Fate's Hand

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."