease get?"

He looks away with sadness in his eyes and sighs again saying, "The next stage of the disease is that it starts taking control of the body and makes it act completely irrational, after that, it makes the body cough up black ooze until it finally makes the body's mind go completely insane and eventually choke to death on the ooze accumulating in their bodies produced by the disease. There is no worse disease than the one we face in my land, you best pray it never comes here because I have not yet found a cure for it." He hears them gasp at hearing more about the fictitious disease and looks around at them all, noticing the jewelry around their necks and the crown on top of Twilight's head, and asks, "What are those nice trinkets you have? I can sense the power that they wield."

Rarity smiles and nods her head proudly saying, "They are very nice indeed, they are the Elements of Harmony and I bear the Element of Generosity. Pinkie Pie bears the Element of Laughter, Rainbow bears the Element of Loyalty, Applejack bears the Element of Honesty, Fluttershy bears the Element of Kindness, and last but not least, Princess Twilight Sparkle bearing the one that links them all together, the Element of Magic." She then remembers about the tree and briefly gasps saying, "Oh Twilight darling, I almost forgot to tell you that we found the cave. Are you ready to go find the Tree of Harmony so we can figure out how to help it?"

She looks at her friend Rarity and says, "That's great to hear Rarity, great job girls! Yes, let's go see what we can do for the tree. Are you going to come with us to the tree, Seven, or are you going to go your separate way and continue looking for information?"

(Seven) Death can't believe his luck at meeting the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and looks at Twilight, nodding his head and saying, "You have piqued my interest Princess Twilight, so I shall accompany you there."

Twilight smiles and says, "Great, I'm glad to hear that because this forest gives me the creeps. Lead us there girls."

Fluttershy looks into Seven's orangish-red eyes and somehow feels sorry for them, causing her to be slightly confused as to why she is feeling that way. Deciding to wait for him to open up to her a bit more when he is comfortable, she remains silent and follows her friends toward the cave they found.

*Fifteen minutes later at the cavern*

(Seven) Death follows the girls down the path carefully, not wanting to tip them off that he is not used to his four-legged body. Making it down the stairs successfully, he follows the girls into the chasm and enters the cave after them. Having to go down a winding path, he eventually arrives in a large cavern with a great tree seemingly made of stone. He looks at the tree a little closer and sees that there are black, thorny vines wrapped around the tree. As they reach the bottom of the cavern at the base of the tree, he follows Twilight curiously to inspect the tree a little closer. He watches as green liquid oozes out of the vines themselves and reaches a hand out to get a better look at it saying, "Is this supposed to be a living tree?"

She hovers above the ground a little and looks the tree over and nods her head saying, "Yes it is, but something seems wrong with it. I saw a vision of this tree and it certainly didn't look like this in it, these vines were also not there."

He cocks his head curiously and says, "How curious...so similar yet very different from what I saw in my land. I thought it looked rather sickly for a tree, can you do anything to help it?"

Twilight looks at the tree and flies a little closer to it saying, "I don't know, I have never seen anything like this in my life." A vine then reaches out and wraps around her right foreleg, startling her and causing her to fly backward and pull against the vine. Unable to pull free, she uses her magic to cut the vine holding her foreleg. As the vine falls to the floor, she hovers a distance away from it as she remembers what she heard her mentor say in her dream about the tree. Finally seeing sockets in a few places on the outer branches of the tree and understanding what needs to be done, she heads down to her friends and lands saying, "I know what we must do to save the tree, we need to return the Elements of Harmony to it."

(Seven) Death looks at Twilight's friends as they voice their objections about her idea, and uses his mind to speak to Panoptos and asks, 'How goes your wretched corruption collection?'

Panoptos finishes up gathering the last bit of corruption around the forest he can find and replies back through the link, 'It goes, why do you ask?'

He looks at the vines as they drip ooze and replies, 'Because there is something rather peculiar I think you should check out here, be sure to hurry because Twilight is determined to return the Elements of Harmony to the tree here. Gather what you can from here and then make yourself scarce, we don't know what harm these may cause to you.'

Equis watches the exchange between the ponies as Death looks between the tree and the girls bearing the Elements of Harmony, deciding that she should give him protection against its magic and channels some of her magic into connecting to his mind and says, 'Fret not old one, I will grant you some protection from the magic of the tree so you can maintain your secrecy.'

(Seven) Death is slightly relieved to hear that and feels the connection fade away and speaks to Panoptos, 'That is one thing less to worry about, so come here and get to work collecting what you can and make yourself scarce again until I leave the company of these ponies.'

The Watcher quickly makes his way to the cavern where Death is, remaining as a shadow on the ground and sees what Death is talking about and travels up the vines, collecting samples of the sap and what corruption lies within the vines when he senses two nearly pure existences and says, 'Ick, so the two ruling princesses are trapped here in those vine ball prisons, I definitely don't want to be here any longer than I need to be.' He then returns to gathering the sap as the ponies continue to talk and comments on the samples saying, 'I am surprised at how concentrated this corruption is, it is nearly pure. Well, this is plenty enough for our plan. I shall watch you from afar until you are alone once more.'

He watches Twilight speak to her friends about how their friendship with survive no matter what may come and rolls his eyes and waits for her to get on with it.

Twilight then looks at all of her friends and says, "There is no time to lose girls. Is everypony ready to do this?" Hearing her friends nod their heads and smile at her saying yes, she flies up into the air and grabs each element one by one and holds them around her before finally grabbing her own. They spin around her rapidly for a few moments as a few vines rush out to grab her and the elements, taking her by surprise and nearly getting the Element of Magic. She quickly moves the element out of its grasp and starts to return the other elements to their places first, starting with Fluttershy's, then Pinkie's, Rainbow's, Rarity's, and Applejack's. A slot opens up in the center of the tree for the last element as the vines start to completely wrap around her entire body, having just enough time to hover the last element into its proper place before losing sight completely as she is enveloped by the vines.

(Seven) Death watches from the side of the cavern with a smile as the tree locks the elements into place as they glow brighter, gradually getting bright enough to where he needs to move a forehoof in front of his eyes. He watches as the vines begin to disappear from around the tree, continuing to glow brighter for a little longer before emitting a burst of light making the foliage reappear on the tree. He then looks at the two vine balls as they begin to disintegrate and reveal two tall ponies within them, one white and one dark blue. He then wonders about what to do about this tree and thinks, 'Hmmm...interesting don't you think Panoptos, how do you propose we deal with this tree's power?'

Panoptos looks over what he saw and responds, 'Curious, very curious... It will take me a little time to think about how best to tackle that obstacle, Enjoy your meeting with Celestia and Luna. I don't need to tell you which one is which...right?'

He mentally chuckles and looks at the cutie marks on their flanks and responds, 'Gee, let me guess... Looking at the pictures on their asses, the white one is Celestia and the dark blue one is Luna.'

The watcher giggles and replies, 'You are correct, you get to live as a reward. Just so you know, those two are over a thousand years old. Celestia has a keen sense about those she meets, so don't completely lie to her if she thinks you are older than you appear. Luna has the same sense, though not quite as strong as her sister's. Her power lies within her innate ability to literally watch over dreams at night, so be wary of her as well. Speaking of which, how are you going to deal with her dream walking ability?'

(Seven) Death then cocks his head and asks the watcher, 'You mean to say that she can actually see what one dreams at night?'

Panoptos grins and answers, 'Yes she most certainly can, and she can enter their dreams too. I learned that after having a little fun with a few of her subject's dreams at night, but I have learned how to work around her little ability. It took a few years to get it right, but I got it.'

He thinks about what he said and thinks, 'That means that if I dream of my past, she will find out who I am. I cannot allow that to happen or I might be captured and questioned, can you do anything to keep her from learning who I really am?'

The watcher thinks for a moment and says, 'Well...hmm... I guess that I could enter your mind and alter your dreams a little at night so she won't see your humanoid form or what you have actually done in the past, though they will occasionally be pretty gruesome for her to encounter though. Is that acceptable to you, Death?'

(Seven) Death considers it for a long moment before catching one of the smaller ponies glance in his direction and then hesitantly answers, 'Looks like there is no choice if I want to survive in this world and maintain my cover, so go ahead and do it...but only at night or there will be hell to pay.' He then watches Twilight walk past the two princesses and towards the tree as a flower bud sprouts up from one of the tree's roots, catching his eye as well as it opens at her touch to reveal some sort of gem with slots at the top.

Celestia notices a pale pony standing off to the side of the room, deciding to greet them later and says, "Six locks."

Luna looks at the object and finishes for her sister, "Six keys."

She shakes her head as Twilight looks at her curiously and shakes her head saying, "I know not where they are, but I do know that it is a mystery. A mystery that you will not be solving alone." She then looks at her sister and says, "Sister, I believe there is somepony else here that we have never met before. Do you wish to join me so we can greet them together?"

The lunar princess looks around curiously for the pony she means and sees them as well and nods her head saying, "I do indeed wish to join you sister, for I too have not yet encountered this pony before." and follows her sister as she makes her way to greet the strange guest.

He makes his way from the far wall, keeping his distance from them. He decides to let them introduce themselves first and smirks behind his mask saying, "It is very kind of you both to meet me halfway. Saves me a little exercise, so who might you two be?"

Celestia looks over the pony and guesses they are male with how muscular his body is, and the sound of their voice. She slightly narrows her eyes and introduces herself saying, "Greetings my little pony, we are the two ruling princesses of Equestria, I am Princess Celestia, and this is my beloved sister, Princess Luna. Neither of us has seen you before, could you introduce yourself to us?"

(Seven) Death nods his head and says, "I can indeed introduce myself, I am Seven Selbs, Your Majesties."

Luna looks over Seven's body, noting how he is as tall as she and her sister and has a pair of wings that are a little larger than theirs, and says, "It is a pleasure to meet you Seven, what brings you into the company of the Element Bearers?"

He looks at Princess Luna and answers her, "Well I was wandering around a desert when I stumbled upon a gang of Diamond Dogs, after fighting them off I jumped up out of the hole and happened to startle young Princess Twilight over there."

Celestia then cocks her head curiously and says, "Did you make it out of there okay? Could you tell us where you came from?"

(Seven) Death chuckles and says, "No need to worry about little old me, I made it out without a scratch. But them, however, they were beaten black and blue by yours truly for troubling Equestria. I claimed their dog tags hoping for a bit of a reward because I arrived here without any currency. I came from a land that is very far from here, it is a wasteland where nothing grows."

Luna looks at him with concern and asks with a worried tone in her voice, "Is there a problem there that caused you to leave your home?"

He looks away in pretend sadness and sighs saying, "There is a problem, there is a disease running rampant over there that has no cure still. It is a disease that slowly kills those it infects, beginning with black lines appearing on some part of the body that spread. As they spread further along the body, the disease begins to take control of them and causes the body to act irrationally in the form of frequent twitching. The last stage is the worst and most fatal, the disease infecting the body will create a black ooze that accumulates in the lungs and stomach. As the body starts to choke on the ooze, it will go insane and act violently towards any others that come near it until the body dies.

Luna then gasps at how bad the disease sounds and says, "How horrible, is there anything that we can do to help them fight off this foul disease?"

(Seven) Death turns his head back to the princesses and shakes his head with a sigh saying, "Unfortunately not because it would take too long to get there, even if we left right now."

Celestia straightens her posture and stomps a hoof saying, "Nonsense, it is never too late to at least try. With my sister's magic and mine combined, we could teleport anywhere in this world."

He starts to feel annoyed at how helpful and caring these ponies are and says, "There lies the real problem I face, I am not from this world. I have wandered this land for a few months now, trying to search for a way to get back, with no luck."

Refusing to give up hope of helping them get home so they can help the ones suffering, she says, "When we return to Canterlot, we will search through every library for any possible way to help you return after holding a ceremony first."

(Seven) Death's annoyed facial expression turns into a scowl as he suddenly turns his hardening gaze upon the two ponies as it becomes a glare and takes just two steps closer and lets out a deep, angry growl and says in a deep tone, "Quit your pestering!"

The two instinctively back away a little at the anger in his eyes and voice while it rumbles throughout the cavern as Celestia hangs her head slightly and says, "I apologize for caring so much about others, I was only trying to help you out." She then looks down to the floor, ashamed at how pushy she was being.

He softens his gaze and huffs in annoyance at how cute these ponies can be, releasing an irritated sigh saying, "The truth is that you can't help what is already dead."

Luna looks up at his face with her jaw hanging open slightly, closing it quickly, and asks, "W-Why would you not just tell us the truth then instead of outright lying to us?"

(Seven) Death looks at Luna and focuses on her eyes and says, "I don't like talking about what happened in my past, mainly because it is filled with shame, guilt, regret, and lots of pain that I would rather not be reminded of so often. Besides, you lot have enough to worry about than feeling the pain of knowing what happened to my world. So in short, I came here because my world is dead, its inhabitants are dead, and it is all...my fault. Don't you have a ceremony to attend? If so, you really should get going." He then starts to head out of the cavern but stops to look over his left shoulder to ask, "Could you tell me where I may be able to turn in these dog tags?"

Tears start to stream from Celestia's face as she then lifts her head up and looks at him saying, "You can turn those in to the town hall in Ponyville, do you know how to get there?"

He then shakes his head and says, "I do not, but my companion does..." He then turns around and starts to look for him and calls out, "DUST, where are you?"

Fluttershy hears the flapping of wings and the loud caw of a crow in the distance and looks towards the front of the cavern where they came in, seeing said animal fly towards Seven and land on a nearby ledge being large and black.

(Seven) Death then looks at his companion and says, "Ahh, there you are, guide me to the Town Hall in Ponyville."

She watches curiously as Dust ever so slightly nods his head and caws before taking off towards the front of the cavern and thinks, 'Does Dust really have such a high level of intelligence, I will have to try to speak to them when the opportunity arises.'

Chapter V: A joyous occasion (Edited 12/30/2022)

Author's Note

If there are any issues, let me know through a private message please.

Chapter V: A joyous occasion (Edited 12/30/2022)

(Seven) Death starts to make his way out of the cavern as he hears Celestia say, "You are welcome to come to the ceremony in Canterlot in four hours, I am so sorry for causing you pain. If there is anything you need from us, all you need to do is send us a letter and we will assist you however we can." He then continues on and calls back, "I shall keep it in mind, watch yourselves out there. Trouble is never that far away and will come whenever it feels like it."

Twilight hears him say that last bit at the end and thinks, 'Wait a minute, is he older than he looks. That can't be right...can it?'

He continues on towards the exit of the cave he is in as the others follow him out at a distance with the two princesses in the lead as Panoptos giggles and speaks into his mind, 'Congratulations, you just upset a princess and created an opening for us to exploit. Though that will have to wait until nightfall as we have more important things to do first.'

(Seven) Death quickly jogs down the tunnel after Dust, eager to get away from these prying ponies and replies, '[i]It is quite annoying about how much they care for others, the sooner we get on with the plan the better. Will that stronger corruption be of any use at all?'

Panoptos hovers in a tree in the forest somewhere and grins while holding a tiny black shard saying, 'Oh it will indeed be of great use, I plan to use part of it on the princess you really upset...'

*Ten minutes later, on the outskirts of Ponyville*

Twilight and the others make their way into Ponyville, then turns her head to look at her friends and says, "I would love to spend more time with you girls, but Princess Celestia and Luna want me to practice for my part in the ceremony in a few hours. I will see you all later, okay girls?"

Rainbow then smiles and hovers near Twilight and looks at her with utter surety saying, "Of course, you will. Practice can only make you better, take me for example. It took me a few tries to get the trick I was working on to impress my parents, but I practiced and I managed to finally get it and boy were they proud of me."

She giggles and smiles at her friends as they all offer her encouragement and confidence and says, "Thank you, all of you. I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help, I am now confident that I can and will get my part right. I can't help but wonder if Seven will be there. If he doesn't show up, I know that you all will be there for me at least. See you all later, I need to get back to practicing my part." She then waves to her friends as they go their own ways, she spots Seven leaving the town hall and forces herself to focus on the more important task at hand.

(Seven) Death looks around to see his companion land on a nearby tree branch and says, "Well, I have 300 bits from turning those tags in. Why don't you find us somewhere to eat, perhaps I'll buy you a little bread to feast on."

Dust blinks and nods his head, cawing as he takes flight. He then flies higher into the sky above Ponyville and looks around the quiet town, seeing a couple of promising locations and glides down to take a closer look. Finding that they both serve food that ponies eat, deciding to leave it up to them to decide and returns to guide them to both locations.

The horseman sees Dust returning and lands just before him on a fence and says, "I take it you found a place to eat then?"

The crow then nods and caws in response to his master, taking flight and heads towards the first place he found.

(Seven) Death follows his companion's lead to a shop nearby that looks like it is a huge gingerbread house and chuckles saying, "I would get a sugar high from eating anything there, is there any other option?"

Dust blinks and caws again then takes off to lead him to the other location.

He follows Dust as he guides the way to a large shop appearing to be some kind of restaurant with tables outside and four small wooden stools beside each table. A few ponies occupy a couple of the tables with a few still empty to choose from, making his choice, he heads towards a table away from the others as several ponies stop eating to watch him pass by and says to his companion, "Go pick a perch at that far table Dust."

A portly pony with a well-trimmed dark blue mustache, light brown eyes, a whitish-yellow coat, and a dark blue mane and tail wearing a white vest wearing a red bowtie around the base of his neck walks out of the restaurant he works at and makes his way over to the pony that just sat down. He stops at the table and sees a crow perched upon the back of a chair and asks with a heavy french accent, "Is that companion yours sir, or do you wish me to shoo it away?" He then takes a seat across from him and waits for service.

(Seven) Death turns to look at the waiter and says, "Yeah this bundle of feathers belongs to me, what do you have for food?"

The waiter places a menu on the table for the stallion to look over and says, "Here is our menu for what we are serving this week. Do you need a moment to decide sir, or are you ready to order?"

He looks over the menu items quickly and what ingredients are included in the item, then makes his choice and says, "I will have the Big Mac Sandwich, can I get a couple pieces of bread for my companion to eat?"

The waiter nods his head and says, "Yes you may sir. For the side dish, would you like hay fries or potato fries?"

(Seven) Death considers it for a moment and decides to try the latter and says, "I will take the potato fries."

The waiter then nods and says, "Okay and what would you like to drink with your food sir?"

He looks at the other side of the menu and finds the choices there and picks one saying, "I'll have the Apple cider, thank you."

Panoptos observes from Death's shadow and mentally says to the Horseman, 'And how do you plan to eat your food with that mask on your face, you will need to remove it in order to enjoy your food you know.'

(Seven) Death then turns to the waiter as he turns to leave and says, "Sir, would you be able to bring a towel so that I may hide my face as I eat?"

The waiter stops and faces the masked pony, then asks, "Why do you wish to hide your face, sir?"

He fights the urge to beat the pony into a bloody pulp and sighs saying, "You see, my face is horribly disfigured and I wish for others around me to keep their appetites. That is why I wear this mask, it helps to keep others from getting sick or screaming in fright."

The waiter is shocked for a moment and recovers, nodding his head politely saying, "Thank you for being considerate of others, I shall bring one out with your meal, sir."

In Discord's Realm

Discord watches as a vision plays out in a square mirror, smiling at how Death is managing to remain his cover, even after meeting Celestia and Luna, and says, "I wonder how you are going to manage this little challenge, horseman..."

He sits down on a red and gold throne eating from a bag of black seeds, popping a few into his mouth and chews on them in delight saying, "Oh these Plunder Seeds really are tasty, I might even offer a bag of these to Death to feed to that birdie of his." He then watches as the waiter comes out with a towel and a plate carrying a large sandwich on his back with a glass of apple cider with a straw in it, then stops at the table and proceeds to set the items onto the table.

Death proceeds to look at the towel for a little bit before picking it up by one edge, using his back legs to balance his upper body as he uses his front hooves to place the towel over his head. He then feels around for the plate in front of him, finding the sandwich and leans forward a little. Using his front hooves to raise the front of the towel up over his eyes so he can see, he then leans forward and lowers his face closer to the plate. He moves his hooves to his mask and lets the towel lay over his face, then pulls the mask off and sets it to the right of his plate as his drink is to the left of it.

Discord continues to watch with great amusement as it takes Death a little time to get used to eating food in his new form, laughing as he hears him sneeze and causes one part of the towel to fly up and fall back down onto the table while muttering something to himself. As he watches him finish eating and push the plate away, Death then uses his hoof to carefully slide the glass of cider in front of him while using his right hoof to move the towel around the glass.

He chuckles and claps his claw and paw together saying, "Oh goody, you are figuring out a way to get by. Good for you horseman."

At the restaurant with Death and Dust

Death finishes drinking his cider and sighs happily, feeling satisfied and slides the glass out from under the towel and pushes it to his left. He then searches for his mask, finding it right where he placed it and returns it to his face. After getting his mask back into place, he then reaches up and removes the towel from his head. He then lays it on the ground beside him and looks at his companion as he tears the bread slices into small pieces using his talons and beak.

Dust continues to tear apart the bread slices before him, eating a few pieces as they are made small enough for him to eat. He ignores the pony that comes by for the payment and remains on his task of tearing up the two slices in front of him.

He sits in his chair and looks at the area around him, seeing a few ponies talking to each other while sitting at the table eating their own sandwiches. Moving his gaze to another area, he notices how some earth ponies and pegasi ponies use their hooves to hold their food. He then sees a few of the girls he met earlier with the human Panoptos told him about among them making their way down the street to one of the shops he passed by on his way here, causing him to remember the invitation he got to go to the ceremony in Canterlot from Princess Celestia.

As he considers whether it would be beneficial for the plan to attend the ceremony or not, he turns to his companion and says, "When you're done eating your bread Dust, come find me."

He stops tearing the bread up and nods his head in reply, then resumes tearing up more of the bread before him.

Death then rises up from the table and walks away from the restaurant, in the direction that Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Carl Knoxx were heading. He watches them as they speak to Carl Knoxx and laugh on occasion, intriguing him even more.

Panoptos discretely watches the group ahead as Death follows them at a fair distance and speaks to his charge's mind, 'Hmm, how fortuitous we happen to encounter the human today. He normally goes around assisting a few ponies in town that request his help, he must not be that busy today.'

He stops and looks at a few apples on display at a stall, seeing a muscled earth pony stallion standing beside it a bit shorter than he is. He looks at him a little closer and sees that he has a red coat, a light orange mane and tail, and green eyes with a yoke around his neck.

Big Mcintosh looks at the tall stallion that is looking him over, having a pale light greyish-green coat with orangish-red eyes lying under a bone-white mask, and a black mane and tail. He then blinks and wonders why he wears the mask then asks the strange pony, "May ah help you?"

(Seven) Death nods his head and asks, "What are the prices for these apples today?"

Aj's brother looks at the cart and says, "Today's special is two apples for one bit. How many do you want?"

He looks at the apples available and says, "5 Golden Delicious and 5 Granny Smith apples, please."

Big Mac nods his head and says, "Awright, which side of your bag do you want 'em?"

Death looks at him and reaches back to his right bag and flips open the cover saying, "In this one please." He turns his right side so it faces the pony then reaches back into his left bag and starts to dig out his large sack of bits.

He then begins to grab the apples the customer asked for, picking them up by the stems carefully and dropping them into the open bag. As he counts out the five Golden Delicious, he starts grabbing the Granny Smith Apples as he hears a few bits hit the counter.

The horseman places another two bits into his hoof as he saw the other ponies doing, then gives them a light toss onto the counter. He watches them land on the counter as one of them bounces a little, beginning to roll a brief distance before falling over onto its side near the edge of the stand. As his curiosity gets the better of him he asks, "That collar around your neck, do you wear that for a special reason?"

Big Mac sets the last Granny Smith apple into their bag and pulls the cover back over and looks down at the collar he is so fond of and says, "Eeeyup, reminds me to do my best for my family." He then looks up at him and asks, " How about that mask of yours?"

(Seven) Death nods his head and says with a serious, slightly sad tone, "This mask reminds me to never forget the past and strive to do better for my family."

He gives the customer a gentle smile saying, "Family and friends are what matter most. My name's Big Mcintosh, most just call me Big Mac. What's your name?"

The horseman then nods his head and says, "My name is Seven Selbs, it's been a pleasure, Big Mac." He then returns to the path he was on before as he hears the flapping of wings and the sound of a bird landing nearby and says, "Dust, find out where that human is."

Big Mac watches the crow take off and fly up higher for a few moments before returning with a caw, then flies off in the previous direction as Seven begins to follow him at a trot and comments out loud, "Eeyup."

Death follows his crow through town, eventually arriving on the edge of town near a bridge. He stands on the far left side of the bridge, seeing the group of ponies and human he was following earlier sitting near a large tree in a large park. A young pony chases another one playing some sort of game called tag, an older couple sit on a bench together tossing some bread to the birds. He looks around for a place to watch them from, spotting a lone tree offering some shade from the sun and makes his way towards it.

Carl Knoxx's POV with the girls

Carl Knoxx lays on the grass, sprawled out next to Rainbow as she is rolling on the ground laughing and says to her, "Yeah, I actually did put ex-lax into the espresso machine in the Teacher's lounge during my senior year, and boy were the teachers pissed when they learned it was me that did it. As a result, I got to spend the next two weeks in detention for robbing the students of valuable knowledge that would help them in their lives."

Rarity frowns and says, "You were quite the troublesome one in school, weren't you darling?"

