Fate's Hand

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."