Author's Note

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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..."