He chuckles and says, "Oh, I was definitely the jokester and quite the rebel during my teenage years. Even though I have settled down a little, I know how to have a good time."

Rainbow gasps for air and then manages to say, "Like what happened with Twilight when you first got here?" smirking at the end of the sentence.

Carl half chuckles and says, "You know about that?"

She continues to snicker and says, "Only by accident when Twilight went into one of her rambling rants when she learned that a few books were missing from her collection. After she noticed me, her face turned red and she changed the subject about her forgetting the books were in a box yet to be sorted through."

The fashionista gasps at the new information and asks, "I haven't heard about this yet, what happened?"

Rainbow looks at Rarity and smiles saying, "One of Twilight's spells went wrong and brought Carl here. When Twilight went to wake him, he grabbed her. After that, he called her baby and gave her, her very first kiss."

Rarity and Pinkie both say, "Oooh..." Rarity then continues on, saying, "Does that mean that there might be something between you two?"

Carl shrugs his shoulders and sighs saying, "I'm not sure, I have tried to apologize to her for it but she just changes the subject or starts doing something."

Fluttershy walks up to Carl then sits down beside him, placing a hoof on his left arm, and looks down at him saying, "If you need our help with anything, you just need to ask."

He continues to lay on his back, then looks up to Fluttershy and says, "Thank you Fluttershy, I might need your help to get Twilight to respond to my apology."

Applejack then smiles and says, "What do ya need from us pardner?"

Carl chuckles and tries to be funny saying, "I might need to either hogtie her or strap her to a table so she can't run away from me anymore."

The girls all giggle at that as Applejack smiles and says, "Consider it done. Let's wait until after the ceremony in Canterlot to do that, shall we?"

He facepalms himself and sighs saying, "I forgot how helpful and true to your word you are AJ, but that sounds like a plan to me."

Death's POV in the shade of the tree

(Seven) Death watches the group and half chuckles then says to Panoptos, "This proves it, I don't know how it happened but these ponies' souls are indeed the same as that human's. I think we've seen all we need to see for right now, let's go for a brief flight so I can adjust to how heavy these wings are."

Panoptos watches him from the canopy of the tree as he gets up off the ground, then quietly moves towards him in the shadows to remain hidden softly saying, "Perhaps it would be best to wait until you get out of the area first so they don't notice you here and start asking questions you can't answer without revealing who you are."

He thinks on it for a moment and begins walking away from the town when he senses that a soul is about to pass away in a town far from here to the northwest, causing him to take a breath and begin to use his ability to freeze time.

With the others as they talk to Carl

Pinkie Pie watches the tall stallion walk away when a large shadowy figure appears for a fraction of a second then disappears and Seven is three feet from where they were before, causing her to cock her head in confusion and absentmindedly say, "Huh...wierd."

Rarity looks at her, seeing that she is looking at somepony and turns to find who it might be. Her eyes follow Pinkie's gaze and land on Seven as he takes off and turns back to Pinkie asking, "Pinkie, darling, is there something wrong with Seven?"

She watches Seven disappear into the sky and then looks at Rarity saying, "I don't know what it is, but I feel sad and uneasy when he is around, it's that feeling you get when it seems your skin wants to crawl away."

The fashionista shudders as a chill runs up her spine saying, "I do know that feeling, darling, the area around us seems to get a little bit colder for some reason when he is nearby."

Pinkie looks away as a thought enters her head, 'Just what was that shadow I saw when he vanished? Oh well, I can investigate that later.' then shakes her head to rid it of the unpleasant sensations, then returns to her normal, perky, energetic self saying, "Let's go to Sugarcube Corner for some sweets before we take the train to Canterlot!"

A few hours later, sometime just before the ceremony in Canterlot

This section is NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

(Seven) Death walks around the city, looking for anything that might be useful in their plan when he hears a rhythmic grunting and muffled groaning coming from a side alley hidden from view of the street. He stops at the corner when he sees a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail on top of another unicorn with a golden coat with a strawberry blonde mane and tail, having blue eyes breathing heavily saying, "Oh Honor Trail, I love you. Perhaps one day we can talk about our future together?" then promptly pulls his head back and thinks, 'That is one thing I don't want to see, I'm getting out of here.'

Panoptos watches them from the shadows in the alley and chuckles saying in Death's mind, 'Awwwe, what's wrong horseman? Can't handle looking at the mortals while they copulate?'

Honor Trail moans as her coltfriend thrusts into her once again saying, "I love you too, we have only been dating for three months..." She then feels him thrust hard and hold himself there as he starts to release his seed, causing her to moan as she reaches her climax.

He then starts to walk away and responds, 'I can handle looking at it, I am just not as sick-minded as you are. So I will leave them to their business and keep looking for any opportunities.'

A few moments pass as Honor Trail comes down from her climax, breathing hard as she continues saying, "I-Isn't it a bit soon for us to get married, Prince Blueblood?"

Panoptos continues watching the pair as an idea enters his mind, then mentally says to Death, 'What if we use these two as a test to see how resistant the ponies are to corruption? I could easily keep an eye on them while you explore the world and learn new things, giving me the opportunity to have a little fun with the princesses when they dream.'

Prince Blueblood rests on top of her as his cock starts to retreat back into his sheath and says in a loving tone, "There are no rules or laws stating how long a couple must date before getting married, the most important thing is that I love you with my heart and soul. I would consider myself lucky to have a mare as special as you marry me." He then lowers his head beside hers and nuzzles against it affectionately, then moves to kiss her.

(Seven) Death stops and thinks about it for a moment before responding, 'Hmm, it would be a pleasant experience to be rid of you for a little while... Very well then, how do we perform this test on them?'

Her heart pounds inside her chest as butterflies fly around her stomach, wanting to kiss him back and then kisses his cheek saying, "I feel the same about you, but I need a little time to think on this okay because you are a noble and I am a guardspony."

The watcher stays hidden in the shadow, grinning as he refines his plan and mentally says, 'Well, I would have to subtlely attach myself to them and infiltrate their thoughts, then plant a few bad thoughts along with some of the corruption I harvested. What do you say to that?'

He thinks about it for a moment before saying, 'Go ahead and pursue your plan Panoptos, I'm going to make an appearance at the ceremony to see if I can figure out their strengths and weaknesses.' then turns around and starts to head to where the ceremony is being held.

Blueblood then smiles and gets off of her saying, "Alright then my love, I will wait for your answer. I should be on my way to the ceremony now, my aunties would tan my hide if they knew I was not there."

Panoptos slinks along the shadows of the building and connects to Blueblood's shadow first, then starts working his way into his body thinking to himself, 'Now let's see what dark thoughts lie in your brain...'

Honor Trail giggles as his seed oozes from her and smiles back saying, "I need to get home to shower so that I can make myself presentable to the public, I can't have them see me while your seed oozes out."

(Seven) Death tunes out their conversation and turns onto the main street, eager to get away from the two lovers as he thinks, 'These ponies are going to drive me insane, then I will get my revenge by slaughtering every single one of them...'

As he gains entry into his mind easily, he starts to look through his conscious and subconscious thoughts when he finds something particularly interesting and begins to use his abilities to 'adjust' a couple of them thinking, 'Oh this is going to be so much fun once these thoughts start to affect his actions. Now to move on to the mare, I have something special in mind for you once he acts on those thoughts.'

She watches Blueblood make his way to the ceremony as she squeezes her lips tighter to keep his seed from leaking out and leaving a path back to her house, wondering if she wants to say yes or no to his proposal thinking, 'Oh I do not know what to do here. I know I love him but will it work out with me being a guard and him a noble?'

End of scene, enjoy the rest of the chapter!

Panoptos has an even easier time getting into her mind as he begins searching them for a way to influence them down a different path when he finds what he has been searching for with her dream of searching for her one true love, then decides to mimic her voice and pose as her conscience softly saying, "If you say yes, you won't be able to search for your one true love if he is not the one. However, there is something that is off...why is he proposing so soon? It might be a good idea to find out why before you say 'I do' or you could end up regretting not learning it sooner..."

Honor Trail looks back curiously at her lover as he disappears around the corner thinking, 'It is rather soon for him to propose...I wonder why he is rushing things like this? I will have to pay closer attention and delay my answer until I figure out what is going on.'

Somewhere near the grounds for the ceremony...

The sky begins to change into night as Celestia and Luna inform the guard the ceremony will start soon as Celestia looks at Twilight, and sees that she is nervously shaking and smiles saying, "Do not be worried Twilight, I have faith in you and I know that everything will be just fine."

Twilight looks up at her mentor and smiles nervously saying, "I wish I had more time to prepare for my part in this ceremony, but knowing that you believe in me gives me confidence. So I will calm myself and watch for the sign to do my part."

Luna looks at her sister and Twilight with a smile saying, "Well, shall we go out there to greet the crowd?"

(Seven) Death stands near the back of the crowd as he watches the stage when the guards at the horns start to announce the arrival of royalty, followed by a speech from Princess Celestia about celebrating the Summer Sun as her sister's return instead of Nightmare Moon's defeat. He then watches Luna fly into the sky and hover before a large crescent moon on a tall stand while beginning to lower the moon, followed by her sister joining her in the air and hovering before her own emblem as she starts to raise the sun. He then watches as a lavender streak takes off from behind the stage and uses magic to create a burst of light shaped like a star when the sun and moon are side by side for a brief moment, making him smirk behind his mask muttering, "Nice show using your magic like that, perhaps I could do the same when the time is right..."

Chapter VI: A different approach

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter VII: The faults within our hearts

(Death) Seven clenches his jaw at what Panoptos is suggesting he should do as his orangish-red eyes glow brighter, casting the room in an orange glow as he fights the urge to shift forms and kill the watcher attached to him. He then looks at the sleeping princess as shadow slowly slips from her and falls onto the bed, then towards the floor only to dissipate before touching the stone below, and growls out softly, responding, 'I am only doing this to continue on with our plan, not because I find it enjoyable. Have a look outside to see if any of the guards are nearby, it would be troublesome should they catch me leaving the princess's chambers.'

Panoptos then grins and slips into the shadows of the castle's corridor, searching for where the guards are at nearby and reports back through the link saying, 'All is clear, master Death. I would be quiet yet hasty in making your exit as the closest guard is about twenty seconds from turning right and heading down that very corridor toward us, make sure you turn right and head down the corridor yourself. Not to worry, I will get the door for you due to your fingerless state.'

The horseman makes his way towards the door and says through the link, 'After I leave, make sure to cover her back up or she will know something happened.'

The watcher floats towards the door and presses the lever to be able to pull the door open and bows to the horseman saying through the link, 'Sure thing, horseman. I shall have a little fun of my own while you speak with Luna.'

(Death) Seven quietly, but swiftly makes his way down the corridor to the right of the princess's room and responds, 'Don't do anything that would draw attention to us.'

Panoptos closes the door softly and then looks toward the town of Ponyville to go have a little fun with the element bearers in their sleep, heading to the sleeping princess's bed and pulling the covers back over her body. With his final task done, he turns toward Ponyville and slips out through the window, looking forward to what he was intending to do with the element bearers.

As the horseman makes his way through the halls, he ignores the occasional suspicious glances the guards give him and finds the doors leading into the throne room. He looks to one of the guards and asks, "I wish for an audience with Princess Luna, my name is Seven Selbs."

The night guard on the left looks at the strange pony wearing a white mask and says, "I will see if she will grant your request, citizen, please wait here." then knocks on the door and waits for the princess's response.

Luna returns from her patrol in the dream realm at hearing the knocking and says, "Enter." Then watches as a night guard opens the door and walks inside, stops a distance away from her saying, "What is it guard?"

He bows to her and says, "There is a pony outside named Seven Selbs that has asked for an audience with you, Your Highness."

Surprised at hearing the stallion's name, her eyes widen and a slight smile comes to her face as she nods and says, "I will grant him an audience, please let him in."

The night guard then nods saying, "Yes, Your Highness." then turns and heads back to his post beside the door and says, "The princess will see you now, you may enter."

(Death) Seven ignores the tone of the guard and walks into the throne room and bows his head to the princess before stopping a short distance away saying, "Do forgive me for coming at such a strange hour, I found myself feeling a bit lonely and was hoping we could talk privately for a bit?"

Luna smiles at him deciding to open up to her a bit and nods her head saying, "Very well, come closer and I shall cast a privacy barrier around both of us."

The horseman nods his head and continues approaching her, stopping within a couple of feet of her as she continues to lie in front of the throne when she casts a spell. He watches as a blue barrier appears around them and asks, "So...no one will hear what is said in here right? It would be a big problem for me if others find out what we talk about."

She nods her head again and chuckles lightly, saying, "I assure you, no pony else outside of this bubble, including Discord, can hear a single word said in here. What troubles you, Seven Selbs?"

(Death) Seven look into her eyes with a serious look and ask, "If I tell you, will you swear to me on your life that you will keep every single thing I say, to yourself?"

Luna cocks her head in confusion for a brief moment, asking, "Is what you want to talk about really that important?"

He nods his head saying, "It is, so either agree and make the promise, or lift the barrier so I can leave."

She thinks about it for a long couple of minutes before sighing as her curiosity and desire to help others win out and says, "I will make that promise."

(Death) Seven remembers his book of secrets and raises his hoof up to the book charm on his necklace, then calls it forth, saying, "Will you place your hoof upon my book of secrets and make a formal promise to bind yourself to it?"

Luna watches as a large, ancient, weathered, black tome appears on the floor between them, catching her by surprise as she stares at it in shock for a few moments. She then sighs and nods her head to fully commit to her promise just to help them out, taking her right hoof and laying it on top of the book while closing her eyes, saying, "I solemnly swear on my life, that I will not speak a word of what you say to me, to anypony...including my own sister." then feels a wind pick up inside the barrier and opens her eyes, then looks down at the book to see it glowing with a green aura and asks, "What is going on with your book?"

He then looks up at her and says, "Not to worry princess, it is just a binding contract that will inform me if you break your promise. I shouldn't have to tell you what will happen if you break it but in short...I will take your life and those who you so foolishly shared the secret with."

She gulps nervously at the immense promise she just made and returns her hoof underneath her, then forces herself to calm down a little, saying, "I will do whatever it takes to keep our discussion secret, will I be allowed to tell others that we had a private talk?"

(Death) Seven taps his charm again as the book disappears and nods his head saying, "Yes, the contract only covers what I tell you during our private conversations, so be sure to remember that."

Luna settles down a bit more at hearing that and nods her head saying, "Alright, I can do that. So what do you want to talk about Seven?"

He then looks at her and lies down on his stomach with a sigh saying, "Well...if I had to start anywhere, I suppose I should tell you that thousands of years ago, there was once a race of beings that were searching for a home of their own. However, in their search for a home, they put countless other worlds to the sword. They began to threaten the balance, so warriors were called to end their slaughter. I was one of those warriors called upon, and we painted the ground with their blood as we slaughtered every single one of them." He then goes quiet for a moment to let her ask any questions.

She is completely stunned at hearing what he said as her mouth hangs agape for a couple of minutes before closing it and asking, "Impossible...just how old are you exactly?"

(Death) Seven then chuckles and says, "I stopped keeping track after 3,000, but I guess I could be over 10,000 by now since time doesn't really mean anything to me because I will always be around. How old are you, Princess Luna?"

Flabbergasted at hearing his age, Luna absentmindedly says, "1100, my sister is a few years older than me."

He then looks at her saying, "Still but a child when compared to me, but I am no stranger to loneliness as so very few of my family remains. I do not regret slaughtering the others, but I do find myself thinking about all I have done."

She can't help but feel a little sorry for him and finds herself wanting to hug him, and then rises to her hooves to take a few steps towards him. As she sits down right in front of him, she leans forward and rests her neck against his right side and says in a soft, soothing voice, "Everything will be alright, Seven, there is no danger here."

(Death) Seven quietly enjoys feeling her warmth against him and uses his forehooves and wings to hug her back saying, "I don't know why, but I find our embrace soothing."

Luna nuzzles deeper into the hug and wraps her forehooves and wings around him as well, letting herself enjoy being in the company of such a tender stallion saying, "So do I. Would you mind if we stay like this while I continue the rest of my patrol of the dream realm?"

He continues to hold her close and softly says, "Not at all, though I may steal your heart..."

She chuckles and then breathes in his scent, smelling somewhat stale. Surprisingly, the stale smell doesn't bother her as she says, "I don't really mind, I felt a connection between us when I first saw you. I knew from just seeing you that you were suffering some sort of pain and loneliness. I now understand why you keep so much to yourself, because you want to keep others from being unhappy."

A few hours later, in the dream realm

Panoptos spends a little time flitting between dreams, searching for one in particular...Twilight's. Finding it a few minutes later, he watches as she is doing some experiment with the human and grins with delight at the idea that comes to him, thinking, 'So...you want to experiment do you? Very well then, let's have some fun with the way you see that little human.' and slips himself into the human's dream body.

Twilight looks between Carl and the charts before her, clapping her hooves together happily saying, "I finally did it! I finally learned what blood type you are in this world!"

Panoptos looks at Twilight through the dream human's body and steeples his fingers together, then uses his voice to ask, "Umm...Twilight?"

She looks up from her charts with an ecstatic smile on her face and answers, "Yes Carl?"

He then gulps nervously and asks, "Do...you think that we could try to do one more experiment?"

Twilight smiles widely and nods her head eagerly, saying, "Sure! What experiment do you want to try next? If you have any magical abilities?"

Panoptos continues using the human's form and voice and answers, "W-Well, it's nothing like that...but I wanted to know if it was possible for a pony and a human to..."

Curious, Twilight focuses on him a bit more asking, "For a pony and human to...what?"

He mentally grins as she gets more curious and leans towards her ear and whispers, "To raise a family together?" and then pulls away with a bashful look on his face.

Her mind reels back in shock at hearing his question and stammers while a fierce blush colors her whole face red, saying, "Wha...why....HUH?!?"

Panoptos keeps up the disguise and says, "I thought you might be offended by my question...so never mind." and begins to turn away with an ashamed look on his face.

Twilight quickly reacts and says, "WAIT! Don't go, I was just surprised at what you asked." Her curiosity gets the better of her, leading her to say, "So don't be ashamed of asking an honest question, but why do you want to know that?"

He feels delighted, but hides it well before she can notice anything and keeps up the act, turning around to say, "Well...for a couple of reasons. Normally, I would never have the courage to even ask that question. With me being unable to go home due to your accidental summoning of me and not knowing how to send me back, I find myself really lonely and wanting to spend my time together with a really nice mare such as you. I love how knowledgeable and well-read you are, how you treat everyone kindly despite being different." To really sell it, he kneels down in front of her and takes her chin into his hand, then lifts her face up to look into her eyes and says affectionately, "I could care less about you being a princess now, but all I want is to be your very special somepony, yours and yours alone."

Her heart begins to flutter and skip beats as she feels lighter than air at the sweetness and affection in his voice, her wings lazily flap in the air as she floats closer toward him with hearts in her eyes saying ever so sweetly, "So do I, Carl."

Panoptos looks into her love-filled eyes and says, "I am really here with you in this dream, Twilight. I want our shared dream to remain between you and me. If I should happen to forget about this special dream, I want you to make the first move. I don't want to feel so alone anymore, my love."

Twilight's ears relax and hang beside her head as she looks at him with a love-drunk expression on her face as she grins dopily and says, "I pinkie promise you I will, my sugar bear."

A shit-eating grin crosses his face as he gets her to fall hook, line, and sinker for his ruse then quickly locks his lips with hers and kisses her romantically, secretly producing a slight amount of liquid corruption instead of saliva.

She loses herself in the kiss as her head tilts upward, swallowing his saliva as she does not want to break away from this passionate kiss thinking, 'Oh Carl, I love you so much...'

Near Sunrise, in the Canterlot throne room

(Death) Seven continues to embrace Luna when she slowly starts to stir awake and says, "Welcome back to the waking world, little princess."

Luna blushes at hearing that and backs out of the warm embrace saying, "Don't you call me that when anyone else is around."

Seeing a chance to get behind her defenses, he says, "Before I leave you for now, might we take solace in each other to keep our loneliness at bay?"

Curious, she tilts her head and asks, "What do you have in mind?"

(Death) Seven moves in with little warning, placing his hoof underneath her chin and leans toward her lips saying, "This...if you don't mind." and uses his right wing to lift his mask up above his lips.

Luna hesitates to pull away as she is frozen in place while her heart races, her mind tries to figure out what it should do while the heart cries out for affection. Her mind sighs in defeat and allows her to lean toward him, saying ever so slightly, "I'm okay with it." and locks lips with him.

He keeps the kiss a slightly intimate kiss with parted lips, but no tongue as he moves his hoof behind her neck and holds her close to him. Parting from the kiss a few moments later, he looks into her eyes and puts the mask back down saying, "I must go for now, but fear not, for I will return here again to keep you company."

Her heart races as she pants lightly, saying, "I wish you would stay longer, but I will look forward to each visit from you. You can always find me in this room each night as I guard the sleeping pony's dreams against nightmares."

(Death) Seven then bows his head to her saying, "I will see you again within a week as I have tasks of my own to pursue. Farewell for now, my little princess."

She blushes at hearing that name again and smiles before dropping the bubble saying, "Thank you for coming to see me about that matter, I will think about it later."

The horseman trots towards the doors as they open, eager to get away from the ponies making him sick with their attitudes and emotions, thinking, 'When my work is done here, I'm going to enjoy tearing these sickening, lovey-dovey ponies apart.'

Celestia wakes up feeling groggy along with an urgent need to visit the bathroom and throws the covers off of her with her magic and practically gallops to the bathroom. Nearly tripping over her own hooves and slamming into the wall, she quickly shuts the door and moves her tail out of the way just before planting her rear onto the toilet. Her eyes close as she lets herself relax and feels her body begin to relieve itself, sighing happily saying, "Wow, I can't believe how bad I had to go, nearly didn't make it." She smells a metallic smell in the air and licks her lips, then tastes blood on her lower lip. Turning her head to her left, she uses her magic to remove the mirror from the wall and levitate it in front of her and chuckles at seeing she bit her own lip saying, "Silly me, I must have gotten a little excited in last night's dream." and returns the mirror to the wall.

As she finishes relieving herself, she gets up and uses the handle to flush the bowl's contents away without noticing the black shadow filling the bowl to the very top. She leaves the room as the shadow disappears down the drain, sighing blissfully and saying, "Now let us prepare to raise the sun and lower the moon with my sister, then have a short breakfast before tending to our daily duties..." She then heads back into the room when she notices a rather thick scent in the air and groans, thinking, 'It seems that I enjoyed that dream a little too much if my scent is so thick in here... I shall open my window and allow the room to air out a bit.'

A few minutes pass as Luna stands near the balcony when the throne doors open and looks to see her sister walking in with a pleasant glow about her and smiles saying, "My my, it seems that someone had a rather enjoyable dream last night..."

Celestia blanches at hearing that and pauses a half-step and says with a slight blush coloring her cheeks, closing the doors behind her and saying, "So you saw?"

She giggles and smiles at her saying, "Unfortunately, I did catch the tail end of your dream, but I am happy that you had a wonderful dream that has you looking so pleasant this morning."

The blushing princess looks at her sister and sees that she is in a happy mood, which is unusual for her, and says, "It seems you had a rather 'pleasant' night yourself, sister. Did something really good happen that has you in this good of a mood?"

Now it's Luna's turn to blush as she looks away bashfully and says, "I-I guess you could say something good happened." while pawing at the floor with her hoof.

Celestia looks at her sister with great interest and waits a few moments for the answer, then asks, "So are you going to tell me what happened Luna?"

She smiles and looks up at her sister saying, "Somepony came to seek an audience with me, and we ended up spending the night together having a private talk."

She looks at her sister a little closer for any more information about who it was and then sighs exasperatedly saying, "Come on Luna, tell me who. You know how I get when you only tell me snippets about things..."

Luna giggles behind a hoof saying, "Sorry sister, it is just so much fun to see you beg for information. We met him in the cave with the Tree of Harmony, his name is Seven Selbs. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what we talked about as I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone. However, I can say confidently that he likes me and is slowly opening up to me, and I find myself liking him back. Not wanting to miss a chance to see her sister squirm, she says, "After our talk, he embraced me and held me close while I continued patrolling the dream realm, and shortly after that, we shared a light, romantic kiss last night."

Celestia looks at her sister and feels a bit jealous about her finding a romantic interest first and huffs while looking away with a pouty expression on her face, glancing back at her sister from the corner of her eye and saying, "No fair...you found a coltfriend before me."

She pulls her sister towards her with her magic and hugs her saying, "Don't worry sister, you still have your good looks and I'm positive that there are plenty of stallions out there looking for a loving and doting mare with experience under the sheets."

She gasps as her face turns beet red saying, "LUNA! I-I'm not THAT experienced!"

Luna laughs as she hugs her sister tighter saying, "I know sister, you know I love you and that I tease you because I enjoy seeing you squirm. Shall we raise the sun and lower the moon, dear sister of mine?"

Celestia backs out of the hug and looks at her sister with a firm, unwavering gaze saying, "I am. I look forward to seeing Seven again and having a talk with that stallion about how he should treat you."

That morning, in the skies just outside of Canterlot

(Death) Seven soars through the sky as he hears Panoptos chuckle annoyingly and uses their link to ask the annoying watcher, 'Was your night eventful?

He giggles and then answers through their link, 'Oh, it most certainly was, I managed to plant a foreign desire within or alter each of my targets' minds except for Rainbow Dash. I will have to try again tomorrow night. So then, how was yours?'

The horseman continues flying through the air and tells him through the link, 'I am making progress with her, I will have to visit her again soon to progress any further.'

Panoptos looks at the sky through Death's eyes, mentally smiling as he asks, 'You found something that you like about her, didn't you ancient one? Does it bother you to be so much older than her? Oh what am I asking that for, you are amoral, of course it doesn't!'

(Death) Seven looks around the area in front of him asking, 'So, where are we going next?'

The watcher thinks about it for a moment saying, 'I think that perhaps we should let things fester here for the moment and head to the Crystal Empire, though we will require a bit of an entourage to provide an introduction.'

He then growls under his breath and looks toward the town of Ponyville saying, 'To Ponyville then?'

Panoptos chuckles and replies, 'To Ponyville.'

Chapter VIII: Cruel intentions

Twilight is leaving her home when she sees a large shadow on the ground in front of her, causing her to stop and look to her left to see Seven heading into town and smiles saying, "Hello Seven, did you go to the ceremony yesterday?"

(Death) Seven looks at her from behind his mask and says, "I did, and that trick you performed was interesting and well-timed. What are you up to today?"

She looks at him and smiles saying, "Oh not much, I was going to go shop for some supplies for the Equestria Games coming up in a few weeks. How about you?"

The horseman looks at her and answers, "Well, I am planning to visit the Crystal Empire, what is the best way to get there?"

Twilight smiles and says, "My sister-in-law, brother, and my niece Flurry Heart are there, they actually rule over it. If you want to get there quickly, you could buy a ticket and take a train ride that would take a few hours to get there."

Panoptos chuckles inside Death's mind and says, 'You should invite her along since she knows them personally. Perhaps she might be willing to tag along and introduce us.'

(Death) Seven looks away for a moment and asks, "Would you care to join us? The trip is long and we wouldn't want to cause a fuss because of how strange I look."

She smiles widely at the chance to see her old foalsitter, her brother, and her adorable niece of course, then clops her hooves together saying, "WOULD I?! Of course I want to, do you mind if I ask a friend to come along with us?"

The horseman shrugs his front shoulders and says, "I don't mind at all, just as long as we can be on our way soon."

Twilight then nods her head saying, "Alright, I will go find him then and see if he wants to come along, I will be back in a few minutes." then turns and practically gallops away to go find the human.

(Death) Seven stands there watching her leave when he hears Dust caw angrily at him from a distance and repeatedly looks toward the gingerbread-looking shop and sighs asking, "Must I go there, Dust? Really?" and hears another angry caw with a look at the shop, then sighs saying, "Fine, you bag of feathers. Let's go get a sugar-induced coma shall we?" and heads towards the store.

Pinkie Pie is at a counter, baking up a batch of tasty cupcakes when she starts to shiver and says, "Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner, Seven Selbs. What can I get or make for you?" and looks up at the pale pony with black wings with a matching mane and tail, having a pair of glowing orangish-red eyes and asks, "How do you get your eyes to glow like that, it's really cool."

He chuckles and says, "Well, I doubt you have any fresh souls here, so how about something for my companion?" He then looks at her from behind his mask and says, "Well, to be honest...you might find it hard to believe, but I was born with these eyes."

She laughs at his request and says, "Sorry, we don't have any to spare, as we are currently using ours. We might have some ready in a few decades, but in the meantime, what can I get for your pet?"

(Death) Seven then grins and laughs saying, "I will hold you to that then." and looks at Dust as he is perched on his shoulder and says, "Well, go find what you want."

Dust scans the room for something interesting and finds it lining the outer edge of each level on a multi-layer dish, spotting others like it strewn about on a table. He then flies over to an empty spot on the table and walks over to the curious item, then pecks it. He opens his beak and bites of a piece of it and tastes something entirely new to him, he enjoys it and quickly devours the rest of it. He then picks up another piece and flies over to the pink pony, dropping it in front of her before returning to perch on his master's shoulder and letting out a single caw.

Pinkie feels her body shivering from the cold and looks down at the gumdrop with a smile, saying, "Your pet likes gumdrops just like my pet alligator, Gummy. How many would you like to purchase?"

The horseman looks at her and says, "I think that a thousand of those might last for a while before I will have to get some more."

She smiles widely and hops toward the kitchen saying, "For an order that large, I will have to make them. Unfortunately, they need to sit out overnight, but they will be ready for you to pick up tomorrow though. Would your pet like some jellybeans to enjoy until then?"

(Death) Seven sees Dust nod his head and then says, "That will be fine, I have some business to tend to in the Crystal Empire anyway. How much for one pound of these...jellybeans?"

Pinkie smiles and heads over to the barrel filled with assorted jellybeans and says, "It will be one bit please." then sets a medium-sized cloth bag on a low table near the barrel, then takes a scale with a funnel bowl on it and places it near the empty bag.

The horseman watches as she holds a small scoop in her mouth and begins measuring the requested amount, retrieving his bag of bits from his saddlebags and removing one to pay her. He returns his bag of bits to his saddlebags and sets the bit on the counter to pay her saying, "That should cover the jellybeans. I will pay you once the gumdrops are done."

She sets the bag of jellybeans on the countertop and smiles widely saying, "Okie dokie, no problem at all. Thank you for visiting Sugar Cube Corner, Seven. I hope you have a wonderful day!" and returns to the cake she was decorating for the upcoming birthday of Princess Flurry Heart.

(Death) Seven takes the bag with his mouth as she collects the bit, placing the bag of jellybeans into his saddlebags looking at his pet saying, "I will let you have some of these after we get on the train."

After returning to the spot where Twilight left him, he sees the mare making her way back with the human accompanying her and asks, "Are we all ready to get going now?"

Twilight nods her head with a smile on her face and says, "Yes we are. Sorry, we took so long, I was just asking how Carl's day went yesterday and if he had any interesting dreams."

After spending the entirety of the trip to the Crystal Empire, Death wakes up feeling refreshed and finds Dust still digging into the jellybeans and digs out a few apples for himself to eat, saying through the link, 'Panoptos, I wish to pursue this Sombra creature and claim its soul. Be sure to help guide me to it, I can only hope it will put up a decent fight...'

Panoptos giggles inside of his mind and says, 'Oh I certainly will, but first, you will have to make it past the Crystal Empire's magical barrier produced by an ancient artifact called the Crystal Heart.'

As Twilight heads for the door, she asks, "Do you want to come with us to the castle, Seven? That way I can introduce you to Cadance, my brother Shining Armor, and my niece Flurry Heart."

(Death) Seven shrugs his shoulders saying, "Sure, why not, lead on." and follows her out of the car towards the castle.

A half-hour later, Cadance is sitting in the throne with her daughter, braiding her mane and tail when she sees Twilight and Carl with someone new and smiles as she finishes tying her daughter's tail with a pretty pink bow and sets her on the floor saying, "Looks like Aunty Twilight and Carl have come to visit us, they also brought someone new with them."

Flurry Heart looks at her aunt and smiles widely, then races over saying, "Aunty Twily, mister Carl!" and gives Carl and her aunt a big hug then looks over to the one she hasn't met yet and cocks her head asking, "Who are you?"

The watcher whispers to Death through their link saying, 'I don't know why, but this little alicorn filly is more perceptive than the adults are. I've tried to slip corruption into her but she seems to be immune to it, but she is one of the targets so we will have to do something about her later on if things don't progress as we want.'

The horseman looks down at the young filly and says, "I am just a pony that came here to tend to some business, getting to meet royalty is just a bonus." He then looks up to the pink mare saying with a respectful bow, "Greetings, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Seven Selbs, and it is a pleasure to have the chance to meet you."

Cadance looks at the tall stallion, having a spotted, light celadon coat with a black mane and tail, black feathering along each of his hooves with a pair of massive black wings. She then shivers as the temperature seems to drop around them and says, "Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Seven Selbs. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but I prefer to be called Cadance. I do hope you enjoy your time here. If you would forgive me for not welcoming you properly, I wish to greet Twilight."

(Death) Seven watches her get up and start to head down the stairs and shakes his head for a brief moment saying, "Not at all, I'm not big on ceremony. I thank you for the warm welcome and shall see myself out to tend to my business here." then looks over at Twilight and says, "I will look at the different stalls after my business is concluded Twilight, farewell for now." He then turns and makes his way towards the front doors as he hears the two sing a strange chant and both laugh at the end. His annoyance spikes as he asks the watcher through their link, 'UGH, how long do you think it will take until things are ready for the next part of our plan?'

Panoptos giggles in his annoying tone saying, 'Awe, what's wrong? Are you getting attached to these affectionate, caring, warm, and fuzzy little ponies?'

The horseman walks out of the castle and makes his way toward the snowy lands responding to the watcher's words saying, 'Attached? Hardly, I just want to move on with our plans so I can free my brethren from the council. guide me to where this...King Sombra...is.'

He then says, 'Alright, but let's wait until we get outside of the Crystal Empire.'

(Death) Seven makes his way towards the barrier grumbling, 'You're going to make me hunt him down...aren't you?'

Meanwhile...at the Crystal Castle

Cadance watches Carl get pulled away by Flurry Heart with a smile on her face saying, "Now that is cute, though a bit sad with how dense the human is. It is a shame that he is already spoken for though, am I right, Twilight?"

Not really paying attention, she absentmindedly says, "Yeah, a shame..." but then realizes what she just agreed to and whips her head around to look at Cadance with a fierce blush on her face saying, "Wait a...how do you..."

She puts a hoof over Twilight's mouth and giggles saying, "I could see it as clear as day. I am the princess of love, it is my duty to know when someone is head over hooves for another." She then returns her hoof to the ground and asks with a gentle, teasing tone, "So, when are you going to make your move, or are you going to wait for the perfect moment just to have Flurry steal him out from under your nose?"

Twilight sighs and says, "I don't know, I've never been in love before...this is new, so I'm worried." then looks down at the floor dejectedly.

Cadance giggles and uses her left hoof to lift her chin up, looking into her eyes and saying with a smile, "What is there to be scared about, the heart can heal from any emotional wound if given time. If you wait too long, and watch him be stolen from you without taking the chance...your heart will be scarred, and shall regret it your whole life. Don't forget the old saying...wounds heal, and scars fade. Take the leap or don't, it is your choice to make and live with. If it doesn't work out, your friends and family will be there to support you."

She then gives Cadance a big hug saying, "So...can you give me any advice on dating?"

The princess smiles and then nods her head saying, "Of course, follow me to my chambers and I will help you."

A half-hour later, somewhere outside the barrier around the Crystal Empire

Death gallops away on his steed Despair, trying to catch up to the fleeing shadow of King Sombra shouting, "You can't escape the inevitable, petulant shadow child, so stop trying."

King Sombra flees for his life as purplish blood oozes from his wound, as he looks back to see the being who wounded his shadow form running him down relentlessly and bellows, "I'LL DO ANYTHING IF YOU JUST LET ME LIVE!"

As his steed gets him closer to the fleeing shadow, Death looks at Sombra directly in the eyes and says, "Interesting proposal, but I'm not biting. I can study you after I've caught you, coward." He then shifts to his most powerful form and reaches out to grab the fleeing shadow.

He glances back and instantly regrets it, seeing the black skeletal hand reaching for him as he makes a desperate choice screaming, "I WOULD PREFER SAFETY IN THE ETHER TO WHAT YOU HAVE IN MIND!" and then dives into the ground and sends himself there to preserve his life.

Panoptos groans and floats beside Death saying, "How disappointing..."

Death looks down at the spot where Sombra vanished and asks, "Is there no way to pursue him into this...Ether?"

The watcher sighs with irritation and says, "Unfortunately not, but I have been looking into it. I will need some time before I can find a way in. So for now, let us return to the Crystal Empire."

The horseman huffs with irritation as Despair rears up and slams his hooves onto the ground saying, "I know, boy, I know. I wish we could have caught him too, but the chase was fun wasn't it?" He rubs his steed's neck as he nickers in response saying, "Come on, let's be on our way back then."

Panoptos looks at the cloudy skies above him and chuckles saying, 'Looks like we had an audience, perhaps we will have to return to collect them as well. If you look up, you will see who I mean.'

Death looks up into the clouds to see ghostly heads looking down through the cloud cover at him and shouts, "BOO" making them shriek and pull their heads back up and asks, 'What are those creatures?'

The watcher smiles and says, 'Those creatures are windigos if remember right, they feed off of hate and use it to cover lands in snow.'

Back at the Crystal Empire

Cadance walks around the market with Twilight, enjoying catching up with her asking, "Oh Twilight before I forget, where did you meet Seven Selbs and why did the temperature seem to drop when he was around?"

Twilight cocks her head and asks, "I met him near the Everfree Forest just the other day. He startled me when he jumped up out of a hole dug by Diamond dogs after having beaten them up, then he accompanied me into the forest and we talked a little bit about himself. A few moments later, he took off into the woods to fight more of the vines, then came back after my friends had rescued me so I introduced them to him. When Fluttershy asked if there was any way we could help him with the issues in his homeland, he told us about a disease that is spreading throughout the land. He said its first sign is black, spidery lines appearing on our bodies and that he has been wandering in search and hadn't seen any sign of it being here. Rainbow didn't think much about it and I told them that there might be more to it, so I asked what happens after that first sign and how bad the disease gets. Seven then told us that the next sign is that the disease takes control of the body and makes the body behave irrationally, after that, the body begins to cough up black ooze until its mind goes insane and eventually chokes to death on the ooze building up inside them. He then asked about the jewelry we were wearing, so Rarity told him that they were actually the Elements of Harmony and which one we represented. We then went to the cave and returned the elements, then freed the tree along with the princesses. After I spoke to the princesses, they saw him and went over to meet him. I heard him telling them what he told us, with a few minor added details about the disease. When they offered to help him fight the disease, however, he said that there was nothing they could do because of how far away his homeland is and it would be too late by then. The princesses didn't give up though, and they insisted that they could combine their magic to travel anywhere on the planet. That is when he shocked us all and said that was the problem because he wasn't from our world, and has had no luck in finding a way back. Celestia told him that when they returned to Canterlot, they would search every library for a way to help him return after holding a ceremony first. Seven got annoyed with that and raised his voice, then told them to quit pestering him. The angry tone of his voice made them flinch and back away a step, making Celestia do something I never saw her do before, which was hang her head and apologize for caring too much while trying to help him. I never saw her look ashamed before, and seeing that stunned me. What happened after that though took us all by surprise, because he must have realized how he made her feel bad when he let out a sigh and said the truth was that they couldn't help what was already dead. We were slack-jawed for a few moments before Luna recovered from the shock and asked why he wouldn't tell the truth instead of just lying about it, which he said he doesn't like to talk about his past because of the guilt, shame, regret, and pain that he doesn't want to be reminded of. Also said that we had enough to worry about without knowing what happened to his world, he came here because his world and its inhabitants were dead and that it was all his fault. He started to leave, but stopped and looked back and asked where he could turn in the dog tags from the Diamond Dogs. After Celestia told him to go to the town hall in Ponyville, he called for his companion Dust to guide him there and then left. When I looked at Celestia's face...she had tears coming from her eyes, so I made my way over to give her a comforting hug. Celestia then invited him to the Ceremony, I heard him say something that makes me think he is older than he looks. As he was walking away, he called back and told us to watch ourselves out there and that trouble isn't far away and comes when it feels like it. After that, we made our way back to Ponyville so I could continue practicing. That is about all I know about him Cadence, sorry that I don't know more."

She smiles and shakes her head gently, saying, "Oh don't apologize for that Twilight, you gave me some valuable information about Seven. I am looking forward to getting to know them a little better myself."

Just outside of the crystal city

(Death) Seven Selbs walks through the city, seeing ponies with their crystal coats and watches as Flurry Heart stands in front of the human with her tail wrapped around his thigh. He keeps walking and watches out of the corner of his mask as she uses her tail to bump her rear against his leg, causing a light blush to color her cheeks as she keeps smiling like this is the best day ever and uses his link to ask, 'What did you do to that filly, Panoptos?'

Panoptos chuckles and watches from the horseman's shadow and answers, 'Well nothing much, to be honest, but I did appear in her dreams in shadowform when she was only a few years old and...helped...her fall in love with the human. I haven't meddled with the mother's mind yet, but I did get a good look around inside and I find her rather...interesting.'

The horseman raises an eyebrow curiously and asks, 'The pink mare is interesting to you? Why is that?'

The watcher giggles and replies, 'Well, perhaps it is because she already has a tiny speck of corruption in her already that I did not put there. After digging around her mind for a while, I discovered that she has a few quirks that would be frowned upon in pony society and would destroy her public image if they were to become public knowledge...'

(Death) Seven stops in his tracks for a moment and growls under his breath then demands through the link, 'Enough of your games, stop talking in riddles and just say it already!'

Panoptos gives death a fake sad sigh and says, 'You're no fun at all, but fine...Princess Cadence has a bit of a naughty side to her.'

The horseman continues walking forward and responds, 'Really? What is that supposed to mean to me?'

A plan starts to form in Panoptos's mind as he then says in a conspiratorial tone, 'Well think about it, we could help speed thing along a little bit by capitalizing on the fact that she enjoys spying on others while they are in the throes of intimacy. All it would take are a few nudges on my part, and dropping a very subtle suggestion to the mother to put things in motion. What say you, master Death?'

(Death) Seven scoffs at hearing that and says, 'I think that you are a very nasty and wicked creature, but I won't kill you because you found a way to have us spend less time on this planet. What do you wish for me to do?'

Panoptos becomes excited at messing with the pony's lives again and says in a sickeningly sweet tone, 'Oh it isn't much really, I just want you to spend some time with Cadance this evening until I tell you everything is ready.'

Chapter X: Withering Love

Cadance lies in bed after taking a bath, when she feels her husband snuggle up against her. As a scowl crosses her face at his touch, she scoots away from him and looks over her shoulder saying, "Not tonight, Shining. I have a fever and I'm not feeling good."

Concerned, Shining Armor raises his eyebrow and asks, "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better honey?"

She lays her head back down and rolls her eyes answering, "Yeah, you can try not to get too close to me. I don't want you to get sick, the Crystal Empire will need you to take my place if I become too sick to lead it."

He then smiles and then nods saying, "Alright my darling, just let me know whenever you need me to help you out. Goodnight Cady."

Cadance closes her eyes and says, "I will," adding a little bit of disdain saying, "Shiny."

Panoptos lies within the horseman's mind when a thought crosses his mind, causing him to grin with delight as his plan becomes more intricate. He then uses his connection to speak very lightly to the horseman saying, 'Oh horseman, I have just had an excellent idea.'

(Death) Seven rolls over on the extremely comfortable bed and groans grumpily, saying, "What do you want now, pestulant shadow. Can't you just let me slumber and tell me in the morning?"

The watcher taps his fingertips against each other and says, 'I could, but then I might forget what it was I came up with...'

He sighs and then uses the link to speak, saying, 'Fine then, out with it then.'

Panoptos giggles in his annoying, high pitched tone saying, 'Surely you remember the makers, don't you?'

(Death) Seven breathes deeply and releases an aggravated huff answering, 'I do, what of it?'

The watcher keeps smiling and steeples his fingers conspiratorially, saying, 'Well, I was considering having you go pay them a visit and inquire about their abilities to discover if they can craft special seals.'

Now curious, he then asks, 'Seals...you mean like the seven seals on Earth? Why?'

Panoptos nods and says, 'Yes...the very same. I have made additions to our long game, and need to get six seals crafted. Once finished, they will be broken by certain acts committed by the ponies. When the final seal is broken...you can use the seal to summon your three siblings to bring doom to the whole planet. With the exception of the spirit of course.'

(Death) Seven sighs once more and says, 'I will see to it in the morning, now let me sleep you miserable pissant!'

He then grins and says, 'Very good, horseman, very good. I hope you sleep like the dead.'

The horseman rolls his eyes and says, 'I could only hope to be so lucky with a watcher like you.'

The next day, outside the Crystal Empire

(Death) Seven flies up into the air in his pony form, intending to keep a low profile and maintain his secret identity when he releases an irritated sigh towards Panoptos saying through the link, 'I have told you already why I won't use my other form to leave the planet, I must keep anypony not under a contract from finding out who I really am. So until we are in the clear, I will be in this form.'

A couple hours later, the horseman floats outside the planet's atmosphere holding a breathe. Using that breathe to say, "Alteya" He feels the change wash over his body as it returns to his regular form then summons his horse Despair. He looks at his steed and says, "Ready to race across the stars, old friend?"

Despair paws at the empty air and nickers eagerly, looking forward to some good exercise.

Hours later, in the Forge Lands

Alya is helping her brother around the forge when she hears distant thunder, causing her to stop what she's doing to wander to the edge of the structure. Raising a hand to her forehead, she looks up into the sky to see the clouds grow dark. Moments later, she sees a black, shadowy trail shoot out from the bottom of the clouds and race towards the ground. As she watches the shadow turn into a two legged being that calls forth a horse, she gasps and says, "Maker's beard, a horseman appears!"

Death races towards Tri Stone, already feeling a few eyes on him when he spots the distant maker Alya watching him. When he arrives, he leaps from his steed's back and dismisses him. Landing back on the ground easily, he says nothing as he walks up towards the female maker watching him intently.

The female maker places one hand on her hip and watches the horseman stop in front of her, saying, "Grim tidings to ya, Death. Have you come to claim our souls?"

The horseman chuckles and shakes his head saying, "Not at all, I am here for a different reason entirely. Tell me, do you know how to forge seals?"

Alya cocks her head curiously and says, "Nay, I do not. My brother Valus, however, does. They are not to be created lightly, what do you need with them?"

Death looks at her and says, "It is a safeguard I am putting into place to guard a planet from corruption."

She narrows her eyes at him and crosses her arms in front of her chest saying, "Tell the truth Death, you cannot lie to me, I can smell it."

He lets out an annoyed huff and then says, "Fine, bring your head closer so that none can hear it."

Alya's curiosity gets the better of her as she hesitantly gets down on one knee and then leans forward saying, "Alright, what is going on, horseman?"

Death gets close to her ear and then softly says, "I intend to destroy the Charred Council and have my siblings take their place to maintain the balance. In order to make that happen, I will need a little extra help. There is a young world that has eluded their notice, and I am working with another who also despises being under their control. Due to the others' scheming, corruption has been brought to it. So I will be needing a few seals that will allow my siblings and I to come purify it, and I will make it so that the world starts over again in order to gain their assistance. Will you assist us by making these seals?"

Startled by hearing the wild plan, she gasps and abruptly stands up before backing away saying, "Maker's above! You intend to..." then takes a moment to think it over saying, "You must be touched in the head for thinking of such things!"

Valus sets his hammer down after hearing every word and says in a low voice, "How many?"

Alya spins around with wide eyes, gazing upon her brother in complete and utter shock saying, "Y-You spoke! You never say a word!"

Surprised as well, the horseman raises an eyebrow and asks Panoptos, 'How many seals need to be made?'

Panoptos thinks it over for a moment before saying through the link, 'We will be needing six of them.'

Death then answers, "Six seals need to be made."

She looks at her brother and frowns asking, "You can't seriously consider assisting him with this endeavor!?"

The maker looks at his sister and grumbles saying, "We're makers, we assist the balance. They're weakening, and we owe Death for saving our realm." adding a tone of finality, saying, "WE HELP." then turns to the horseman and says, "Muria's assistance will be needed, bring her here."

With a nod of his head, he says, "If I must..."

Muria walks up the steps towards Valus, then heads inside saying, "There is no need to summon me, I am already here to assist."

The horseman spins around and says, "That was quick, how did you know to come here?"

The old seer smiles mysteriously and says, "My powers work in mysterious ways that you would not understand, let us begin forging them."

Muria turns to the horseman, saying, "These seals have power within them, but their purpose must be assigned by another with great power. Use them wisely and handle them with great care."

Death waits for the seals to be finished and nods to her saying, "I will, thank you, old one."

As Valus finishes the last seal, he sets it on a tray and carries it over towards the horseman. He watches the old seer pick up the seals and carefully offers them to Death, offering him a grunt and a half-hearted wave as he returns to his forge.

The horseman places them in his storage carefully, then makes his way back down the stairs to make his way back to Equus. After transforming into his reaper form, he takes off into the sky to continue his task. However, once Death leaves the atmosphere, he finds himself in front of the Charred Council.

First looks at the horseman before them and bellows, "YOU DARE TO BETRAY US BY CREATING SEALS, I'LL REDUCE YOU TO ASH!!"

Third grumbles and says, "SILENCE FIRST! Let us hear what the situation is on the planet before making any rash decisions."

Second then looks at the horseman and says, "Explain the situation on the planet, horseman."

Death kneels before them, silently seething at being enslaved to them and says, "I have been wandering the planet and have searched for signs of corruption, and have found it to be present there. I was acting in your best interests in creating the seals. If the planet falls to corruption, it might cause the Charred Council to appear weak to others."

First then huffs and says, "You tell us nothing but lies, let us destroy the planet and be done with it!"

Second then considers it and says, "No, the horseman is telling the truth. We should hear him out."

Third then says, "Very well, continue on horseman."

The horseman takes a moment, then continues saying, "I was creating the seals as a precautionary measure to warn the Charred Council and my siblings of the developing situation. When a seal is broken, it will help us track the corruptions presence and allow me to fight it secretly. Would you allow me to continue with my plan?"

Second then says, "Panoptos, come out and tell us. Does the horseman speak the truth?"

Panoptos emerges from Death's shadow and then bows before the Council and says, "He does indeed, masters. The corruption on the planet is proving to be challenging to root out, so using the seals would be beneficial in successfully rooting it out. If by chance the corruption takes too great a hold and the seals are broken, you would still win because the four will be summoned to work together to annihilate it and purify the planet of its influence. Yes, the inhabitants will die...but we can speak to the guardian of the Well of Souls and have them send the souls back to the same planet after being cleansed so it can begin anew. That, in turn, will leave the planet grateful for your efforts...either way...you gain power."

The council members talk amongst themselves for a few moments before First focuses on Death, saying, "Very well, continue with your plan. Remember that we have our eyes on you, horseman..."

Once Death takes his leave of the council, he races through the emptiness of space and says through the link, 'Was it necessary to tell them that much of the plan?'

The watcher scoffs and answers, 'Do you want to remain in their servitude forever?'

He then grumbles as he hears the watcher say through the link, 'I thought so...now don't complain and get back to Equus already so we can meet up with the spirit.'

After racing through the empty expanse between planets, Death finally enters the outer atmosphere and dismisses Despair before switching to his Reaper form to go closer to the surface. Noticing it is just past sundown in Equestria, Death doesn't worry about others spotting him in the sky.

As Death falls, he gets closer toward the surface with each passing second. Once almost a couple of minutes have gone bye, he mutters, "Alteya." and feels his body's form change, reflexively taking a deep breath of air as he then uses his wings to bring him closer towards the surface.

Finally reaching the ground outside of the Crystal Empire, he then calls out quietly, "Spirit of the planet, we need to talk."

Equis hears him call to her and uses a little of her power to speak to his mind, saying, 'Yes horseman, what do you need to talk about?'

(Death) Seven feels her power and then says, 'There is something that I wish to speak with you about, without that annoying Discord finding out. Is there some place we can talk without him intruding?'

She thinks for a moment before answering, 'There is. You know where the Tree of Harmony is that you visited with Twilight Sparkle and her friends?'

The horseman thinks for a second before saying, 'I do, what of it?'

Equis then says, 'Make your way there tomorrow so you are well rested, then I will guide you toward my private dimension once you arrive.'

(Death) Seven grumbles and then starts heading back toward the Crystal Empire to get some sleep saying, 'So be it, spirit.'

An hour later, in the Crystal Empire

Cadance lies awake in bed, unable to sleep due to the discomfort she is suffering by laying next to her husband. Her husband's tossing and turning isn't making it any easier, letting out an aggravated huff, she tosses the covers off of her and gets out of bed to head for the door.

Shining Armor wakes with a start as he then notices his wife is gone and looks around for where she went, spotting her by the door a few seconds later and asks worriedly, "What's wrong honey, are you having a hard time sleeping again?"

She sighs and turns around to look at him, putting on a small, fake smile saying, "I am dear, I am just too hot due to this fever. I'm gonna go find a colder room, perhaps when I feel better, I can make it up to you by doing something special I know you like." while fighting the urge to throw up from looking at her husband.

He smiles back at her, happy about hearing that and says, "I am sorry that you still aren't feeling any better dear, I hope that you get over it soon. I love you Cady, goodnight." then blows her a kiss.

Cadance gives him a fake smile back with a kiss, forcing herself to say, "I love you too, Shiny, goodnight." before turning back to the door and opening it, then closes it behind her as she leaves the room. When she is a little distance from the door, she lets out an audible sigh, softly saying, "Ugh, I can't believe I caught him outside Flurry's bathroom again. If I had to deal with that traitor's lovey dovey attitude another moment, I might have considered pushing him out of bed. If I find that bastard perving on our daughter one more time, I will drag him out by the ear with my teeth and sleep somewhere else!"

As she searches for a new place to sleep, she passes by the room where Seven slept a couple days ago. Wondering where he has been yesterday, she knocks and then opens the door with her magic to peek inside. Seeing the bed empty, she takes a breathe and lets out a disappointed sigh. She is about to pull her head out of the room when she catches a whiff of a fading, stale, earthy scent in the room. Curious at where the strangely hypnotic scent is coming from, she uses her nose to follow it into the room and closes the door behind her. Following the scent around the room, it leads her to the bed. Finding out the source of the scent, she buries her nose into the sheets and takes a deep whiff of Seven's scent. A smile crosses her face as she throws the covers back and crawls into the empty bed, deciding to sleep here for the night due to finding the scent comforting to her.

A couple of hours later, (Death) Seven enters the castle after being questioned by the guards briefly, letting out a tired sigh and looking forward to getting some rest. Making his way to his room, he smells a tart, citrus scent coming from inside. Preparing himself for an attack, he quietly opens the door to peek inside when he spots someone sleeping in his bed.

Curious, Panoptos slips out of Death's body and investigates the room saying through the link, 'Awe, how precious...the love princess is missing you. The room is clear, come in already and keep her company.'

The horseman enters the room and narrows his glowing orangish-red eyes at the watcher, responding through the link, 'You expect me to sleep next to the princess of love and coddle her? I would rather sleep on a pile of corpses...'

The watcher giggles softly in his high-pitched tone and rubs his hands together saying through the link, 'Unfortunately, there are no piles of corpses around here. So you are just going to have to suck it up, because this will help our plan progress even further.'

(Death) Seven grumbles at the watcher, saying nothing while he makes his way towards the bed and softly closing the door behind him, using the link to say, 'Make yourself useful and go play some more in the Shadow Realm.'

Panoptos softly chuckles again, floating backwards towards the window saying, 'Very well, horseman, but it is called the Dream Realm.'

The horseman huffs in annoyance at the watcher as he slips out through the window, making his way to the other side of the bed to get behind Cadance and climbs up onto the mattress. Moving the covers back with the nose of his mask, he lays down with his belly towards the princesses back and pulls them back over him.

Sensing a chill and a weight behind her, she subconsciously scoots towards it for comfort. Cadance wakes from her sound sleep when she feels someone behind her, cuddling with her. Thinking it is her husband, she scoots away and turns her head while bending her neck around to glare at him. She is shocked to see that it is not her husband cuddling with her, but Seven, and a smile slowly crosses her face when she takes a whiff of his scent that comforts her. She then moves her head towards his, saying, "Welcome back, I missed you yesterday. Did you find what you were looking for?"

(Death) Seven opens his eyes, knowing that she is moving in for a kiss, saying, "Unfortunately, no. I did find something else that I needed to acquire, however. Although there is one thing still missing..."

Cadance cocks her head curiously and asks, "And what might that be?"

The horseman uses a wing to lift his mask just over his mouth and closes the space between them saying, "This." and slips his tongue into her mouth to give her an intimate kiss.

This section contains UNSAFE elements not recommended for work, and should be read at a safer time!

She melts into the kiss as a hunger awakens inside her, eliciting small moans of delight as she begins rubbing her back up against his belly. As she rubs against him, she feels something start to brush against her rear, causing her to get wet.

(Death) Seven feels himself emerge from his sheath and slide between her firm cheeks, then rub against her breasts as his member stiffens. He breaks the kiss to look her in the eyes and says, "If you want this, you have to take charge and slip it in yourself, princess."

Cadance's mind battles with her wounded heart and her lust, but is a losing battle as she bites her lower lip and slides her body further ahead. Feeling his stiff, thick member slide between her cheeks, she starts to slide back down. Her back goes rigid as every muscle in her body tenses when she feels him press against her ponut, stopping her in her place with eyes wide as saucers. She slides forward a little, using her magic to adjust his angle just a little, then continues sliding backward to feel his member start to push her entrance open.

With her choice made, the horseman pushes himself further into her while continuing their heated intimate kiss. Eventually meeting resistance, he drives himself onward in an attempt to get through the far barrier.

Her walls clench down on him in reflex at him reaching the entrance to her womb, thinking, 'My husband can't even reach that far! Oh I hope that this stallion can push past it and give me greater pleasure...'

(Death) slowly crawls on top of her body while she shifts onto her stomach, thrusting into her as hard as he can when he finally pushes past the barrier. The moment he penetrates her womb, her whole body convulses as her head and neck shoot upwards to rest against his neck while she gasps and stifles a scream, nearly sending him over the edge.

Cadance's wings shoot out as an intense orgasm wracks her body, fighting herself into keeping quiet. Managing to keep herself from screaming, she can't help but let out brief words, saying, "Ah...ah...ah..." Her body finally comes down from the orgasm, leaving her to collapse onto the bed with her wings lying spread out on the bed, mumbling, "Ah...mazing." while panting heavily. Noticing that she doesn't feel anything filling her womb, she struggles to lift her head to look back at her lover, whose member is still buried inside her to the base, and asks, "Aren't you going to finish inside me?"

The horseman smirks as he remembers how she reacted to his member touching her rear and then leans forward, rocking back and forth in short motions to keep himself hard and whispers into her ear, "If you cast a privacy shield around us, I will show you a new pleasure you have never known before." then gives her a brief kiss on the lips as an incentive.

Wanting to know a new pleasure, she smiles and nods, then puts up a privacy barrier around the two of them saying, "There you go, now what is this new pleasure you want to show me?"

He begins to slowly pull himself out of her saying, "You will find out very soon." and begins to kiss her deeply with his tongue.

Cadance feels him slowly pull out, not paying attention to his member once it leaves when she gets lost in the deep, hungry kiss. She suddenly feels him drive himself forward into her back door, making her break the kiss and curl her hooves screaming, "AHHH, HOLY BUCKING CELESTIA!!! THAT IS MY ASS YOU JUST DROVE INTO!"

(Death) Seven grins as he pushes halfway into her and stops, nuzzling his head against her neck saying, "Shhh...just relax and let yourself adjust for a bit, I promise you will enjoy this quite a bit."

She whimpers in pain and bites the pillow cases, tearing holes in them from the intense agony of having her asshole penetrated by his member. However, as minutes pass by, the pain begins to lessen and she starts to feel pleasure from it and says, "Huh, my worthless husband hadn't even attempted that before, so you are the first one to take my anal virginity."

The horseman looks into her eyes with a grin and drives all the way into her saying, "Then let's enjoy this experience to the fullest, shall we?"

Cadance nods and initiates a hungry kiss as she feels him start to pull out and thrust back in her with more strength, drawing moans from her as she begins to enjoy herself when she starts to climb towards another orgasm.

(Death) Seven eventually uses all of his strength to thrust into her, filling the barrier with the slapping of skin on skin as he begins to head for his peak, whispering into her ear, "Are you ready for the big finish?"

Her eyes roll back in her head as she nears the peak and moans out, half exclaiming, "Yess! Give it to me, fill me up!"

He bites down on her ear gently and pulls her head back as he buries himself in her to his balls, releasing his orgasm inside of her bowels.

Cadance flies over the peak as she feels him unleash his seed deep inside her, causing her to scream out in delight when her own orgasm crashes over her. A funny sensation crawls over her body as she starts to feel her belly swell up, a tingling sensation works its way up through her body as she starts to act like she is going to puke. Her throat opens up as her stomach muscles begin to contract, forcing the contents up through her esophagus and spewing out of her mouth.

(Death) Seven watches as her swollen stomach contracts, making his shadow shoot out of her mouth like a fountain and striking the wall. The shadow then floats down the wall and onto the bed, slowly drifting over it and falling off the sides.

She doesn't know how long she throws up as her eyes stay rolled back, keeping her from seeing the mess she is making all over the bed. When her stomach finally slows down its convulsions, her eyes return to normal and allow her to survey the mess. Only noticing that there is no mess, confusing her as she asks, "I-I don't understand, I know I threw up, but how come there is no mess on the wall or the bed?"

Not wanting her to know about becoming a shadow-cum fountain, he chuckles and nuzzles against her neck saying, "That explains the unusual contractions you were going through... Well, I was holding you by your ear, and saw that nothing actually came out of your mouth. I would guess that because I am so large and filled you with so much your stomach swelled up, it wanted to expel the contents but your body kept it inside." to distract her, he pulls her in for a kiss while shadow comes out with each exhale.

END OF SCENE, PLEASE ENJOY THE REST OF THE STORY!

Cadance feels her swollen stomach and grins, letting out a light chuckle after parting from the tender kiss and says, "I am glad there is no mess to clean up, as I'm too tired to even use my magic to clean it up." then dismisses the barrier around them and kisses him deeply one more time saying, "Please cuddle with me, my dear."

(Death) Seven smiles and nods at her saying, "Very well, sweet cheeks. I will return to tracking down my query tomorrow, if I can't find it by sunset, I will give it a break and come back a different day for it." He then rests on top of her and pulls both of them onto their left side while nuzzling into her neck.

She lays her head down with a smile on her face as exhaustion slowly begins to take her, snuggling up against him while his member is still inside her tight confines thinking, 'Oh I am going to sleep very well tonight.' saying, "Sweet dreams, Seven." and slowly closes her eyes, feeling a blissful sleep slide over her to guide her into the land of dreams.

The horseman feels one of her back legs slip between his and responds, "Goodnight to you, love princess." and lets himself slip into the land of dreams.

When Cadence wakes the next morning, she feels a sudden urge to race to the bathroom and throws the covers back. Practically jumping off the bed, she gallops to the open bathroom door and sticks her face over the toilet bowl with her eyes closed when her stomach begins to convulse. As she hears splashing in the water, her stomach continues to convulse and empty itself. Feeling her stomach start to return to normal, the convulsions stop as she hastily flushes the contents down to prevent making herself sick. She then turns around and parks her rear over the bowl after putting the seat down to relieve herself, hearing several small splashes as her bowel empties itself into the toilet. After flushing it down, she heads to the mirror to look at her appearance before she exits the room to see that she has really bad bedhead. Spending a few moments straightening her mane and tail, she notices her crown is missing and looks around for it. Walking back into the room, she sees it lying on the nightstand beside the bed when her wedding ring lying on the floor in the corner catches her eye. Ignoring her discarded ring, not really knowing how it wound up over there and not really caring, she heads towards her crown and puts it on first. Throwing a hateful look towards her wedding ring that reminds her of her disgusting husband, she groans in defeat at having to put on an act for the kingdom and her husband, then heads over to pick it up and puts it on. She then looks over at her sleeping lover, dissappointed at having to leave so soon, and makes her way to the bed. Leaning over the bed to give him a kiss goodbye, she says, "I hope you have a good day, sweetie. I look forward to doing this again someday..." After lifting his mask just enough to kiss his lips, she slips him a little tongue before lowering his mask and heads for the door.

(Death) Seven hears her walking away and opens his eyes with a burning hatred in them saying through the link, 'These lovey-dovey ponies and their affections are going to be the death of me...'

Panoptos giggles inside the horseman's mind and says, 'Don't be so dramatic, horseman. Just put up with it for a few more years. After that, you and your siblings will be called forth to kill them all...'

The horseman smiles behind his mask and says through the link, 'I look forward to that day...in fact, I might even sing or do a little dance when that opportunity finally arrives.'

Chapter XI: A spirit's will bends (Edited 11/22/2023)

(Death) Seven slumbers away when he finds himself in his true form, standing on a blood-soaked battlefield filled with the corpses of his fellow Nephilim, and says to the watcher through their link, 'Panoptos, Luna is the only one with the ability to interact with dreams, right?'

The watcher is in Canterlot working on a task for the plan and responds, 'She is, horseman, why do you ask?'

He walks across the field of his slaughtered kin, looking left and then right to see bodies as far as the eye can see, and responds to the watcher's question, 'I'm on the world where I slaughtered my fellows with my brothers and sister, I need you to alter what Luna sees before she gets here.'

Panoptos sighs in annoyance and replies through the link, 'How about you give controlling your own dream a chance? I am a little occupied at the moment and I know there are several ponies who control every aspect of their dream.'

(Death) Seven continues walking among the corpses as an unknown fear rises within him and then says, 'Dreams can be controlled? Tell me how.'

The watcher rolls his eyes and continues on trying to get Prince Blueblood to cheat on his marefriend and for his marefriend to eventually catch him in the act, saying, 'Dreams are a part of your own subconscious mind horseman, you figure it out. This Stallion is proving to be a bit stubborn...'

The horseman then closes his eyes and makes a few attempts to will the scene around him to clear, taking him a few moments to start getting the hang of it. When he manages to recall the scene around him, he imagines the Nephilim around him appearing as ponies when he senses a presence near a door to his subconscious and then dismisses the scene around him, choosing to make himself appear as his pony self while making the battlefield around him appear as an empty space. Hearing a door open, he turns his head towards the sound's source and watches Princess Luna enter his mind saying, "I see that you have found my dream, Princess Luna. How has your night been, so far?"

Princess Luna smiles and looks around the empty space, knowing she felt fear coming from his door a few moments ago and says, "It goes well, though the night is still relatively young being only eleven at night." She then asks, "Is everything alright with you? I could have sworn that I could feel fear coming from your door only a few moments ago, but it is gone now."

The horseman looks at her and lets out a sigh saying, "Everything is fine, I was just recalling the battle from my past and found myself on the battlefield once more. No need to worry about little old me."

She makes her way towards him and nuzzles against him affectionately saying, "Oh but I do worry because you are my friend. Would you please tell me what troubles you?"

Not yet ready to say just yet, (Death) Seven then pulls his head away from her nuzzling and raises his mask above his mouth, then places his lips onto hers, giving her a gentle kiss lasting a few seconds.

Kissed by the pony she fancies, Luna parts her lips of her own accord and slips her tongue into his mouth to deepen it while closing her eyes, thinking, 'I really do want to help him get over his fears, but I don't want to miss out on a chance to be alone with him for a while.'

As the horseman lets the kiss continue, he hears her let out soft moans as her wings lift up from her sides and wrap around the back of his head. Using his wings in the same way, he places them behind her head and intensifies the kiss.

Luna's tail shifts to the side as she hungrily kisses Seven, she grinds her thighs together in arousal and pulls away while biting her lower lip. Thinking something over in her head for several moments, she then looks up at him and says, "I know it is a bit sudden, but would you please make love to me?"

This section contains UNSAFE elements not recommended for work, and should be read at a safer time!

(Death) Seven nods and says, "Before we get started, perhaps you should return to your body and ensure that no one can hear the passionate sounds coming from your lips?"

Luna giggles at hearing that and pulls away saying, "I will be right back, that is a very good idea as I have heard a few guards talking about my sister making some noises in her sleep. Did you hear about that too?"

The horseman chuckles and nods saying, "Unfortunately, I happened to be walking by when I heard her moaning and thought she was in trouble. So I sadly got a lovely view of her pleasuring herself, though I still find you much more attractive than her as I find dark colors more to my liking with my personality."

She then briefly gasps in shock, but giggles at her sister's expense and says, "Oh I will enjoy tormenting my sister about being caught." and then kisses his cheek saying, "I'll return shortly, don't get too lonely without me."

(Death) Seven then grins and says, "Then you better be quick with that barrier..."

Luna feels absolutely giddy at finding a coltfriend in Seven and prances happily in her thoughts saying, 'Oh he is so sweet and romantic, my sister is going to be green with envy when she learns of this!' and then returns to her body, opening her eyes to see herself in the throne room and looks at the two guards saying, "I wish to remain undisturbed during my patrol tonight, so wait outside and admit no visitors until further orders."

The guards nod and salute her saying, "Yes, Your Majesty." and exit the throne room to stand guard outside.

Smiling at finally having some alone time with her coltfriend, she smiles and casts a privacy shield to keep all sounds she makes inside and then returns to the dream realm for a special night. Making her way back to where she knows Seven's door is, she re-enters it and hurries back into his hooves and waiting wings saying in a husky voice, "I'm back, and I'm looking forward to our night together, my dear." and moves towards his mouth, using her nose to lift his mask out of the way to lock lips with him.

The horseman slips his tongue into her mouth as he slowly pulls Luna into a hug, laying them both onto their sides gently. Rolling the princess onto her back, he feels himself slip out of his sheath and rub against her nethers.

Lost in the heat and passion of the kiss, Luna wraps her wings around her lover as she feels his member stiffen and pop up onto her stomach in between her teats. Wrapping her forelegs around his neck, she feels him thrust his thighs up against hers, grinding his member against her small, soft mounds and moans a little louder pleading, "Make yourself harder, please, and make love to me like you wish to breed me."

Knowing this isn't their actual bodies, (Death) Seven nods and says, "As you wish, my dear." then pulls back and tries to push his semi-hard member into her.

Luna cries out in pleasure as his continued attempts to enter her draw the nub of her clitoris out and brushes against it with a thrust, causing her to orgasm and squirt all over his thighs. Moments later, she pants and looks at him with foggy eyes saying, "I-I'm sorry for doing that, you are the first stallion to have ever gotten this far with me."

The horseman smiles at hearing that, giving a little boost to his pride as he looks into her eyes and says, "It does not bother me in the slightest, dear." then pulls back and repositions himself and changes his angle slightly before pressing his hips towards hers slowly, saying, "Now let's continue on with this fleeting moment while the dream is still upon us and forget our loneliness for awhile..." as her entrance begins to part.

Feeling him slide further into her and ripping her hymen as he pushes into her depths, she smiles and bites her lip through the pain as her eyes close and locks her legs around his saying, "Show me you know how to please your mare, dear." and surrenders a little more to her passion and desire.

Burying himself in her to the hilt and hitting her back wall, (Death) Seven puts a hoof into her flowing mane and wraps part of it around his left hoof and tugs on it lightly. He then bites her neck hard enough to leave a slight mark and then says in a deep tone, "As you wish, my little princess." and then pulls back and drives himself into her a bit harder while caressing her neck and shoulder tenderly.

Luna moans out in pleasure as she starts to climb the peak once more, making herself grip his thrusting member tighter as she bites his neck back. Wanting to make him hers and hers alone, she adds a little more strength to her bite to leave a mark. Pulling away to check it, she sees a small ring of teeth indentations at the base of his neck saying in a heated, love filled tone, "Please make me yours tonight."

Feeling himself climbing his own peak, he then thrusts into her depths harder a few more times and then holds himself against her saying, "Now, you are mine and will never know another, keeping my secrets to yourself and shall love one another unconditionally."

Happy at feeling a hot warmth filling her womb, Luna cries out as she squirts all over his thighs. After a moment, she collapses breathlessly onto the empty floor of Seven's dream space and pants saying with an unfocused gaze into his glowing eyes, "Yes. I am now your princess, I will listen to whatever you tell me and give you all of my love. I hope we can do this again when you come back to Canterlot for a visit, I hope that we can try for a family soon."

(Death) Seven looks at her with a brief curiosity and then says, "Why would you want a child with me? I am an unrivaled being of great and terrible power, and our child in turn would be feared just like me. So I think not."

Not surprised at hearing her love say no to having a child, she then takes control of his dream space and says, "I don't share the same opinion dear..." and adds, not wanting to give up. "but why don't we discuss it some other day okay?"

The horseman rolls his eyes and lays beside her saying, "Sure we can. When the time is right, it will happen."

Luna smiles at getting a small win at having the discussion at a later date and enjoys the rest of the moment with her love by holding him close and locking her lips against his, looking forward to feeling this same warmth of his seed inside her as long as she can. Wanting to keep him inside her a little longer, she locks her legs around his back and legs while squeezing down on his member in an attempt to return life to it.

(Death) Seven feels his member stiffen up at her actions and chuckles saying, "Worry not, my little princess, for we have all night to make love."

Knowing that isn't true, the princess giggles and looks forward to going again saying, "Well, let's make the most of our second round before I have to finish up my patrol of the dream realm."

END OF SCENE, PLEASE ENJOY THE REST OF THE STORY!

The next morning...at Canterlot Castle

Luna smiles blissfully after cleaning up the mess left behind on the floor when she spent some time with Seven in the dream realm, looking up with a glow about her as she sees her sister walk towards her saying with a happy sigh, "Hello sister, isn't it a beautiful start to a lovely morning?"

Celestia cocks her head curiously at her sister's attitude and sees a glow about her sister's behavior and then catches a certain hint of satisfaction on her body and figures out why she is so happy and says, "Oh sister, certainly you didn't have intercourse with a pony in the throne room?"

She giggles girlishly and shakes her head saying, "Of course not, sister. I made love to Seven, my new coltfriend in his dreamspace while on my patrol." and seizes the moment to make her squirm a little saying, "Oh I happened to hear a rumor floating about that some guards heard you moan rather loudly one certain night, and my coltfriend happened to have been walking by. When he heard you moan and thought you were in danger, he barged into the room and got a great view of you finishing."

Feeling scandalized, the older sister blushes furiously and covers her face with her hooves and wings saying, "OH HOW HUMILIATING!"

Luna watches her sister squirm even more than before, she adds a small jibe in, saying, "Oh fret not, he won't be barging into your room and begging to have his way with you...because he finds me more attractive with my dark coloration."

Jerked from her embarrassment, she then feels a little jealous and huffs saying, "Lucky virgin."

Shocked at hearing her sister say that, she then smiles and huffs back saying, "Prude."

Not wanting to continue the conversation anymore, Celestia then says with a smile, "Shall we change the cycle and enjoy breakfast together?"

Luna nods her head and smiles saying, "We shall, sister. Let us begin...oh prudish one."

She turns her nose up into the air with a scoff and says, "I'm not a prude." and begins raising the sun while her sister lowers the moon.

As she lowers the moon, she grins and says, "Well, you're certainly not a virgin, that's for sure."

Quickly jerking the sun just above the horizon for a moment, Celestia looks at her sister in amazement to see a grin on her face and realizes she is just ribbing her and giggles saying, "No...that's still you, I'm afraid."

Luna laughs a bit at that as the sun rises over the horizon slowly as it should and says, "Not for much longer..." when the sun and moon are in place and starts to walk towards the throne room doors to get breakfast in their kitchen.

Her eyes go wide at hearing that and trots after her to catch up and hastily asks, "Sister, just how serious are things between you and Seven?"

She looks over her shoulder with a sultry look and leans her head back into the room, whispering just loud enough for her sister to hear, "Serious enough to have brought up discussing foals."

Celestia panics slightly and hurries after her sister hissing loudly, "Don't you dare get married before me, Discord would laugh himself to pieces over it."

Luna raises an eyebrow and teases her sister saying, "How do you know he isn't already?"

Later that morning in the Frozen North

As Death races after the fleeing shadow known as Sombra underneath the ice in reaper form, he shouts after his target, "Give up fleeing, coward and face the one, true, fact..." and bellows, "NOTHING ESCAPES DEATH IN THE END!" getting close enough as to almost grab the tail end of his shadow, he reaches out his skeletal hand...

Darting through narrow crevices, Sombra is glad he doesn't have a physical body anymore or he would have most certainly been slain by this monster. Looking behind him to see Death itself coming for him, he sees a skeletal hand preparing to snatch his shadow's tail and howls in terror. Making a last-ditch effort to escape Death, he splits his soul into four pieces and shoots out in four different directions until the Reaper leaves Equestria.

Seeing the soul split and race off in four separate directions angers Death enough to make him crave to battle something strong and rip it to pieces in the most painful way possible. As a response to that anger, he shoots up through the ice saying, "Alteya..." and then falls towards the thick ice aiming his anger at the surface. With a flap of his wings, he aims his back hooves at the ice below and slams into it, creating a massive cloud of snow and ice crystals to blast out.

As a cloud of snow and ice particles float in the air around him, (Death) Seven huffs with irritation at his query making a fool of him once again. He looks around him to see that he lashed out with enough force to create a crater big enough to bury the Castle of Canterlot inside it, pleased at knowing he still has enough power to kick some serious ass.

Panoptos emerges from his shadow and giggles in his annoying, high-pitched voice saying, "Awee, did your prey pull the wool over your eyes again? Are you now finished with your little tantrum? If so...can we get back to the plan at hand and pay a visit to that cave?"

(Death) Seven growls in annoyance at the watcher's remarks and takes off into the sky towards the cave in the Everfree Forest without saying a single word.

Equis waits at the cave in her dimension for a few hours until she finally hears a set of hooves make their way towards her, and sees the horseman trot into the cavern disguised as a pony. Emerging from her dimension, she then looks at him with a raised eyebrow saying, "Interesting choice at choosing the name Seven Selbs, but let us get to the matter at hand, shall we? Follow me into my dimension so we can speak."

The horseman follows her through a shimmering portal seemingly made of mist, turning around to look at it to see it already gone then looks around at her dimension, filled with many moving images focused around different ponies. With a chuckle he spots one focused on Luna, her sister, and then Cadence saying, "So you like to watch every moment of everyone's lives in your world," adding in a sarcastic tone, "Did you enjoy seeing what you saw so far?"

The spirit smirks and then says, "I don't watch every moment, but I can sense when something isn't right. Would you care to explain to me what you have been doing to a few of the subjects of this world?"

Preparing to have to fight the spirit, he shifts back into his normal form saying, "Alteya." and then says, "If I did tell you, what power do you have over me?"

Narrowing her eyes at him, she smirks and says in a sure tone, "Over you? Why none at all of course, but I can be quite a nuisance in any plan you may concoct that affects the lives of my inhabitants. Why don't you work with me a little bit and tell me what you have planned for this world...Death."

Not wanting to have their plans interfered with constantly, Death then sighs in annoyance and says, "In short, setting the stage for a possible apocalypse if things go according to plan while ensuring the souls of this planet are cycled back to it once it returns to how it used to be before conscious thought came to the species inhabiting it. Once it reaches the earliest possible point, my brothers and I will watch over the planet and ensure that nothing extremely dangerous interferes with the progress in their second chance. If things continue going smoothly with the history of the civilizations being the same, more or less, then I intend to ask them for aid in fighting against The Charred Council and taking their place."

Equis stumbles backward with tears in her eyes and falls onto her rump, causing them to fall down her cheeks as her chest feels tight. Half sobbing at what she just heard, she then says in desperation, "Why must there be an apocalypse!? Why can't you just ask them for aid right now and return the ponies to how they should be?!?"

Death walks towards her and kneels down in front of her saying, "That can't be because Panoptos, my watcher, has been here for a very long time since the ponies evolved into sentient beings and he meddled a bit in their post-evolution before I even came here and affected a few things because he was a bit bored."

She blinks in disbelief and falls to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably saying, "All my hard work to bring life to my world...has been for nothing."

He reaches for her chin and places his forefinger under it and lifts her head up to meet his and says in a soft tone, "No...not for nothing. We horsemen, Panoptos, and his brethren are all more-or-less slaves to the Charred Council. Your work here has made it possible for us all to get a chance to be free from them once and for all. The only thing we have to do to set things right is destroy your corrupted work up to now so you can start over with a clean slate free of corruption from Panoptos or his brethren's meddling."

Equis sighs and looks at the bigger picture he is painting for her and sighs, realizing that he is correct and then groans in displeasure at how much work she is going to have to do just to start over again, asking in defeat, "What must I do with the seals Death?"

Death reaches into the satchel at his side and pulls out the six seals saying, "Each seal requires an unthinkable act and an equal punishment should that act be committed to be enchanted into it. Once these seals are enchanted, all but one will disappear. When when the acts enchanted into them are committed, the seals will break and trigger the punishment shortly after. Think back on all that you have observed from your world's inhabitants, and you should easily be able to find six that you believe none of them would do normally."

It takes Equis several minutes of thinking before she sighs, saying, "I have decided on what acts those six should be, give me the first seal."

The horseman hands her the first seal and watches as she takes it into her magic and concentrates on it for a fair while before it suddenly rises up and disappears with a pop. As he hands her the next one, it takes just as long for it to rise up on its own and vanish.

Going through the rest of the seals takes Equis four hours until she reaches for the final seal asking, "Let's get this over with, hand me the last one."

Death holds onto it for a moment saying, "The final seal will be different than the others as half of it will disappear once it is broken, and have two punishments instead of just one. The first punishment is that my two brothers and I will all be called to come here, and the last one will cause the moon to turn crimson and clouds to gather over the place where the last act was committed and begin raining blood instead of water."

Unamused by his words, she sighs and says, "A suitable spectacle for the end of all life..." and snatches it from him saying, "This will take much longer than the others have, so return to your business and I will return it to your saddlebag when I am done." and opens up a portal out of her dimension saying, "Be on your way, horseman. You will know when I am finished."

Chapter XII: Surprises aplenty

Death leaves her dimension saying, "Alteya" and returns to his four-legged pegasi form and takes to the air to return to the Crystal Empire for one more day, planning on returning to Ponyville to monitor the plan's progression.

The trip back is uneventful as Seven (Death) trots back into the Crystal Castle, feeling pleased with how things are going when he hears Princess Cadence holding court in the throne room and continues on his way to his room saying, "One day, you rulers will be relieved of not having subjects to rule over..."

Hours pass as evening finally comes when Cadence finishes eating her dinner with her daughter, and looks across the table at her, seeing that she has barely eaten anything, and asks, "You really should eat something sweetie, you won't grow up healthy if you don't eat."

Flurry Heart sighs and says, "I know mom, but I've been having stomach cramps lately, so I haven't had an appetite. I can't believe that I started menstruating this morning, this day couldn't have gotten any worse..."

Concerned for her daughter, she smiles lovingly at her then gets up from the table. Making her way around to where her daughter is sitting, she pulls her close in a tight hug saying, "I know dear, you startled me when you barged into my room thinking you were bleeding to death. Fear not though, for I know a treatment that will help you through it. It's called Moon Tea and it has another helpful effect as well..."

Flurry Heart then embraces her mother back with a smile saying, "Thank you, Mommy, it means so much to hear that you care." then asks, "What else does that Moon Tea do?"

After telling her daughter about Estrus Season the other effects of Moon Tea and showing her where it is in the castle as well as how to brew it, she heads to her room to see her husband on the bed, already asleep. Seeing him lying there gives her an idea, which brings a grin to her face as she wonders if Seven has returned yet from his expedition. Making her way to his room, she knocks on the door and hears him grant her entry, then opens the door and enters the room with her plan in mind.

Cadence looks at Seven with a happy sigh saying, "I'm glad you are back, how was your expedition?"

Seven (Death) looks at her from the bed and slips the covers aside for her, saying, "Disappointing...my prey scattered to the four winds so I have to find another way to acquire it. How was your day in court, did you deal with the petty whiners?"

She giggles at his question and says, "How unfortunate, I am sure you will figure something out. As for court, there were a few, but it was mostly about getting the new stadium finished and ready for the Equestria Games in a few weeks. Speaking of which, I would like you to attend, so I have reserved a special ticket for you to sit with us in our viewing box."

The horseman sighs and says, "I am not one normally invited to...cheerful events."

Cadence frowns a little and makes her way to the bed, then climbs onto it and rolls Seven onto his back, then climbs on top of him and asks him to reconsider, "Please give it a chance, would you dear?"

Seven (Death) senses that she has something else in mind and narrows his eyes saying, "I will consider it. What else is going through that head of yours?"

She uses her nose to nuzzle his neck and says, "Oh nothing much, really...just hoping that we could try to rejuvenate your love source a bit." then slides his mask up with the tip of her nose and kisses him affectionately.

This section contains UNSAFE elements not recommended for work, and should be read at a safer time!

Cadence slips off of Seven and into the empty space on his bed, using her magic to then lift the sheets over her. Slowly sliding her body back over him, she continues kissing him like a lover and rubs her body up against his. Remembering she still has her ring on, she flicks her head to the side, tossing her ring off her horn and hears it strike the wall with a ding followed by a couple more as it bounces along the ground. She looks over at her discarded ring with a smile saying, "Now for one other distraction..." then takes off her crown and hangs it on a hook beside the door. Looking back down to her lover with a smile, she feels him emerge from his sheath and bites her lower lip. Lowering her upper body back down onto his, she feels his member slide up between her teats and kisses him like she used to kiss her husband before their wedding day.

The horseman feels Panoptos slip away from him and wraps his wings around the cheating love princess's back as he continues to slip from his sheath, slowly working his tongue into Cadence's mouth when he hears her swallow their combined saliva.

As their bodies grind against each other, she slides forward when a stray thought passes through her mind, 'I wonder if I should try for a second foal...' making her eyes widen for a moment before she ignores it with a grin and uses her magic to angle his member to her labia thinking, 'Perhaps I will stop taking my tea after today...I'm never going to let my husband touch me after what he's done.' then pushes herself back to drive him into her waiting tunnel. She gasps as he enters her saying, "Fuck...your s-so b-big..." then lays back down on him, feeling him press against her deepest place saying, "I love you."

Seven (Death then begins thrusting and considers something, saying, "You should cast another barrier so the passing guards don't see or hear anything." then kisses her along the underside of her neck.

Cadence quickly casts a barrier around them as she pushes herself up onto her front hooves, then starts to try to drive him into her deepest place while a moan escapes her mouth, saying, "Hahh...yes."

With the barrier up, he makes his move and says, "Are you ready for another secret of mine, dear?"

Feeling his tip ram past her barrier causes her wings to shoot out as she orgasms, sending a torrent of juices gushing out of her and along his sheath, saying blissfully, "OH YES, I'M READY! GIVE IT TO ME, BABY!"

Seven (Death) then raises his hoof to her cheek and pulls her toward him, then whispers into her ear, "I'm even bigger in my original form, let me show you..." then mumbles, "Alteya."

Cadance says, "Wha..." just as she opens her eyes to look down at her lover when she feels his member grow even longer and thicker inside of her, causing her to orgasm again and gush all over him screaming, "OH CELESTIA YES!"

A guard passes through the hall when she hears a scream of passion come from one of the rooms nearby, and decides to investigate the disturbance. When she hears another howl, she stops beside the room where the guest Seven is staying and hears a rhythmic slapping coming from within. The grunts, breathless pants, and moans make her get wetter as her thighs start to rub together, making her bite her lower lip while wondering who the lucky mare inside is.

Seven (Death) watches her eyes roll back in her head for a few moments as he runs his hand behind her neck and grabs a fistful of her colorful mane, then lightly tugs on it.

The sudden pull on her mane causes her to shudder with bliss as she then groans happily, saying, "Yes...YES! Bury your member deep into my womb and fill me up!"

The guard outside the door finds herself unable to resist peeking into the room to see the lovemaking, silently turning the handle and cracking open the door just enough to see inside. What she sees inside shocks her to her very core, making her squirt all over the floor behind her as her eyes take in the view within. Watching as Princess Cadence sits atop of a bipedal creature wearing a mask with a large member buried deep into her ruler's abdomen, she sees him withdraw it briefly and then drive it back up into her depths.

Cadance's eyes roll back to the front as she looks down to see a different being altogether. Not really caring about it, she smiles and says, "So that's what you really look like...I always suspected that you weren't actually a pony."

Death (Seven) lifts his hips off the bed with a smirk on his face and says, "I'm surprised that you could tell I was disguising my appearance, now let me drive you over the edge and into La Petite Mort." then starts to thrust up into her wildly.

The guard closes the door behind her, panting heavily as desire takes over her body, making her walk towards the barrier and pass right through it. Without removing her armor, she climbs onto the end of the bed and nuzzles underneath her princess's tail. Using her tongue to lick along his thick member, she then sucks one of his balls into her mouth as her body goes into overdrive.

Unable to stop himself, he buries himself fully into the love princess's depths and unleashes a torrent of his shadow seed while feeling his ball throb inside the warm mouth.

The princess howls out as she orgasms intensely, feeling his seed gush inside of her in large amounts, slowly able to feel her abdomen swelling. Her eyes fall closed as she pulls her lower lip between her teeth, humming blissfully as she blacks out and falls to her right side, completely unaware of the unwanted visitor.

Tasting the princess's fluids sends her over the edge, causing her to squirt onto the floor. When the princess collapses onto her right side, breathing heavily, she sees a true monster right in front of her eyes that makes her drool. Her desires drive her on as she licks up the long, thick member that would threaten to dislocate her jaw, then slips her lips over the rounded tip and starts to pleasure the male.

THIS SECTION CONTAINS DANGEROUS KINKS, SO PLEASE SKIP THE BLACKED OUT PORTION IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SNUFF FETISH! (No ponies were harmed in the writing of this story.) Curiosity killed the cat...you were warned. P.S. DON'T TRY ANY OF THIS IN REALITY AS THIS IS JUST FICTION!!

Death (Seven) watches curiously as the female guard looks up at him longingly with lust driving her, looking back at her tail as it is off to the side. Moving his hands along her back to her rear, he slips two fingers into her and says, "Intruders need to be punished." then uses his other hand to grab the back of her head and forces his member all the way into her throat.

Her eyes roll back into her head as she is used, feeling herself get even wetter as she gags and chokes on his cock. Her eyes bug out of her head as she feels him start to thrust wildly, repeatedly pressing against her stomach's opening. Her vision slowly begins to darken as she struggles to breathe when she remembers the dark fantasy she had when she was much younger, wondering if her fantasy might happen tonight, and tries to mumble out a plea.

Cadence slowly comes to hearing choking and mumbling sounds, and looks around for the source. She spots the source instantly when she sees one of her royal guards being choked by Seven's large member with heavy-lidded eyes and hears her trying to mumble out something and clears her voice saying, "I believe that this guard is trying to say something, will you please let her speak?"

The horseman lifts her head up off his cock, seeing her slightly dazed expression and says, "Speak intruder, or be silenced forever."

The guard trembles with anticipation and pants madly while nodding saying, "That's what I want... Please choke me to death with your marvelous cock, then bring me back and then fuck me to death while choking me until my heart stops, then bring me back and do it all over again until you fill my corpse with your hot seed!" then slams her head back down to his base, pushing his tip through the entrance of her stomach and hollows out her cheeks to hold herself there.

The princess is completely floored by hearing one of her subjects wanting to die, not just once, but over and over again. Watching speechlessly as Seven returns to hammering her throat, she wonders if this crystal pony is insane or just has a strange fantasy like she does.

While she struggles for air blissfully, the guard eventually loses consciousness and then finds herself floating beside the bed. Finding this a new experience, she looks down to see that her back legs and tail have joined together in a light blue, ethereal shape. With a curious gaze, she looks back to herself on the bed being throat-fucked. Noticing that her eyes are open and relaxed, she watches the brightness fade from them as her body stops breathing. Realizing that her body has died, her ghostly form shudders violently as she sprays fluid all over the wall behind her while wailing out in pleasure.

Death (Seven) looks over at the guard's ghost to see it spraying ectoplasm all over the princess's discarded ring, causing him to chuckle as he continues to thrust away into the lifeless guard's throat, saying, "I think that you have a guard here with a bit of a snuff fetish..." then buries himself to the base of her throat and then reaches out for the orgasming ghost.

The guard feels him grasp her neck and thrust her back into her body, causing it to jerk and spasm wildly while spraying the floor with her juices. When her vision returns to her, she looks up at him with affection and gives him a brief nod. She then feels him bury her nose into his groin, cutting off any hope for air as she feels a hot warmth rushing through his member and filling her stomach.

Moments pass as the guard finds herself outside her body again, knowing that she died again causes her to spray the wall again with a ghostly wail of pleasure. When the orgasm passes, she looks back to her lifeless body to see her swollen stomach just before feeling herself get shoved right back into her body.

Cadence watches with astonishment at how wildly the guard's body spasms and asks, "How are you bringing her back to life? Is it normal for a body to spasm like that?"

The horseman looks at her, slowly pulling the weak mare off his cock so that she may breathe for a while, shaking his head with a chuckle saying, "It is just one of my special abilities with being who I am. To answer your other question, no it is not. She shudders like that because she has an unusual kink...or sexual desire, and being brought back to life causes her to orgasm." Noticing how she looks at the guard's unfocused, blissed-out gaze, he asks, "Are you curious to what it feels like?"

Opening her mouth to say no, she finds herself hesitant to actually say it as some part of her deep down is curious about the feeling and finds herself saying, "Uhm.........sort of." then blushes fiercely at how her body voiced her inner curiosity without her approval.

Death (Seven) sits up in bed, dragging the guard over and laying her on her stomach, then lays down on her back and thrusts his still-hard member into her depths to earn a happy cry from the guard. He then wraps his hand around her throat and grips it firmly, asking, "Is this what you want to experience over and over?" then squeezes tighter to hinder her ability to breathe.

The guard struggles for air while feeling her virginity being taken and chokes out hoarsely, "Yes! Do it!" Her vision fades away as she finds herself floating beside her corpse again as he pounds her body's depths mercilessly, but is returned to her body once again roughly.

He thrusts away into the spasming mare as she sprays all over his groin and then tightens his hold on her throat once more to kill her saying, "If you ever see a door...don't go to it as it leads to the afterlife."

Her vision darkens again as she feels him repeatedly slam into the back of her womb, managing to choke out, "O....K..." before finding herself floating alongside the princess and her corpse once more and then shouts in a ghostly voice, "Yeah, fuck my lifeless body while I watch!"

Cadence looks around, thinking she hears whispering echoes in the room and asks, "What is going on, what are those echoes I'm hearing?"

Death (Seven) chuckles and says, "One moment while I help her understand..." then pulls out of the guard's corpse and flips the princess onto her back and sheathes his cock into her completely.

The ghost watches jealously as her killer starts making out with Princess Cadence while moving his hands up to her throat and gently squeezes while reassuring her everything will be alright.

She struggles to use her magic to pull him off as he uses one hand to hold her horn as her vision starts to darken when an orgasm hits her, causing her whole body to spasm and gush all over his groin, thinking, 'I...I don't want to die like this...'

The guard watches him thrust away when a new ghost appears beside her and bows to her, saying, "Apologies for my intrusion upon your lovemaking, Your Highness."

Princess Cadence looks around in fright at her spectral form, saying in a panicked tone, "Wha...what is this! Am I...am I dead?!"

The guard's ghost looks at her and says, "You are indeed dead, Your Highness, just look at how relaxed your body is right now."

She looks at her body on the bed as Seven thrusts away into her lifeless body as tears form in her eyes saying with a whimper, "I-I...I don't want to leave my family behind just yet." then sees a strange, shimmering door on the wall and starts drifting towards it asking, "What's that door doing there?"

The guard's ghost looks over to where she is heading and pulls her back saying, "I wouldn't go towards that shimmering door if I were you, he said that leads to the afterlife. You do want to return to your family, yes?"

The princess's ghost sighs and says, "My daughter, yes."

She then nods her head and says, "Then just hover here and enjoy the feeling when he thrusts you back into your body, its...electrifying."

Death (Seven) kisses Princess Cadence's neck and looks into her dulling, lifeless eyes, then looks over to the two ghosts and says, "Now let's bring you back, dear." He reaches out and grabs princess's ghost and thrusts her back into her own body, then plants his lips around hers and kisses her passionately while he waits for her to respond.

Forced to swallow saliva, Cadence's legs latch around Seven's back as she feels electricity race through her body, causing her to scream into his mouth from pleasure as she violently squirts all over his groin and thighs when her wings shoot out in orgasm.

Watching her body get knocked off the bed, the guard's ghost huffs and shouts, "HEY, BE CAREFUL NOT TO BREAK MY NECK, ALRIGHT?! I DO HAVE TO RETURN TO MY BODY SOON!"

Hearing the shout, she looks around to see the other pony's ghost and briefly shrieks in fright saying, "Wh-Who is that!?"

Pulling out of her as he is close to his peak, he leans over the edge of the bed and picks up the guard's cooling corpse and thrusts his cock back into her and says, "That is the soul of the guard here." then reaches out with his other hand and grabs her, then returns her to her body.

Cadence watches as the mare's dull eyes return to life, hearing her gasp for air before crying out in bliss when her orgasm hits. Watching as he buries himself into her depths and lays on top of her to kiss her passionately while he fills her with his seed.

The guard locks her legs around his back as she feels her abdomen swell up while trying to shove her tongue into his throat, pulling away several moments later whispering to his ear, "Thanks for killing and filling me, but I have to return to my guard duty now."

Death (Seven) watches the guard get off his bed onto wobbly legs and makes it out the door, giggling softly and madly the whole way before looking back with hearts in her eyes and saying, "If you ever need me for anything, I'm your guardmare, my name's Shadow Crystal."

The princess watches the door close and then dispels the protection shield she cast and replaces it with the proper one with an annoyed huff toward seven and saying, "Thank you for that lovely little death experience, if you hadn't warned us against strange doors, I might have moved to the afterlife. If I had actually died, you would be in a world of trouble dear!"

He then looks at her and rolls her onto her stomach, then lifts her hips into the air with his hands around her neck, saying, "Don't act like you didn't enjoy yourself when you came back, my groin and legs are completely soaked because of you and that other mare." Thrusting himself back into her womb, he then asks, "Would you like to feel that again?"

Cadence blushes fiercely as she wraps her tail around his waist and says softly, "Yes."

Death (Seven) then pulls back and thrusts in again harder, asking, "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

Feeling her inner coil tighten up again, she then lifts her head up and nips his earlobe asking, "Please murder me again and fill me with your seed."

He starts to strangle her and then whispers to her ear, "Very well, I am all too willing to fill you until you can't walk."

She smirks at hearing that as her vision starts to dim and says with her last breath, "Promises, promises..." before finding herself beside her body again.

END OF SCENE, PLEASE ENJOY THE REST OF THE STORY!

Cadence wakes up to find herself with a burning need to race to the bathroom and hurries out of the warm bed, then gallops towards the room's toilet and hops onto the toilet and relieves herself. Once she's done, she sighs with relief at not feeling so bloated anymore and looks back to her still-sleeping lover. Making her way over to him on slightly wobbly legs, she kisses him on the lips saying, "I must shower before starting my daily duties, make sure to double-check your appearance before you exit your room. I look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks for the Equestria Games, have a safe trip back to Ponyville dear."

Later that morning, Rainbow sees Seven stepping off the train and flies over to him saying, "Dude, where've ya been the past few days?!"

Seven (Death) cocks his head and says, "I have been freezing my tail off while chasing after a creature of interest, what did I miss?"

She then gets up into his mask and says excitedly, "THE MOST EXCITING THING EVER! I WAS ACCEPTED INTO THE WONDERBOLT RESERVES, THEY'RE THE ABSOLUTE BEST FLYERS IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA...AND I'M ON THE RESERVES! OHMYGOSH I'M SO EXCITED, I CAN'T WAIT FOR A CHANCE TO ACTUALLY JOIN THE WONDERBOLTS!"

The horseman looks at her and blinks coolly, saying, "Well, congratulations to you I guess if it's something you really wanted that badly."

Weeks pass as Seven does his very best to avoid the ponies, choosing to fill his time by flying to Canterlot Castle to spend several nights with Princess Luna. Managing to keep her from talking about having children during his visits, he eventually finds himself at the Crystal Empire in Luna's bed next to her when he hears her gasp and asks, "What happened?"

Princess Luna gets up and kisses him on the lips quickly, saying, "This is urgent, my love, I will tell you about it later, okay?" and hurries out the door to go see her sister.

After hearing of her return to Canterlot a few hours later, he flies to Canterlot to find all three princesses in the throne room and trots towards them. Noticing that they all seem very weary with Celestia's and Luna's mane and tail not flowing as they should and asks, "What is going on with the three of you, why do you look so...exhausted and weak?"

Celestia looks at Seven Selbs and says, "You should not be here, Seven, there is a dangerous criminal on the loose that steals magic. Please go before he comes here."

Seven (Death) cocks his head and huffs saying, "HMPH, I'd like to see him try to steal my powers from me. Who is this criminal that plagues you, I will see to it they never trouble you again."

Luna weakly makes her way toward her coltfriend and leans up against him saying, "We have set a plan into motion already, my love. The villain's name is Lord Tirek and we have given all our powers to another to safeguard, I assure you, we have everything well under control, so please get away from here before..." she is then interrupted by heavy footsteps and sighs heavily, pleading, "Will you do me a favor and please keep out of sight, I don't want anything to happen to you. All Lord Tirek wants is our magic, I assure you...so hide, pleease."

The horseman sighs audibly and grumbles, saying, "Fine, but if he harms a hair on your head, I will make him pay dearly." then makes his way behind the dais under the throne when he hears Cadence harshly tell him not to kill him, which causes the other two to look at her with surprise and curiosity.

Seven (Death) continues to stay behind the dais as Cadence blushes fiercely, then tells them she will explain later when he hears the doors get torn open by something massive. The stomping gets much closer and then ceases, with him listening eagerly for what is going to happen next.

Tirek picks up Celestia first in his magic and then opens his mouth wide, trying to suck out her magic when nothing comes from her horn. Agitated at not getting anything from her, he asks, "What have you done?!" then goes to the other two to suck theirs out. When he gets nothing at all, he screams, "WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC?!?"

As Celestia start to talk to Tirek, Panoptos speaks into the horseman's mind saying, 'I've studied Tirek when he and his brother Scorpan first came here through a portal, and I know there is no way for him to steal your powers from you whatsoever. I would recommend stepping in only if things start to take a turn for the worse and threaten our plans.'

The horseman keeps quiet and replies with a thought, 'Very well, I do hope I get to unleash a little pent-up rage on him...' He patiently waits to act when he hears Tirek mention Cerberus and looks around the dais to see him throw Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence into another dimension. The sight of seeing Tirek throw them away like useless trash makes his eyes glow angrily as he clenches his teeth and prepares to walk out to confront him.

Panoptos pops out of the horseman, knowing he is enraged, he tries to calm him saying into his mind, 'Now now, Master Death, let's try to keep a calm mind about this...it may look like they are gone for good, but it is only the prison dimension of this world called Tartarus. It is actually where he was imprisoned when his brother betrayed him and returned to their home world, you are going to listen to me, I hope?'

With a low, angry grumble, he replies to him with just one word full of anger, 'No...' and starts to make his way around the dais as the blood pounds in his ears, drowning out the following conversation.

Discord looks at the new pendant while following Tirek through the Throne Room when he hears steady hoofsteps behind him, saying, "Oh, there's a pony right over..." and freezes in place while he spots the horseman heading towards him and Tirek, when the next word falls out of his mouth like his last breath, saying, "there." and begins to sweat nervously, hoping that he escapes with his life today.

Tirek looks to his right at a window depicting another alicorn, then turns around to face Discord to ask about it when he notices another pony calmly approaching them and cackles saying, "Oh look, another pony wants to give their magic to us." then starts to walk towards them adding, "How brave of you to acknowledge your better, I shall allow you to watch over a territory in my name."

Seven (Death) chuckles at hearing his preposterous words and says mirthfully, "Oh, how amusing...you think you're my better." and laughs in a much darker, threatening tone, adding, "You should be begging me for mercy after what you did to the princesses of this land..."

Unamused by his threat, he glares at him and shouts, "THERE IS NOPONY MORE POWERFUL THAN ME!" then prepares to fire a beam of magic at him.

The horseman makes his way towards Tirek, briefly glancing at Discord as he passes by him, trembling violently at being in his presence. Paying him no mind, he then says, "I can think of several that can quite literally wipe the floor with you or their ass if they wanted to, me included. Let me introduce myself properly..."

Discord remains in the exact same place, unwilling to move anymore than he already has by watching Death walk by in his pony form and hears him whisper, "Alteya" Hearing that word causes Discord to gulp fearfully, thinking, 'Oh shit, I hope I don't die here...'

Tirek looks at the pony as their form changes to being a pale, bipedal creature with grayish-black hair and two metallic sticks at his sides, saying in amusement, "What are you, some kind of pathetic Minotaur?!"

Death (Seven) scowls at Tirek and says, "You dare to insult me? Time to teach you some manners..." then switches to his reaper form to beat him to an inch of his life.

All color fades from Discord as he looks upon Death's actual form, watching every movement in awe-struck terror as Death charges Tirek and grabs him by his horns. He then swiftly jerks him off his feet and slams him against several of the one-piece white marble columns, sending fractures racing throughout each of them with each collision.

Deciding to give him a chance to beg for mercy, he grabs him by the tail and then swings him over his head to the left and slams him into the ground, then again to the right to form another crater in the marble floor polished to perfection. Releasing his hold on his tail, he points a skeletal finger at the battered Tirek to shout, "Return the princesses and I might grant you a swift death, deny me and you will die slowly..."

Tirek looks up from the bottom of the crater in the floor with one eye swollen shut as his body trembles with fear at the skeletal being facing him wearing a cloak that hides his face and body, having two large wings on his back. Unwilling to surrender, he glares and spits at him saying, "I'm not afraid of a measly skeleton like you, they will remain in Tartarus forever!"

Discord watches with bated breath as Death draws his scythe and uses the haft and the side of the blade to ruthlessly bat him around the throne room like a ball, destroying the dais and throne as well as causing one or two columns to collapse while every inch of the walls and ceilings have cracks running through them.

Death (Seven) grips Tirek by the throat and pulls him close, glaring into his eyes with all his rage and says, "Last chance...return the princesses or die excruciatingly slowly as I carve every piece of hide off your body one slice at a time..."

He weakly grabs onto his arm as blood runs out of his nose and spits in his face saying, "I won't surrender, so fuck off!" while barely able to prevent pissing and shitting himself in abject fear of what this creature might be.

With an annoyed sigh, the horseman then tosses him into the air with one hand saying, "So be it, I guess you love pain." then twirls his scythe around behind his back stylistically and then prepares to carve the first piece off of his face when he hears a feminine voice say into his mind, "PLEASE DON'T KILL HIM OR I WON'T FINISH THE SEAL!" The voice clearly belongs to Equis, which causes him to growl angrily and use the end of the spear to strike him. Using the various blunt places on the spear to keep him in the air, he hits him between the legs as hard as he can to send him careening up toward the ceiling while holding his family jewels and puking his guts out. Swiftly spinning around to his left, he holds his scythe by the very end with the blade facing to the right and sees Tirek almost to the floor. Bringing his scythe back like a baseball bat, he maintains his counter-clockwise spin and bellows, "NOW....BEGONE!" while smacking him dead center in the chest with the very back of the blade near the end of the shaft.

He coughs up blood from the brutal strike and feels his sternum crack in several places when he slams through several walls before finding himself sailing through the air, eventually crashing into the ground and skidding to a stop with his mouth completely full of dirt and rocks.

Death (Seven) looks at Discord and huffs with annoyance, shifting from his reaper form back into his humanoid form saying, "If this plan fails because of your stupidity, you will answer to me for it. Now begone from my sight."

Discord nods hastily and darts away, leaving a brown brick on the floor where he hovered. Quickly looking for where Tirek landed, he follows a long skid trail to find him back on his feet walking oddly and sniffling. He approaches him cautiously and says, "Well it is good you survived, now how will we get more power?"

Forcing himself to ignore the nearly crippling pain from his balls, he looks at him and asks, "What was that image of another alicorn, was that supposed to be funny!?"

After telling Tirek about Twilight and her friends, they make their way towards Ponyville to draw her out.

Death huffs in irritation at Equis's meddling as he makes his way out of the castle to a spot outside the city, making his way down the mountain the slow way to maintain his energy. He stops along the path a couple of hours later to see a grand battle of power somewhere near the badlands, but slowly comes to a sudden stop. Remaining there and watching for a few minutes, he then sees Tirek towering over the trees below and using magic beams to destroy the forest with glee. Sighing, he says, "It appears that their grand plan had failed them, time for me to claim a soul..."

As he heads down to the ground, he sees a brightly shining sphere in the sky that attacks Tirek's large form with beams of lavender, pink, light blue, white, orange, and yellow. He watches as Tirek slowly gets smaller and asks, "What in the world is going on, what is that power?" When the sphere rises up higher and bursts apart, sending out a multicolored wave, he watches as he spots six ponies racing across the sky. With nothing better to do, he makes his way to where he last spotted Tirek.

Passing along the outskirts of Ponyville, he watches a rainbow suddenly streak through the sky and slam into the ground a few hundred yards from him. Spotting an object flying through the rainbow, he watches it sink into the ground as the ground starts to rumble and crack. Watching curiously as the point of a star rises towards the sky, followed by the rest of a large structure, he soon realizes that it is a castle and chuckles saying to Panoptos, 'Equis may have actually saved the plan...' He sees a flash on the path leading to the castle and sees the six friends standing in front of it suffused with a strange force, slowly returning to their previous appearances. He then spots the three princesses walking up the path behind them, giving a slight nod toward Princess Luna, who looks at him with a relieved smile. Blowing a kiss to her with his hoof, he then continues on his way to search for Tirek.

Chapter XIII: Heartfelt desires

Author's Note

For those of you who are curious as to what the six seals are/were, here you go.

1: One seal is broken when family bonds become irreparable - Penalty: The Crystal Heart weakens
2: another breaks when indecision leads an alicorn to take their own life - Penalty: All of Equestria suffers an earthquake
3: another breaks when the two princesses let anger rule their hearts - Penalty: The Tree of Harmony is damaged
4: one more breaks when friendship is abandoned - Penalty: The Tree of Harmony dies
5: one breaks when an Alicorn takes the life of a young pony - Penalty: The Crystal Heart shatters
6: another breaks when an innocent is slain - Penalty: The other horsemen are summoned

Chapter XIII: Heartfelt desires

When Celestia and Luna return to Canterlot an hour later, they see a massive hole in the side of the castle and investigate the damage. Finding much more extensive destruction inside, they follow the path that leads to the throne room, which makes both of their jaws drop as Celestia asks, "Just what in Tartarus happened here?! It is utterly trashed!"

Luna sees a couple of large hoofprints in the once-pristine marble floor leading from behind the dais and sighs saying, "I think that my coltfriend got a little angry when we were thrown into Tartarus, I don't understand how he managed to survive fighting Tirek."

She looks at her sister as she gazes around the room at all the damage and sees the two collapsed columns and blinks in disbelief saying, "Just who is your coltfriend, sister?"

She looks over at her older sister with a sad smile saying with a shake of her head, "Sorry sister, I promised him that I wouldn't tell anypony what I know, including you. If you want answers, you will have to make the same promise I did."

With a groan, Celestia sighs, saying, "Let's get started on cleaning this mess up sister, this will take us all night to repair."

Seven (Death) spends three months scouring the land for where Tirek might have gone, not finding any clues about his whereabouts, and decides to head to Canterlot to ask the two sisters where he might have run off.

Celestia and Luna are eating breakfast in the dining room when they hear somepony enter the room, causing them both to turn to see who it is and discover Seven Selbs heading toward them as the older sister swallows her food saying, "Ah, if it isn't the stallion that somehow survived facing Tirek and trashed the throne room in the process, I have so many questions for you."

The horseman smirks and says, "If you cast a privacy barrier and make a formal promise to me, I might answer you."

She frowns and then cocks her head asking, "Is it really that important to be so secretive and paranoid?"

He chuckles and says, "I'm not paranoid at all, but it is of utmost importance that my secrets stay secrets. So please make your choice, princess."

Celestia tries to stare him down for a few minutes before giving up with an exasperated sigh saying, "Fine, what must I say?"

Seven (Death) cocks his head asking, "Forgetting something, are we?"

She huffs in annoyance at him spotting that and casts a privacy barrier saying, "There, happy now?"

With a smirk, he nods saying, "Much better, now just state your name and swear upon your life that you won't tell another soul what I tell you during private conversations."

Celestia debates whether or not to go through with it, deciding against it as she lifts her nose into the air pridefully, saying, "I will not go through such a hassle just to get answers, I will find them another way." then takes down her barrier, saying, "If you hurt my sister, I will send you to the moon as punishment."

Seven (Death) chuckles darkly and says, "The only way I will ever hurt her is in the bedroom if she wants me to."

A fierce blush races across Luna's cheek as she spews out orange juice all over her sister's face squeaking out, "WHAT!? DON'T TELL HER WHAT WE DO THERE OR I'LL SEND YOU TO TARTARUS WHERE TIREK IS!"

Getting what he came here for, he nods and says, "Very well, I shall see you again in a couple of nights, my love." then turns and goes to take his leave when he is stopped by Luna clearing her throat.

Luna looks at him affectionately and asks, "Would you care to have breakfast with us, dear?"

Seven (Death) sees a chance to annoy her sister further and says, "I appreciate your offer, though I think your sister would be rather uncomfortable."

She looks at her sister with pleading eyes and asks, "Can my coltfriend stay and have breakfast with us, pretty please?"

Celestia sighs and then looks into her sister's eyes for a moment before turning away with a blush saying, "Yes he can, just please don't start doing it on the breakfast table. Make sure you cast a soundproofing barrier if you go to your room, you are not exactly...quiet...you know."

Luna's face turns beet red as she looks down at her food bashfully, saying, "Sorry sister, I'll remember that."

After her sister's coltfriend sits down beside her, she watches the two feed each other and even share food held in their mouths which always leads to an intimate kiss. Her jealousy slowly gives way to her getting aroused by their interactions, which in turn causes her jealousy to flare back up again.

Months pass by as Seven (Death) spends time with Luna and annoys Celestia with their affection, going so far as to actually have sex in her own bed.

Hearth's Warming Eve comes around as Luna snuggles against her lover's stomach and raises her lips to his ear saying, "I'm looking forward to giving my sister her present tonight, are you?"

Seven (Death lays beside her with his wings wrapped around her and nods saying, "I am if you are determined to do this for your sister."

Luna then nuzzles against his neck, saying, "I am, she will be so surprised at what she will be getting tonight."

After setting the sun and raising the moon, Celestia sits on the couch by the crackling fireplace with a tall tree in the corner behind her. Staring into the flames as she thinks about how lonely she has felt lately when she hears the doors to their personal living room open, causing her to look up to see her sister walk in with her coltfriend in tow and puts on a forced smile saying, "Happy Hearth's Warming, Sister, and you too, Seven. Come sit by the fire on this cold winter night." Feeling bitterness rising within her about how her sister has someone and she doesn't, she pushes the feeling aside to not ruin her sister's night.

Making her way beside her sister, she watches her lover walk toward her slowly. Using the tip of her right wing to turn her sister's head to face her, she smiles and says, "I have a present for you that I know you will love, Sister. Close your eyes and I will give it to you."

Closing her eyes, she wonders what her sister could have gotten her as her heart beats a little faster when she feels a wing lightly touch the back of her head and a pair of lips meet hers. Her mouth opens of its own accord and feels a tongue slip into her mouth, causing her to kiss back hungrily.

Luna watches with a happy smile as her sister makes out with her coltfriend passionately, grinding her own thighs together at how alluring she finds it as he pushes her onto her back, causing her to pull back with surprise and says, "Let's share, sister."

THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS UNSAFE FOR WORK, SO FEEL FREE TO SKIP IT COMPLETELY OR RETURN AT A SAFER TIME!

Celestia feels somepony lying on her chest and opens her eyes to see Seven there, causing her to blush fiercely and stammer, saying, "W-W-Wh-What is this, what is going on?"

Making her way off the couch to stand in view of her sister, she smiles down at her and whispers into her ear, "I said, let's share. Meaning that my coltfriend is now your coltfriend, so let's share him together."

Not giving her a moment to gather her thoughts, Seven (Death) moves in and kisses her more passionately while moving one hoof down her body towards her groin.

She nervously tucks her legs in against her body and feels his hoof brush against her teats. Gasping for air at the brief pleasure, she tries to say something when he returns to kissing her more deeply than before. Feeling her self-control start to wane due to her heart and body madly craving affection, her body begins to betray her and starts to relax further.

Luna watches her sister slowly relaxing to her lover's actions as he pulls away from her lips and lightly nips her neck, causing her to shudder when her wings slowly start to encircle his back. Seeing him move further down her body, she moves around to the end of the couch and looks down at her sister's face to find her fighting to regain control of herself. Chuckling, she then lowers her head to say, "Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, Sister. We both now have a coltfriend who is amazing in bed..." then places her lips over hers and kisses her as he did earlier.

Celestia's resolve shatters as her own sister slips her tongue into her mouth, her heart and body shove it into a cage and throw away the key as they take over. Soft moans start to escape her when she feels Seven suckle at her teats, slipping a hoof around her own sister's neck as she hungrily devours her mouth.

Seven tastes small amounts of milk come from each teat as he moves further down her body, kissing all the way to her lips. Running his tongue up her slit, he sucks the top of it into his mouth and teases it with his tongue.

Feeling her sister's lover, now her lover as well, eat her out, she wraps her tail around his upper body as her hooves curl inward. When her back suddenly arches, she squirts all over him as she moans into her sister's mouth.

The horseman drives her over the edge once again with his tongue before kissing back up her body with his member ready to go, lining himself up with her entrance and driving forward to hear a loud moan from her as she devours her own sister's mouth.

Celestia's body spasms at feeling him thrust into her fully, causing her to pull away from her sister with sparkles in her eyes and says in a tender, affectionate tone, "Best. Hearth's. Warming. Ever." then pulls away to kiss her new coltfriend passionately.

She smiles at seeing her lover bury himself in her sister and sees her exposed teat, causing an idea to pop into her head as she starts to suckle on it. Hearing the passionate sounds of her sister's kissing and the slapping of her lover's balls against her sister's large rear, she tastes a few spurts of milk and pulls away. Swallowing the milk, she giggles and says, "I see you have been nursing the unfortunate foals whose mothers cannot produce milk yet."

Pulling away with a gasp and a fierce blush on her face, she says, "I just cannot...hah...let them go hungry...hah...I had to do...oh buck...something to help." and feels herself climbing a peak and hooks her legs around her lover's back, shouting, "Yes! Fill me up, darling!" Moments later, she feels him thrust hard into her and stay there while feeling a hot warmth flow into her and falls over the peak herself as she squirts all over his thighs.

Luna watches her lover pull back and sit up a bit, seeing enough room for her to climb on top of her sister saying, "You've had your turn sis, now it's my turn to get filled." then pulls her sister's lips to hers and kisses her deeply. She feels him thrust into her depths and moans passionately into her sister's mouth, hearing her sister swallow the accumulating saliva and kiss her back.

Seven (Death) wraps his front hooves around Luna's flanks and drives himself into the back of her womb, saying, "You know that I've made it so I won't produce children, but do you still have that burning desire for a foal?"

Pulling away from her sister's lips, she shouts, "YES! I WANT TO BE A MOTHER, SO FULFILL MY DESIRE!" and wraps her tail around him to pull him even deeper into her.

The horseman thrusts wildly into her and chuckles darkly, saying, "Well keep dreaming of it dear." then pulls out and slams his member into her sister.

Overhearing the shouting just next door, Panoptos watches Prince Blueblood cheat on a maid as his marefriend walks into the room to see him fill her with his seed. He looks upon the mares face as it morphs into one of heartbreak, anger, and disgust as she shouts, "I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" and races out of the room while slamming the door shut as semen drips out of the mare's entrance. With nothing else to do at the moment, an idea comes to his mind as he makes his way towards the Crystal Empire for a chat.

THE FOLLOWING BLACK SECTION IS UNSAFE FOR WORK AND CAN BE SKIPPED! IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE NONCONSENSUAL SEX, SKIP PAST THE BLACK TO RETURN TO THE REST OF THE CHAPTER!

Cadence stands frozen outside her daughter's door hearing painful cries come from her lips, watching with wide, hateful eyes as her husband thrusts into their daughter one final time as Flurry Heart cries out, "Daddy, noo!"

Shining Armor finishes and gets off his daughter, then looks down at her bloody entrance as his seed oozes out of her and smiles, then kisses her cheek saying, "Sweet dreams dear." and turns to head out of her room as she sobs miserably.

Returning to her room with a null ring held in her magic, she waits with two royal guards with frowns on their faces. When her husband enters the room, she looks at him with tears falling from her eyes and disgust all over her face as she says, "Hello, you are in serious trouble now." then slides the ring onto his horn and says, "I know what you've done, and it disgusts me to my very core!" Feeling the cold ring on her own horn, she yanks it off and holds it in front of her and says, "You broke your vow to me and violated our daughter...I wash my hooves of you." then uses her magic to melt the ring into a lump of gold and hurls it at him saying, "Our marriage is through! Haul that worthless stallion to the darkest cell in the dungeon!"

He then looks to his ex-wife in shock as the guards start to drag him away, shouting, "You can't do this to me Cady, I love you still!"

Panoptos floats in the corner, steepling his fingers as the door slams shut and says, "Such a terrible thing to happen, wouldn't you agree, Your Highness?"

Looking around the room for the one who said that with a scowl on her face, she then says, "Show yourself at once, Discord, I am not playing any games with you!"

He leaves the dark corner slowly, saying, "Now, now, Your Highness, I'm most certainly not that pesky draconequus, so let's not get too angry."

Cadence looks at the shadow in shock and wide eyes, asking, "Who and what are you?!"

Panoptos giggles in his annoying, high-pitched tone and then drifts around her saying, "Let's just say I am an acquaintance of a mutual lover of yours, and that I am an observer of sorts."

She looks at him suspiciously and asks, "What do you want with me?"

He then stops in front of her and says, "Well, what I want isn't relevant here, but it is what one of your aunts wants that brings me before you."

Cadence's eyes widen slightly at hearing that her aunts want something from her and asks, "What is it my aunts need of me?"

Panoptos grins and then says, "Well, your dear aunty Luna is quite desperate for a foal, but her coltfriend is too stubborn to grant her one."

Cocking her head and looking at him suspiciously, she raises an eyebrow asking, "Okay, so what does this have to do with me?"

The watcher claps his hands gleefully and says, "Oh I do love it when I speak with an intelligent pony with a great mind! I intend to work a little magic to make her desire come true," then lies to her adding, "but unfortunately, she does not yet realize she cannot produce foals due to a minor, unfortunate birth defect rendering her ovaries purely decorative."

Drawn in by the upsetting news, she then says, "Oh how terrible, how can I be of assistance to Aunty Luna?"

Panoptos smiles and says, "Well, you need to find a stallion to breed you during your peak in the spring estrus season, then I will take your fertilized egg and implant it into her womb. Are you up to helping her find happiness in life?"

She nods happily and says, "I am, for I too was considering bringing a foal into this world. My desire can be fulfilled as she gives birth to my foal, and I know just the stallion to help me with this."

He smiles mischievously as she pays him no mind anymore and walks around the room, lost in a daydream, thinking to himself, 'I bet you do. Love and Death...what an interestingly potent combination...'

As winter gives way to spring, Panoptos finds out when Cadence's peak time for fertilization is and waits for the perfect time to return Death's body to normal, saying to no one in particular, "Soon...very soon..."

Seven (Death) rides the train to the Crystal Empire with Twilight Sparkle and the human, who has a beaming smile upon her face as Carl holds her close to him. When the train finally arrives, he notices that only Cadence is at the station as Twilight asks where her brother is.

Cadence frowns at the mention of him and says, "He was hauled off to the dungeon for betraying the empire's trust."

Twilight gasps at hearing that and says, "Impossible, my brother would never betray Equestria, that must have been a changeling!"

She sighs and says, "I'm sorry Twilight, but it was actually him."

The young princess looks up at her sister-in-law worriedly, and asks, "H-How c-can that b-be? Wha-what did he do?"

Cadence looks at Twilight sadly, then leans close to her ear and says, "He forced himself upon his own daughter, your niece, Flurry Heart."

Twilight's heart trembles at hearing that and asks, "Can...I go see him?"

She nods her head and watches her hurry off toward the crystal dungeons, then looks at Seven and Carl saying, "I will show you to your rooms, please follow me."

Twilight hurries towards where the guard said her brother's cell is and stops in front of the cell with tears in her eyes and asks, "Shining Armor, did you really do what Cadence said you did?"

Shining Armor races to the bars with a nod on his face as he says, "I did, but I only did it because I have to save her from the mean-spirited stallions out there that will treat her like a prize, and not like the wonderful mare she is going to turn out to be one day. I just have to make her mine!"

She uses her magic to examine him, finding him to be the real Shining Armor, which causes her heart to break. Hanging her head with defeat and sadness all over her face, she turns away from him and looks back over her shoulder as tears run down her cheeks, saying, "Big brother, best friend forever...I don't know you anymore. We aren't even family anymore because of what you did, you are dead to me."

The words echo throughout the dungeon as a chilly wind blows past the horseman's pony ears, carrying with it the distinct sound of a seal being broken. Following Cadence and Carl to the castle with a happy smile on his face while thinking, 'One down...five to go.'

After showing Carl and Seven (Death) to their rooms, Cadence consoles a sobbing Twilight after severing her bonds with her brother. She pats her on the back gently, saying, "My marriage might be over, but you are still like a sister to me."

Twilight sobs a half-chuckle saying, "At least I still have you, Flurry Heart, Carl, and my parents as family. You are going to be an Aunt, you know? I got the results back just yesterday, so congratulations, Aunty Cadence."

She squeals with joy at the news and pulls her into a tight hug and says, "I am going to help you and Carl through this, sweety, so don't worry."

Panoptos subtly alters the horseman's body without his knowledge and slips back into the shadows of the castle, watching curiously as Cadence leads Seven (Death) down to the dungeon in front of the cell where her ex-husband sits in a cell, desperate for a chance to get out. While she has him make passionate love to him before his very eyes, he howls out in misery and anger until the grand finale. Grinning in delight as he sees the results of his scheming and whispers to himself, "One monster, coming right up..."

Slipping into Cadence's body as she slumbers, he seeps into her to wait for the moment to arrive. When the moment does arrive, he takes the fertilized egg from her and leaves her to race toward Canterlot. When he arrives, he hastily slips into the princess as she is on patrol and uses a little magic to help it implant, enchanting her body to think of it as her own egg. When his work is finished, he departs and checks on the guard to find her in the bathroom over the toilet. A salacious smile crosses his face as the plan is nearing the fun stage and returns to Death's mind saying, 'Everything is almost set, we just need to wait a bit for the next part.'

A couple weeks pass as Seven is having dinner with his two marefriends at their insistence when Luna looks at him with a overjoyed glow about her as she says, "I have happy news for you...you're going to be a father." The surprising news strikes up a slightly heated debate about how it is possible, telling them about an errand he forgot about earlier and then shouts within his mind at the watcher, 'JUST WHAT IN THE FUCK DID YOU DO, YOU WRETCHED PISSANT!?' deeply wishing that he were outside of him right now so he could beat him to death.

Panoptos hides within his body, replying, 'Oh...just having a little fun at your expense, and fair warning to you...if you try to murder that infant Luna's carrying, I will stop you. Big Daddy Death has a nice ring to it...does it not?'

The following section is going to be a summary of events over time to help move the story forward

After paying a visit to the Well of Souls, Death uneasily confides in the Archangel Azrael and tells him his plan. He is then surprised when he agrees to help him as he begins to locate the souls that have come from that world already.

Months pass as Panoptos and Death argue (and fight) over the infant growing within Luna as Twilight is in the hospital about to give birth when the horseman uses his powers to take the infant's life, leaving Twilight to give birth to a stillborn foal. The trauma of giving birth to a dead foal leaves an opening for the watcher to slip inside of Twilight and plant a seed of corruption in her heart, which takes root and aids her in fostering negative feelings toward her coltfriend Carl.

Distraught over losing her foal, Twilight breaks up with Carl while blaming him for the death of her filly. When Luna gives birth to a healthy black filly, she is happy for her, but feels bitter about it deep down because she hasn't gotten over her loss yet.

Two years pass as tragedy leads to Flurry Heart falling to her death once she discovers she is carrying her father's child who somehow found a way to remove his null ring and torment his daughter repeatedly, causing yet a second seal to break as all of Equestria suffers an earthquake while Carl is tossed into jail under charges of murder.

Back to the time of Carl's execution

As the horseman feels the seals being slowly broken one by one over a few years, all the while playing his part in the scheme to free his brothers and sister as well as the watchers from servitude, he finds himself standing in the square beside his alicorn daughter, Faint Whisper, who he has been educating and teaching her about the delicate balance in the universe. He and she both look up to watch the blade's slow descent towards the innocent human's neck as Faint sighs and whispers just loud enough for her father to hear, "Soon, this world will be cleansed of corruption's taint, and then be made anew..."

Seven (Death) smiles genuinely for the first time in many years and says, "That is true, my little phantom. I look forward to when this charade comes to a very bloody end."

Faint looks up at her father saying, "Just make sure to leave Mother to me, okay papa? I have something special in mind for her."

He looks down at her, nodding as he hears the blade thunk into the wood, soon followed by the soft sound of a head falling into a basket as he feels the last seal being broken and appears before him.

Seeing a chance to capture a memory, she levitates a camera before her and her father saying, "Smile for a precious memory, papa."

Seven (Death) chuckles and shakes his head saying, "Alright, let's say apocalypse on three."

Counting to three, she smiles saying, "Apocalypse!" and snaps the picture, hoping that her father smiled as well. Putting the camera away, she looks down at the broken seal as the light blue moon in the sky morphs into a bloody red and raises her hood over her head saying, "The last one has been broken, let the end begin."

Raising his hood over his head, Seven (Death) picks up the seal with his hoof as he hears thunder echo throughout the gathering clouds. Feeling the cold droplets of blood beginning to fall, he then uses the broken seal to call forth his brothers. He opens his eyes and tucks the broken seal away into his saddlebag saying, "It is finally starting to get a little fun..."

Chapter XIV: Death and Rebirth

WARNING!! THE FIRST PART OF THIS CHAPTER WILL BE VIOLENT AND QUITE GORY, PLEASE SKIP TO THE REST OF THE STORY IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!!

Seven (Death) watches the red light fade as the moon regains its normal, light blue color when ponies around him start to scream in horror at seeing themselves soaked with blood. Looking up to the sky as Princess Luna exclaims about something above them, he smiles as he spots two firey trails, one red, the other blue heading towards the square. He watches the other ponies look up at the fires and start to panic and scream while the four alicorns slowly make their way through the crowd.

War is the first to land as he sits atop Ruin, looking around him to find himself in a strange world surrounded by horses as they slowly stop screaming and walk towards him curiously. Finding Strife just behind him sitting atop Mayhem with his sister Fury sitting behind him on the back of her brother's steed, he notices that his brother Death is nowhere to be found and asks, "Where is our brother? I don't see him anywhere."

Strife feels Fury hop off of the back of Mayhem and looks around, unable to see him at first, but sees a pony with a mask looking quite similar to Death's raising his hoof in a greeting before holding it before his mouth and chuckles saying, "He's here, but wants to hold off making an appearance for some reason..."

Fury looks around and puts her hands on her hips in annoyance saying, "Probably intends to make a spectacle of it, how typical."

Princess Celestia trembles lightly as she and the other alicorns approach the tall visitors and greets them with a forced calm smile, saying, "Welcome to Equestria, distant travelers."

Seven (Death) looks into his daughter's glowing, light-blue eyes and says, "Time for daddy to put on a little show sweetheart, find somewhere safe."

Faint nods and casts a spell to appear as mist, saying, "I will be nearby, papa. Call when you need me to return."

He watches as a low-lying mist rolls in, hearing Celestia ask what brings them here and feels magic start to fill the air as he hums a song he heard on Supernatural in an ominous tone.

Hearing somepony starting to sing, all eyes turn to the light green pony wearing a creepy mask on his face with glowing reddish orange eyes as his mouth opens up, singing in a deep, lilting tone, "Oh-h Death...Oh Dee-ea-ea-eath. Oh-h Death, can't you spare me for some other year?" Some ponies gulp nervously at hearing the first words of the song as a few others are enchanted to hum the main part of the eerie melody.

Seven (Death) continues singing as he slowly walks toward the alicorns and his siblings, "Well I am that which you cannot see, an ice-cold grip passing over you. When all is lost and despair takes hold, I will show no mercy claiming your soul. No wealth or hardship, nor silver or gold, nothing stops me from taking your soul." He lowers his voice and mumbles, "Alteya" then resumes singing as his body morphs back into its original form, "Behold, I am Death, one and only, and I'll send you through to the afterlife. My name is Death and the end has come..." Standing before his siblings, he looks to Fury and says, "I thought you had another duty to attend to..."

Fury looks at her big brother with a frown saying as she crosses her arms, "There's no way that I would refuse your call, so I came. Tell me what's going on."

Not liking being ignored, Celestia then uses the royal voice to say, "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, YOU IMPOSTER!?"

Looking over his shoulder at the princess who is now no higher than his stomach, he uses a ghostly hand to grab her head and pull her towards him. Glaring into her eyes, he then says, "What's going on is that I've had enough of you ponies and your ridiculously peaceful world!" then grabs her horn with his left hand and rips it from her head and rams it through her chestpiece and into her esophagus.

As she starts to choke on her own blood, she looks on with wide, horrified eyes as she realizes she is going to die when she feels him drop her to the ground and kick her in the chest. The kick drives her horn fully into her body and pierces her stomach as she flops and skitters across the ground, striking the corner post of the platform supporting the guillotine and feeling her spine shatter and wings crack. Unable to scream out in agony due to her own horn lodged in her throat, she coughs up blood as her vision slowly starts to dim.

Luna and Cadence look on in horror as Celestia lies in a heap at the base of the guillotine's platform when Luna screams, "SISTER!!" and races to her side to heal her.

A mist floats up in front of Princess Luna, causing her to skid to a stop and prepare to blast it when she pauses to see Faint Whisper materialize before her from the mist and says, "OUT OF MY WAY SWEETIE, I MUST SAVE MY SISTER!" then goes to run around her.

Faint Whisper grabs her mother's face in her hooves with a surprising amount of strength for her small size and keeps her in place, saying calmly, "It is unfortunate, I know, but you shall be joining her shortly."

Unable to pull away, she goes to respond as her filly's lips meet hers. Feeling her filly kiss her, she pulls away as she releases her grip, coughing up fog, asking, "Why did you kiss me?!"

She then looks up at her with an expressionless face and says, "It was my own special way of showing you mercy as I take your life, I will see you again someday, mommy..."

Death and the others watch as the filly returns to the mist, allowing her to hurry to her sister. As she attempts to heal her, however, she breathes heavier while her body starts to fall apart while consuming itself from the inside out. When her magic fails to heal her sister's mortal wounds, he hears her start to sob when she collapses and dies atop her sister as the gathered ponies scream in horror and start to scream, "OH WOE IS ME!! THE END IS NIGH! MERCY! SPARE US! SOMEPONY SAVE US!"

After watching Luna waste away to dust, he looks around to see Twilight looking at her fallen mentor's corpse with a wild, crazy-eyed look as her mind breaks. When she cackles madly at the corpse, he pulls her towards him with his ghostly hand by the neck, saying to her face, "I know you were manipulated and corrupted, but I still hope you are tormented for a good long while in hell before you come back." then grabs her tail and rams four of his fingers on his right hand into her vaginal entrance and grips her tightly before ramming the other four on his left hand into the other half of her entrance and shoves his left thumb into her ass.

Twilight begins to scream bloody murder as she feels him starting to spread her in opposite directions, when her vision goes black as she is suddenly torn in half.

Death tosses the two halves of Twilight's body aside as her innards and blood are strewn about while ponies continue to panic and scream in terror. Spotting Cadence looking at her family of dead alicorns, he uses his ghostly hand to pull her toward him.

Eyes wide and full of terror, Cadence curls inward on herself as she gazes into the eyes of Death itself and quivers violently while pissing herself asking, "Wh-Why are you doing this to us, what did we do to incur your wrath?"

Ignoring her losing control of her bodily functions, he then puts her down saying, "Aside from annoying me with you pony's peaceful, friendly, cheery, and overly caring nature? Why nothing at all, really. I'm just thinking of a much larger picture which involves my siblings." then hastily pushes her front away from him and draws his right arm back, making a fist before drives it into the love princess's ass.

Star Swirl watches as a hand explodes out of Cadence's mouth, her eyes rolling back and falling shut as her body goes limp. With a swift motion, the hand grips the muzzle and rips it backward violently, literally ripping her head out of her ass and shouts, "YOU FIENDS WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!" and prepares to attack the one holding Princess Cadence's lifeless skull.

Unconcerned with the ponies attack, he watches Strife pull his pistols out and shoots the attacking wizard. The wizard's body explodes in a bloody shower of entrails, bits of hide and bones as he turns Cadence's skull from side to side for a moment before tossing it aside saying, "Not pretty at all, too much color..."

Strife watches the fecal matter and blood burn off Death's arm and asks, "What did you call us here for, brother?"

Death kicks the headless Alicorn's corpse aside and then says, "Help me slaughter every living soul in this city, from infant to elder, and then I shall tell you of what I am planning. Be sure to bring all souls you collect to me so that I can remove any corruption in them."

Minutes later, they stand before the guillotine as Fury looks upon the human's corpse, crossing her arms as she turns back to her brother, asking, "Everything is dead, what is going on in that head of yours, brother?"

Death looks down at the corpses of the Pillars of Equestria and the element bearers, picking up Rarity's head and looking into her lifeless eyes, asking, "To be...or not to be...that is the question." Taking his gaze off the pretty pony's head, he turns to his sister and says, "An...acquaintance of ours came up with a plan for us to do away with the Charred Council once and for all and take their place in managing the balance. Will you all join me in earning our freedom after being slaves for so long?"

Fury looks at him with eager eyes and a smile asking, "You don't have to ask me twice, I'm up for taking those corrupt bastards down."

War is the next to speak up, crossing his arms and saying with a nod while frowning, "They risk destroying the balance for their own gains, and they treat us all like garbage. I will help."

Strife is the last one to respond, putting a hand to his chin and saying, "They have gotten too weak, and corrupt to safely maintain the delicate balance. I'm in. What do we need to do, brother?"

With the souls of the five alicorns and element bearers in his keeping, Death looks at each of his siblings and says, "We just need to slaughter every living thing on this planet that draws breath and a few of us to stand guard over it while this planet's guardian begins to repopulate it. It will be many years until the time is right when the necessary strength is around to gain our freedom."

Remembering what she saw earlier sparks her curiosity as she asks her sibling, "Brother, who was that earlier that turned into mist and vanished earlier?"

With a slight smile under his mask, he tucks Rarity's head away for a memento and turns to his sister, saying, "That was my daughter, Faint Whisper, who is also a niece to you and our brothers."

All three of them look at their brother with wide eyes as Strife approaches Death as they all ask in astonishment, "You...have a...daughter?!

Fury recovers and starts chuckling, saying, "Never in a million years, would I ever expect to hear those words from you, brother. You are in for a rude surprise when she gets old enough to date, Daddy Death."

War looks at him questioningly and asks, "Are you sure that was wise, brother?"

Strife steps forth and places his hands at his hips, considering the need to draw his pistols, saying, "That was rather stupid of you, brother. We slaughtered our kin mercilessly, and you have the gall to bring a child into our lives!? Do you feel no shame or guilt for what we did to our entire race?"

He turns to his brother with narrowed eyes and makes a fist, keeping his hands at his sides as he glares at his younger brother saying, "Of course I do! We had to kill them all because they were threatening the balance and were destroying other worlds. It wasn't by choice that I brought a half nephilim child into being, you all can blame Panoptos for that as it was his doing behind my back when he was away."

Scowling, Strife walks towards his brother angrily and says, "You fool! The Council already knows of your betrayal, and they will have the perfect excuse to kill us all!" He then draws his pistols and starts attacking his brother in earnest.

As they start fighting each other, Panoptos looks at what is happening and shakes his head, saying quietly to the filly right next to him, "Ugh...I need to break up these squabbling siblings. Be right back, little one."

Faint watches from her place in her father's mind with a quiet nod and pale, celadon eyes, saying, "I know you enjoy watching the misfortune of others, but it is your responsibility to clear things up before they kill each other..." She then gazes at the watcher with a baleful glare, letting a bit of anger shine through her eyes as she threatens the watcher, saying, "If my father dies because of anything you do or fail to do...I will make you regret it before you pay the price."

Panoptos trembles as a cold shiver of fear crawls up his spine, even worse than what he used to feel from the Council. The fear he feels towards the young filly's threat becomes a promise in her eyes as they turn an angry shade of orangish-red, making him gulp and nod his head in clear understanding of what would happen if he fails.

As he filters back into the world, he sees them still fighting each other and puts two fingers into his mouth and whistles sharply. The sharp whistle gets them to stop fighting and look at him, then the three others charge toward him as he says, "The Council do not yet know of my plans against them."

War watches the other two stop in their charge toward him, but he continues on angrily, shouting, "You will not fool me, servant! Now die!"

Fury watches with amusement as the watcher manages to barely evade her brother's attacks, then asks the watcher, "How can we be sure you tell the truth? We know it was you who caused the mess with the Abomination Vault."

Panoptos bobs and weaves, getting shallow cuts along his body as he tries to respond, "That was indeed my doing, though I only did it to try to be free of the council..." He separates himself in half to avoid being killed by War's swing, and continues to evade wildly, saying, "When I was sent here, I saw another opportunity arise after a few thousand years. An opportunity that I capitalized on and discovered that the beings here can also suffer from corruption, a slightly less malevolent form of corruption. Therefore, I started making plans to free myself and my brethren from the council's rule once and for all. I set things into motion as I started to spread the corruption to certain targets and made false reports to my masters."

Thinking things through, she chuckles and looks at the watcher, saying, "You are working with my big brother...aren't you?"

Narrowly avoiding another attack from War, he says, "It took a little effort to convince Death to go along with it, though he was not happy with me spreading corruption among the ponies of this planet. He also tried to kill me a few times in between and quite literally beat me up and down nearly every tall mountain in Equestria when he discovered he was going to be a father." With a huff he dodges again and shouts, "He nearly killed me three times!"

With a laugh, she uses her whip to pull War away from the watcher and holds him in a choke hold, saying, "I know you despise watchers, brother, but calm down. We all know how badly the council treats their servants..."

After struggling futilely for several seconds, he grumbles and wields, tapping his sister's arm to get her to release him, saying with a huff, "Are you certain this scheme will succeed?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Death shakes his head, saying, "Nothing is ever certain, but I am positive that we will stand a better chance at killing all three watchers instead of possibly one on our own with the elements of harmony and a few others aiding us in the fight. Shall we get started on cleansing this world?"

In a location hidden from the surface world

Equis sobs as she watches the horsemen go their separate ways, hunting down each and every thing that lives and breathes wherever they go. Nowhere is safe as they always seem to know where the ponies try to hide, some even trying to hide in the swamp until War unleashes his rage and burns the swamp away, turning it into a dry and desolate area where no trees remain.

Few years pass as all the species with souls finally meet their end, with the dragons being the very last race to go when she pulls all four of them into her realm. The three others look at her and start to head toward her until Death reaches his arm out and stops them by saying, "No, she's the guardian."

With the last creature with a soul dead, except for herself and Discord, Equis sighs and says, "With the last soul gone, I can begin to start over."

Death looks over at her to see Discord pop in and wave sheepishly at him and his siblings, saying, "Are you an immortal, Discord?"

Discord nods his head and says, "I am since I became the god of mischief, why do you ask?"

With a sigh, he says, "Then we can't kill you and return you to the cycle, as it may interfere with our plans. That means you get to live. After surrendering your memories, you can disappear."

Smiling widely, he says, "What an offer, and it is one that I can happily accept! I can then return from where and when I came from, I have been looking for an opportunity to go on vacation!" With a snap of his fingers, he produces a figurine of himself sitting on a golden throne while laughing at something and hands it over to Death, snapping his fingers again to seal his memories inside, saying, "There...now why can't I remember anything besides my name and who I am."

As if just now noticing that he is not alone for the first time, he gasps fearfully as his eyes look upon the creature wearing a mask with glowing reddish orange eyes, saying, "Scary." while disappearing with a snap of his fingers.

Death looks to his siblings and asks, "Now if you would give me the souls you collected on this world, I can begin cleansing them."

As they send their souls to their older brother, they watch as Panoptos pulls the corruption out of some of their souls and destroys it before their very eyes.

Once the last bit of corruption is removed, he puts the souls into his Soul Cairn and looks at Equis, asking, "Do you ever speak with your inhabitants?"

Shaking her head, Equis says, "No, I only ever use my magic to give them a 'guiding hand', but I've never had a reason to use my voice." With a sigh, she then says, "With your tasks done, you should be on your way so that I can focus on starting over."

Satisfied with her reply, Death nods and turns to his siblings, saying, "Let's retire to my home for the time being while she works." Before opening a portal to his mansion over the vault, he looks at Equis and says, "Let us know when you are ready for us to walk upon the land once more, Equis."

Nodding her head, she says, "I will, but it will not be anytime soon. I need to completely recycle this world, which will take me thousands of years to do."

Summoning his portal, he turns to his siblings and says, "You all continue on without me, I need to take care of something." Turning his attention to his daughter, he says, "Alright sweetie, you go on with them as this will only take me a few minutes."

Nodding her head, she makes her way over to her father and flaps her wings gently to hover just in front of him and wraps her forehooves around his neck, saying, "Don't take too long with Azrael, okay daddy?"

Almost surprised that she knows about the Archangel guarding the dimension where the Well of Souls is, he sighs in annoyance, saying, "I'm guessing either Panoptos told you about it or that you followed me there when I was tending to a passing soul."

With a gentle smirk, she looks into her father's eyes and says, "I followed you there when I was eight out of curiosity." With pleading eyes, she looks into his and asks, "When are you going to teach me how to do what you do?"

Gazing back at her with a stern look, he says in a hard tone, "When you're old enough to drink alcohol, and only IF I decide your ready."

Pouting, Faint Whisper huffs and lets go, then returns to the ground, saying, "I guess I will just have to make do with that for now..." Walking back up to her father, she then nuzzles against his leg, saying, "I will see you when you arrive to show me around, daddy."

Death affectionately rubs the back of her neck before she trots off after her aunt and uncles through the portal, then closes it behind her and opens a new portal to the Well of Souls.

Archangel Azrael watches as Death enters the room and flies down toward him, saying, "You have returned, horseman. What brings you to visit the well once again?"

The portal winks out of existence behind him, hearing a familiar voice greet him and answers, "I have returned to inform you that everything is ready for you to play your part."

The angel lands gracefully on the ground before death and then holds out his hand, saying, "If you would so kindly hand them over to me, I will get them cleansed and cycle them through when I get word from the guardian."

Death holds his ornate Soul Cairn in his hand and sends every soul inside it to the Archangel, then watches as he then sends them on through to be cleansed. As the last soul is handed over, he nods his head, saying, "Now, the waiting begins..."

Archangel Azrael sends the last soul through after ensuring it is clean of corruption and nods, saying, "It does indeed, be sure to tell your daughter I look forward to when her training begins."

Turning around with a huff, he waves his hand dismissively, saying, "I'll be sure to do that whenever I decide the moment's right."

He watches as Death passes through the portal and it vanishes, saying with a chuckle, "That time will come sooner than you think, I assure you."

When Death returns to his mansion home over the Abomination Vault, he sighs, saying, "Panoptos, go visit your brethren for a little while so my family and I can spend time together."

Panoptos then departs, saying, "I will return in a few weeks and report to the Council in the meantime."

Time Passage loosely covering about 100,000 to 300,000 years

In the first few years, Death gets a rude wake-up call when his daughter has her first period, which proves as a constant source of amusement for Fury each time it comes around.

Surprisingly, Fury becomes something like a big sister to Faint as she teaches her a few things, such as how to use a whip and manage her mane and tail.

When she turns eighteen, she learns to fight from War and Strife, then how to use her magic to boost her body's attributes from Ruin, and Mayhem while Despair teaches her how to travel under the surface and reappear in a burst of magical fire to make a dramatic entrance or exit. Much to Death's annoyance, even Panoptos teaches her what he knows about shadow magic.

As years turn into decades and then into centuries, she finally badgers daddy dearest into teaching her how to reap souls. The experiences quickly become treasured memories when she is allowed to go reap a soul, with her own special trinkets on a bracelet that assist her with her reaping tasks. Never allowed to go alone, however, due to how many would relish the chance to get revenge on her dear father.

Throughout the years, as she ages more slowly after hitting puberty, she still firmly remains her daddy's girl thousands of years later when they all find themselves brought into a dark space with Equis standing before them and informs them that the world has become ready for them to walk upon it.

When they arrive upon the surface, they find themselves in a lush oasis when Fury and Strife take their leave to check on the human realm.

After wandering the world, they discover that the world only has a single continent and make their home deep in a forest of trees with bark harder than iron, and so dark due to how little light the canopy allows through. The menacing aura makes Death and his daughter feel right at home while War makes his home on the side of an active volcano.

Despite being so far apart from each other, all four of them still get together at the mansion each winter. In time, tens of thousands of years pass by when the first ponies appear as wild creatures unable to speak, fly, or use magic.

As other creatures start to emerge and treat the ponies as food, they adapt and learn to make shelters, defend themselves with magic, and even learning to fly, allowing them to attack or flee.

A few centuries later, however, a great quake shakes the ground beneath them as the sky becomes filled with smoke and ash when a supervolcano erupts and splits the continent up into smaller continent. Becoming further apart over a couple centuries, a great sea forms between them all.

Death and Faint both watch curiously as the world goes through an ice age, forcing the inhabitants to adapt or perish while two of the larger continents are drawn back together again. Their collision forms a few mountain ranges between the two over a couple thousand years with the southern portion remaining a snowy land while the northern part becomes more hospitable.

With the forest around them in the southern part of the newly formed landmass, the dad and daughter make do with what they can to get by through the long years ahead. When ponies begin to form tribes and band together by pony types, they do their best to maintain as little contact with them as possible.

It takes about a thousand years for the sun and move to stop moving on their own after a powerful spell is foolishly unleashed by the unicorns, causing the tribes to become distrustful of each other.

A few centuries later, the southern land is very nice as the northern land begins to become colder as snow and ice start to cover everything to the west, which slowly crawls its way across the northern land as the tribes continue to squabble.

Once the tribes are forced to move from the now fully snow-covered northern lands to a warmer place several miles south, Faint Whisper observes from her shadowy state as they start fighting again. Their fighting soon attracts the attention of the wendigos as they fill the sky with snow-filled clouds, which begins to fall upon their new land.

Observing the ponies take shelter in a cave a few days later, she follows them in and keeps hidden. Unsurprisingly, it isn't long before they start fighting again as a storm begins to brew above them and seal them inside the cave with ice, giggling softly as she whispers, "Coexist...or freeze."

Faint watches with curiosity as the leader's assistants save the day and discover the fire of friendship, eventually thawing the leaders frozen bodies and heading out into the warming land. Working together, they all agreed to name the land Equestria and live together in harmony for as long as they live.

It takes her some effort to convince her father to leave the forest and watch the ponies live their lives, watching several events over the years that they have only heard or read about.

Two millenia pass as the four siblings hear an intense shouting match from several miles away in the Castle of Two Sisters, causing Faint to look in the castle's direction in her bipedal, half-nephilim/half pony form and clap her hands, saying, "We all should know what will be happening soon..."

Death pulls his daughter closer to him with one arm around her shoulder, saying, "We do indeed sweetie...your mother will be returning to us in a millenia." Turning to his siblings, he says, "We should limit our gatherings for only on Hearth's Warming and a few times each year with it getting closer to when the new element bearers are chosen."

Faint sighs as the others nod their heads in agreement, saying, "Awe...but when they are chosen, can I go out and meet other ponies? I would really like to have someone to talk to besides my family."

Fury chuckles and wraps her arm around her brother's shoulder and pinching her cheek, saying, "Awe, daddy's little death princess wants to make a friend."

Blushing at the nickname, she groans and pushes her away, saying, "Oh come on Fury, I was like twenty when I came up with that..."

Laying her hands on her cheeks and pulling her niece to her, she smothers her with kisses, saying, "Too bad now sweetheart, because you're stuck with it."

With no choice but to turn into a mist and flee to around her father's neck, she groans pitifully, saying, "Aunt Fury is being mean to me dad."

Chapter XV: The Return

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter IX: When hearts & vows break

The horseman narrows his eyes and asks, 'There's something else...isn't there?'

The watcher mentally smiles at his intuition and says, 'There is, yes...I want you to be charming and mysterious towards her, then do whatever you must when the time is right, and have your way with her.'

(Death) Seven narrows his eyes further as he then shouts, 'Are you going to have me lay with every important pony on this planet?!'

Panoptos giggles in his annoying tone and says, 'Oh, of course not...Twilight and that mare will be dealt with by the human without realizing we're pulling the strings, though you will have a small part to play with Twilight if everything goes to plan.'

The horseman walks past the spinning crystal heart and makes his way towards the entrance into the castle saying, 'Good, because I do not want to catch something from these wretched ponies...'

Twilight and Cadance make their way back to the throne room as Cadance smiles and says, "I wish good luck in your pursuit, Twilight. I hope that someday, you might make your brother an uncle and me an aunt so we can spoil your foal rotten as we should."

The young princess blushes at hearing that and smiles saying, "Th-thank you Cadance, I really appreciate you offering us all a place to stay tonight. I will talk to Seven and Carl to ask what they think about staying here for a night before we go back."

Cadance smiles as they reach the throne room and says, "I am just doing what a good friend and sister-in-law should, though I do hope that they agree to stay the night here."

(Death) Seven enters the castle as he sees Twilight and Cadance stop talking and turn toward him and speaks first, "Well, for the moment my business is on hold as the beast I was chasing eluded me, might it be possible for us to get a room in the Empire tonight so I can resume my hunt tomorrow?"

The pink princess looks at Twilight momentarily and then turns back to Seven saying, "It is indeed possible, if Carl agrees, I can get you all rooms here in the castle."

A few minutes pass as the girls ask Seven various questions which he answers the best he can without telling them about his true identity when Carl and Flurry make their way into the throne room as well when Twilight smiles widely and says, "Welcome back you two, did you have fun catching up?"

Carl looks at her and nods his head as Flurry clings to his leg and thanks him for the pretty necklace he got her, rubbing her head gently and says, "We most certainly did, I even took her to get some crystal cakes as a treat."

Twilight looks at the necklace he got her and smiles at the silver heart necklace around her neck and shifts her gaze to Carl and asks, "Would you like to stay the night here, or do you need to get back?" while silently hoping that he agrees to stay the night.

The human thinks about it for a moment before answering, "I would enjoy the chance to stay in the Crystal Empire, it will give me the chance to spend more time with little Flur."

Cadance smiles and then says, "It is decided then. You all shall have rooms here in the castle, I hope that you don't have any problem sharing a room with Twilight, Carl."

Carl blushes and stammers a moment before clearing his voice saying, "Umm, no I have no problem with that, are there not enough rooms for us each to have one?"

She grins and lies saying, "Unfortunately, there aren't because we must keep a room available for any dignitaries that may show up unannounced."

He shrugs his shoulders and accepts it without another thought saying, "I can understand that, can you show us where we will be sleeping for the night?"

Cadance nods her head and heads towards a spiral staircase saying, "Please follow me then."

After being shown to his room, Death starts to go into his room when he hears Cadance say, "Excuse me, but can I talk to you for a bit?"

(Death) Seven nods his head and goes into his room saying, "What's on your mind, princess?"

She follows him in and closes the door behind her, then casts a privacy barrier saying, "I was hoping for a chance to get to know you better."

The horseman sits down on the bed as Panoptos departs to do his business and says, "What is it you wish to know?"

Cadance stands in front of him and looks at his eyes behind the mask and asks, "From what Twilight told me what she knows about you, I believe that you are a pony that has seen a lot in your life."

(Death) Seven chuckles and says, "I won't lie, I most certainly have, what is it you really want to know...love princess?"

She is taken aback by his remark about the meaning of her name and then lets out a breath saying, "What is it you want in life? I can tell with my abilities that your source of love is almost completely nonexistent, what happened to make you this way?"

He looks at her with a raised eyebrow and says, "Hmm...if I'm going to tell you anything, you need to make a formal promise to me and my book of secrets. Could you bring yourself to make such a decision?"

Cadance thinks it over for a moment as her desire to know more about him wins over and she nods her head saying, "I will make a formal promise. Where is your book at?"

(Death) Seven places his hoof on the charm hanging from his necklace and calls it forth, summoning it on the bed beside him saying, "It is right beside me, so place your hoof upon the book and formally swear that you will not tell a single soul what personal information I deign to part upon you."

She sighs at being asked to do such a thing like that and approaches the book, then places her hoof upon it and says, "Very well. I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, swear upon my own life, to keep these secrets to myself and not share them with another living soul."

He watches as a wind kicks up around her and a green glow surrounds the book saying, "You have nothing to fear princess, for this is just the binding contract being formed. My book will notify me if you should ever break your promise, if you do...I will come and kill you along with whoever you told. If anyone asks you for any of the actual information about me, you are only allowed to say that you made a promise and cannot divulge anything."

Cadance watches as the book stops glowing and he returns it to his necklace saying, "Now that you are bound to take my secret to the grave, I shall answer your question. What I want in life is freedom for my remaining family and protect the delicate balance."

She then cocks her head and says, "Twilight was right, you do seem older and wiser than you appear. May I ask how old you really are?"

(Death) Seven smirks behind his mask and says, "I am old enough to be able to call both Celestia and Luna babies when compared to my own age. To answer your question, I am not quite sure. I stopped counting after 7 millennia, so I have no real clue as to how old I am now."

Cadance's eyes are wide at hearing that and blinks a few times before returning to normal and asking, "What can you tell me about your family?"

He thinks for a moment and then says, "Well one of my brothers is no doubt sleeping while my other brother and sister are off somewhere else taking care of a pet project of hers. We four are all that is left of the 6 billion others of our kind."

She sighs sadly at hearing that and says, "You must feel so lonely without anypony you love to keep you company, have you thought about finding a love interest and raising a family?"

(Death) Seven shakes his head and says, "Is that your way of offering yourself to me?"

Cadance blushes at his remark and backs away saying, "W-What?! N-No, I'm not offering myself to you. I was just showing consideration for how you might feel."

The horseman chuckles at her reaction and says, "I am only joking. I know you were, but no, I don't want to raise any more monsters than I have to put down."

She turns away with a slight blush on her cheeks and says, "Everyone should experience being a father, and you are no exception to that."

(Death) Seven looks at her from behind the mask and says, "There is no one that could ever understand and bear what I do, and there will never be. We four are fated to be alone for all eternity for what we did to our entire race, I myself am feared and hated for my actions.

Cadance sighs at realizing he won't let her help and says, "Very well then, I shall leave you be then." then gets up and makes her way to exit the room.

Remembering what Panoptos said, he looks her way and says, "Even though I am refusing your help, I do enjoy your company. Perhaps we can talk again tomorrow if I locate the beast I am looking for, would you like that?"

She turns around and nods quickly, hastily saying, "Yes!" and catches her excitement then calms herself down, clearing her throat saying, "Ahem, I apologize for my excitement. What I mean to say is that I would like that if our schedules allowed the chance for us to speak again." and then turns around, feeling like a young filly on a new, exciting adventure.

(Death) Seven watches her leave calmly, but hears a quiet prancing outside the door and shakes his head saying, "I will never cease to wonder why they feel and act the way they do. They live a life that passes by in the blink of an eye, yet treat it like it is an eternity...how annoying."

A few hours later, after sunset

Death is lying down on the soft bed when he hears Panoptos speak through the link, 'The time has come horseman, why don't you wander the halls and see where Cadance has gotten off to. She might find your company...desirable after she sees what I put into motion.'

The horseman looks at his watcher with disdain and uses the link to say, 'Ugh, what have you cooked up now Panoptos, a castle orgy?'

Panoptos huffs in disappointment and says through their link, 'Oh don't insult me, I would never do something so lame and tasteless. Whatever I do has to have some sort of an interesting twist to it.'

Death continues to gaze off into nothing as he raises his eyebrow towards the annoying watcher.

He senses the horseman's querying gaze and brushes it off saying, 'Don't give me that look, I won't let you spoil my fun. If you must know, you will just have to go out for a stroll and if you happen to bump into Cadance, be sure to offer to escort her saying, "It would be my honor to escort such a breathtakingly beautiful princess to her destination in this chilly crystal castle." Now get going horseman before you miss your golden opportunity.'

The horseman feels the watcher ignore him for the time being and sighs saying, "Well I guess I have no choice but to play along once again. I look forward to when we can get off this planet, its inhabitants annoy me greatly." then gets up out of bed and starts wandering the halls blindly.

Cadance is on her way to the royal bathing chamber when she spots a pair of glowing eyes behind a mask, realizing that it is Seven and smiles saying, "Oh Seven, it's you. I saw your eyes and recognized you because of the mask you never take off, what brings you to wander the castle in the late hours of the night?"

He then steps into the light of a dimly glowing cerulean lamp and smiles saying, "Well, I wanted to see more of this castle. To be perfectly clear, I would like to see more of the castle...with you."

Her heart skips a beat at being flirted with and smiles kindly at him and says, "It would be wise of you to remember that I am married and rule over a kingdom. It makes me happy that you wish to know me better, but I must be on my way now and hope that we get the chance to talk tomorrow."

(Death) Seven bows reverently to her and says, "May I have just one request granted by you?"

Cadance looks at him with a gentle smile and nods her head in agreement saying, "Very well, what might this request be?"

He looks up with determination and says, "If you would permit me, it would be my honor to escort such a breathtakingly beautiful princess as you to her destination in this chilly crystal castle."

Her heart flutters in her chest as her innermost fantasy's starting words are said, causing her to blush deeply as her inner filly dances for joy and takes over her body, saying, "Very well, I shall permit your request. I am on my way to the royal bathing chamber, shall we be on our way then?"

(Death) Seven smiles at her granting his request and begins following her down the hall saying, "Thank you so much for granting me this honor, Princess Cadance."

This section contains UNSAFE elements not recommended for work, and should be read at a safer time!

Cadance feels so light at her fantasy finally unfolding and almost misses hearing a running shower coming from an open door down the hall. Making her way to the open door, she catches a glimpse of the room inside and notices that it is her daughter's room. She looks through the gap and sees her husband sitting in front of their daughter's bathroom with an oddly familiar smile on his face.

The horseman sees her looking at something and quietly whispers into her ear, "What is going on, what do you see?"

She watches her husband intently, wanting to remember where she saw that face before and quietly mutters, "Where have I seen that expression before?"

(Death) Seven walks up beside the princess of love and puts his head below hers, then looks into the room to see Shining Armor, Cadance's husband, staring with a lustful expression on his face. He pulls back from the slightly open door and places his mouth by her ear and whispers, "I see now, that is a face I have seen before, however, it is a face that no father should have when looking at his own daughter."

Cadance pulls away from the crack and looks at her escort asking just barely above a whisper, "You recognize that look? Please tell me, I must know what it is!"

The horseman looks into the room again as she also takes another look and whispers loud enough for her to hear, "That, is the face of one who is lusting after someone. This means that he is looking into her bathing room with indecent thoughts and desires, wanting to touch another in an intimate way as he touches you."

She gasps in surprise and hurt as it all makes sense, tears start to well up in her eyes at her husband's betrayal. She turns to run back to her room but is stopped by Seven who is holding her in place with his forelegs and looks up at him asking with a hurt tone, "What do you want?"

(Death) Seven watches as tears trickle down her cheeks and fall to the floor then says, "I see that you are in pain, but do you know what the best medicine for a wounded heart is?"

Cadance's voice hitches as she fights back crying and asks, "Wh-What would that be?"

The horseman lets go of her and looks towards the room, then back to her saying, "Getting revenge on him and keeping it a secret."

She considers it for a fraction of a second when her rational self takes command and straightens out her thinking, making her shake her head and whisper back, "No, that is wrong."

(Death) Seven then glances back into the room to see the husband start to play with himself and then looks back at Cadance saying, "That is very true, but tell me how you feel when you see what he is doing now."

Cadance looks back into the room and immediately wishes she hadn't as her heart is torn even more while her tears start running down her face in small rivers at seeing her husband masturbating to the sight of watching their daughter bathe herself. After watching him sit outside the door masturbating for a few moments, something inside her snaps as she looks at him with anger and then turns to face Seven and then says just above a whisper, "So, you said that secret revenge is the best medicine, right?"

The horseman smiles underneath his mask and simply nods in confirmation saying, "I did indeed."

She then breathes in deeply and lets it out slowly asking, "Where do we begin?"

(Death) Seven then smirks and says with a whisper as smooth as silk, "It all begins with a kiss..." and slowly lifts his hoof to underneath her chin and begins guiding her in for a kiss in front of the open door while her husband continues playing with himself.

Just before their lips touch, Cadance's rational mind manages to just barely wrest control back from her raging heart, helping her realize that this won't fix anything as she pulls her head back and away from Seven's lips and says, "We can't do this, it will destroy my family."

Panoptos chuckles through the link and says into Death's mind, 'Oh don't worry dearie, your family's already doomed. They just don't know it yet...' then pauses a moment and says, 'I figured she might be too strong to fall for that so soon, be sure to keep on trying to wear her down.'

The horseman pulls back and nods his head in understanding and says, "Very well then, be sure to let me know when you can't bear it anymore. I will drop whatever I am doing at the moment and come assist you. Shall we be on our way then, Princess Cadance?"

She turns away from the sight of her husband masturbating and continues towards the royal bathing chamber, walking down the dark hallway until she hears noises of intimacy coming from Carl's room further down the hall. Unable to resist, her curiosity gets the better of her and she walks right past the royal bathing chamber and stops by the cracked open door then tries to see inside, but can't see anything. Still able to hear the occupant passionately kissing another, she hears Twilight's voice come from inside saying, "I'm sorry my spell malfunctioned and brought you here. Although Princess Celestia and Princess Luna say it is hopeless, I will not stop looking for a way to return you from where you came. Thank you for agreeing to be my very first Special Somepony, I will do whatever I can to make this a memorable and special night for us both."

Carl's voice then filters through the crack as Twilight is cut off, making a brief, surprised 'ah' when he says, "Little bookworm, intimacy is one thing that takes very few if any words."

Twilight's voice is heard by Cadance as she giggles, saying, "You're right, my apologies."

(Death) Seven rolls his eyes at the lovey-dovey exchange as he hears the human say, "Bookworm...shut up and kiss me some more."

Cadance moves a little closer to the crack, hoping to catch a peek of what's happening inside when a gust of wind blows the door further open with a loud creak. Forced to jerk back from the door to keep from being hit by it, she prays that the pair inside didn't see her there.

Twilight groans and says, "Oh that stupid wind blew out the candle, let me relight it."

Carl grins and looks at Twilight, shaking his head saying, "Don't bother, we have another light source. The beautiful full moon provided by Princess Luna." he then notices the open door and says, "Seems like you forgot to close the door. Want me to go close it?"

She looks at the door and thinks for a moment before turning her head back to Carl and says, "Don't worry about it, there won't be anypony else awake in the castle at this time. Except for the guards, but they don't patrol this part of the-" but is cut off by her special somepony giving her a deep, passionate kiss.

Curiosity gets the best of Cadance as she slowly peeks around the corner to see the human on top of Twilight with her on her back, and her wings around Carl's broad back. Their faces are both angled as he slowly slides his naked hips forward and back, able to see how large he is when his tip reaches halfway up her barrel.

The human slides his member up and down the center of her lower body over her light purple nipples and pulls his head back asking, "Are you ready sweetie?"

Feeling a little nervous, she stammers out, "Y-Yes, but...will it hurt?"

Carl looks at her, cradling her head and neck with his right and left hands, nodding his head saying, "The first time always hurts and is always messy due to your virginity being taken, but I promise you that I will be slow and grant you time to adjust to it."

Twilight takes a calming breath and then says, "Right, my parents did say that a mare's hymen gets torn when she has intercourse with somepony she loves for the first time. She also told me that it doesn't heal so a mare needs to choose her first time carefully because you only get one chance to keep it special. Please be careful with me, I'm new to this my love."

(Death) Seven listens to their conversation and waits for his moment to strike as he looks at Cadance's behind when her tail swings too far to one side, gracing him with a perfect view of her nethers. Hearing a pained gasp followed by a shrill hiss, he lifts his mask up over his mouth, then moves in when her tail is out of the way and licks up her lips, then slips his tongue in and starts to make out with her entrance.

Cadance's tail shoots up and out of the way on instinct as she gasps in shocked surprise at feeling her vagina lips being licked from behind, turning around and is about to cast a small privacy barrier to shout at her escort for his action when she feels his tongue push into her folds, sending a spasm of pleasure up through her body and causing her legs to widen slightly while her eyes go half-lidded.

A few moments pass as she adjusts to the pleasurable feeling and then quickly casts a privacy bubble just big enough to encircle Seven and her and says in a harsh whisper, "JUST WHAT IN TARTARUS DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BACK THERE!! I'M A MARRIED MARE AND A PRINCESS NO LESS, I COULD HAVE YOU HAULED OFF TO THE DUNGEON FOR DOING THIS!"

The horseman grins and then presses on with his assault and sucks a lip into his mouth, pulling away to let it escape with a wet pop saying near her opening to keep her from seeing any part of his face, "Go right ahead love princess, call out for the guards and ruin Twilight and Carl's special night. See if that will help you become an aunt any faster."

Surprised by what he just said, she hesitates and asks, "Y-You heard that? How long were you lurking outside?"

(Death) Seven gives her a swift lick as he pulls away slightly and says, "I did indeed, but I wasn't lurking outside...I just have really good ears. Shall I continue with my ministrations or are you going to use the royal voice to call for the guards?"

Trapped between her desire to be an aunt and her duty to report crimes against her or any other pony, she remembers how her husband betrayed her and then sighs with a blush rising to her cheeks saying, "C-Continue...on. I warn you now, if you ever do something like this again...I will shout to the guards and have them escort you to Tartarus after being exiled from all of Equestria."

The horseman nods and says, "As you wish, Your Highness." then continues his ministrations on her entrance, noticing how she tenses up and leans back when he goes over a certain spot.

Candance feels herself coming towards an orgasm as her inner spring keeps getting tighter and tighter thinking, 'My husband hasn't even done this to me yet and I'm going to have my first one with another stallion?!' Her spring suddenly snaps as she leans backward and arches her back while lifting her head towards the sky and letting out a loud moan.

(Death) Seven tastes a sweet flavor mixed with strawberries from a liquid that shoots into his mouth and thinks to himself, 'Oh, so she is a squirter...how typical for the Love Princess.' and sucks both lips into his mouth and drinks her nectar down, not entirely displeased with the sweet taste.

As her convulsions slowly wind down, she pants quickly from her intense orgasm with a dopey grin on her face. Feeling the afterglow, she sighs deeply and looks back at her escort with a slight pleading look then asks, "Do you think...umm...you could do that again?"

The horseman wants to play the long game and have this stay a secret then listens to the couple in the room, shaking his head a moment later saying, "I would help you feel that blissful sensation, but it sounds like those two are just about done in there. Care to watch the grand finale?"

A smile crosses her lips as she nods and dispels the barrier just in time to hear Carl tell Twilight he is getting close, asking what she wants him to do. She pokes her head around the edge just in time to see Twilight hook the back of her rear legs around his and huskily moans out, "Don't..Don't pull out...I want it all...deep inside, my love."

Lost in the moment and hearing her say that sends him barreling towards the edge as he wraps his arms around her neck, gripping her mane in both hands, pushing on her shoulders while also pulling her head back by her mane and saying, "Oh my little bookworm, I love you too!" then fully buries himself inside her tight confines and unloads deep inside of her.

Twilight's orgasm is triggered by his when she feels the searing heat pouring into her womb, letting out a shrill cry as her back arches up towards Carl and her muscles clamp down on his member, trying to pull it further into her. On instinct, she bites down on the top part of his shoulder to mark him as her mate.

Cadance's body shudders excitedly as she watches Twilight's abdomen begin to swell after a few moments of them being locked together, silently wondering, 'I wonder how big she is going to get when he is finished...'

Wanting to catch her off guard, (Death) Seven slips around her left side where he could be spotted if the two lovers weren't so caught up in each other, and places his right hoof underneath the right side of her chin while moving his head closer. He slowly applies pressure to her jaw to get her to turn her head and when her eyes turn to face him, he takes one last step and angles his head to give her a deep, intimate kiss, lifting his mask just high enough with the tip of his wing.

She opens her mouth to ask what he wants, but is surprised when she finds him slipping his tongue into her mouth. She is about to bite down when she starts to sense a bit of loneliness from how he is kissing her and decides to let him kiss her to help him through the sad emotion, going so far as to kiss him back tenderly to show him she would take his loneliness from her if he would let her.

A few moments pass as the kiss starts to heat up when the horseman senses her sharing her love with him and breaks the kiss while pulling on her lip teasingly, saying quietly, "It is always best to leave a mare wanting more."

Cadance then turns away in a pout saying, "Hmph, well you got me all ready and willing to go...now you're just going to leave me alone. How cruel..."

(Death) Seven then pulls her to face him again and playfully licks her nose while setting his hoof back on the ground with a soft, deep chuckle as he drops his mask back down over his mouth, saying, "Me? Cruel?" then chuckles again saying, "No, life is cruel. I am the way I was meant to be, but I will tell you more tomorrow if we happen to have time to talk again. Shall we get going to your destination before the two lovers notice us?"

She blushes at still being in the hall by her door and looks in one more time to see that Twilight's abdomen has become the size of a mare nearing her due date, then hears Twilight tell Carl about a spell to keep his gift from spilling out on the sheets.

END OF SCENE, PLEASE ENJOY THE REST OF THE STORY!

Twilight then casts the spell and rolls on her left side away from the door, looking at her Special Somepony and asking, "Can we cuddle tonight my love?"

Carl looks at his girlfriend and smiles affectionately saying, "Of course we can, my love. I'll be the big spoon." and slips in behind her, wrapping his arms around her affectionately before giving her a tender kiss goodnight saying, "Sweet dreams my little bookworm."

She then giggles and snuggles closer to him saying, "Goodnight, my big humie."

Cadance then turns and walks back down the hall towards the royal bathing chamber as Seven follows her, quietly asking a ways from Carl's open door, "So, have you ever been romantic with anyone?"

(Death) Seven thinks back to the early days and then says, "I was, although it was many, many millennia ago." then leaves it at that adding, "That is all I will say about it for now."

After arriving at her destination, she turns and faces Seven and says, "Goodnight, Seven. I hope you have pleasant dreams tonight and wish that we do get a chance to talk some more tomorrow."

The horseman nods to her and then says, "Farewell Love Princess, I wish that you make it through the night with your sanity intact after what you saw tonight with your husband."

She then opens the door and starts entering the room saying, "Hmph, don't even mention that traitor. He is going to have to get some action from the Red Crystal Hotel that the stallions have been frequenting lately. I have thought about shutting it down, but after tonight...I will just make a few rules for them to follow so I won't shut them down permanently."

(Death) Seven watches her enter the room with a minor sway in her step and heads down the hallway, feeling a peasant mood coming over him. Inspired by his new mood, he begins humming a low, ominous tune that he once heard on a show called 'Supernatural'.

Cadance listens to his humming, finding it strange and hauntingly alluring, quietly wondering what the song's called, and begins to hum it herself as she closes the door to start bathing.