Guardians of Equestria : The Emperor's March

A shiver overcame her, everything around her has gotten cold all of a sudden. Applejack woke up in surprise only to be find herself in an unfamiliar location. She was on a small boat and in front of her was a figure who was rowing the boat, its face hidden by a dark robe. They were on a large river inside of a gigantic cave which glowed a bright green on the far end. The water looked ethereal, and there happened to be no ceiling to the cave, as if it didn’t have a limit to its height. “What- Where am I?” uttered the mare in confusion.

“Hmm? What do you mean by where am I?” said the figure as it lifted its head. Its face was just a skull with blue flames on its eyes which startled the earth pony. “Are you perhaps still in denial? Or are you just a clueless idiot? And geez, you look like shit. I guess you must have had it rough back there.” Applejack felt offended by the skeleton’s rude and unhelpful response.

“Just tell me where I am already sir.”

“You are in the Underworld my dear. In other words; you’re dead, get over it.” bluntly responded the skeleton. The pony’s eyes widened in shock and looked at her hooves only to realise that they are deathly pale and bloodied. She looked at her reflection in the water to see just how maimed she looked. Her face was burnt and an extremely large gash was present in her neck, though she could still breathe with ease. The images of Devil Kong’s attack flooded her mind as she finally pieced out what happened. Defeated, she fell back on her rear and looked around the Underworld. “Now don’t be sad, you’ve got a new life ahead of you. I’m taking you to the nearest city here in the Underworld. It’s called Ghost Town, there are a few ponies in there. You should do just fine. Though I don’t really like the Manns who rule over this place.” The mere mention of the Manns sent a strong shock through the earth pony’s body. “They’re a bunch of crazy bastards who have no notions of how to be rulers of anything. From what I’ve heard, in their lives, they’ve owned nothing but a useless land of nothingness that they fought their whole lives over. Doesn’t feel reassuring to live in a town run by these buffoons... but hey, I don’t care, I'm not living there, you’ll live there.”

Suddenly filled with determination, Applejack got up from her seating position and prepared herself to jump down in the river. “Woah woah woah! Don’t do that! These waters are frozen in temperature and filled to the brim with sea monstrosities and ghosts who don’t take kindly to zombies like you. If you go in there, you might suffer a fate even worse than your death. The ghosts of the rivers will devour your essence, piece by piece.” The mare stopped and looked around the water. She spotted a worryingly large shadow roaming around near their boat, almost as if it knew that she was about to jump in the water. Multiple ghosts were swimming around, each of them looked up at her with a glint of anticipation in their soulless eyes.

“Fine, I'll stay in.” sighed Applejack in defeat. The river was now turning to the left and the pony could finally see the city of Ghost Town beyond the rocky walls of the Underworld. The city looked massive and appeared to go up higher and higher from the river they were on, seemingly built on a hill. There were multiple sailing boats roaming around the docks that served as the entryway to Ghost Town. After a few excruciating minutes, they finally landed on the docks of the city. Applejack looked on in awe at the scale of the city. The buildings were mostly made from wood and stone and the inhabitants were all zombies, each appeared to be in varying stages of decomposition. Some were even just skeletons, their bodies haven fully decomposed.

“Get the fuck out of my boat!” the skeleton kicked Applejack out of the boat, and she landed face first on the docks. She got up and looked back in annoyance at the boat that was now sailing away as its sailor was giving her the middle finger.

~***~

Somewhere, in the most prestigious establishment in Ghost Town lied the Manns. They lived in a manor titled “Mann Manor”, a place ruled by the one and only Silas Mann, a.k.a, the Horseless Headless Horseman. Someone who was once human but now, his appearance looked anything but human. A completely skeletal body with torn black clothing shining a bright purple light on its surfaces. And to complete his look, a pumpkin acting as his head ever since he’s lost his real head. Silas got up from his bed, though he wasn’t actually sleeping for sleep was something he simply couldn’t find no matter how hard he tried. He walked to the door that led out of his room only to be thrown out of his thoughts by his own reflection in the mirror. “Ding de ling cock sucker! Okay, we’ve got a lot of shit to do today! We’ve got souls to reap, ‘cause you know, we’re been incredibly far behind on schedule for a couple of months! Then it’s finances and other political shit we don’t know a damn thing about, sounds good? Alright, let’s do it all!”

Silas groaned, then responded. “Oh come on! Can’t we just... I don’t know, take the day off and spend some time with the family?” The reflection didn’t appear pleased in the slightest.

“That’s the 50th day off you’re going to take Silas. We’ve had enough don’t you think? It’s time we get back to what we must do! Remember what will happen if we don’t do our job... We don’t want THAT to happen.” The reflection walked away, leaving Silas with an empty mirror.

“Yeah, maybe I should do something about it.”

~***~

The city of Ghost Town was rather intimidating to the young mare who never once got in a city this big before. Well, she did go to Manehattan once in her youth, but that city wasn’t filled with zombies. There were tons of people wandering around the docks, lots of stores nearby and lots of ships arriving at the port. With nothing else to do, Applejack decided to venture further into the city. The streets were deceptively narrow despite Ghost Town’s size, hordes of zombies were roaming these narrow corridors making it feel even more claustrophobic. The inhabitant's expression varied wildly, some looked happy and content with their lives in here while others looked very miserable. She looked around in a panicked confusion as her eyes laid on multiple stores, bars and houses decorating the streets. She was lost in an unfamiliar place, with no one to help her out. There wasn’t even a single pony in sight. Eventually, her gaze was fixated on a sign with the image of a pony on it. It was a bar, a type of establishment Applejack had never gone to before, but it there were ponies in there, she had to go in. Inside the bar were only patrons who were ponies, unicorns or Pegasi. The mare noticed a sign on her left that clearly indicated that only ponies from Equestria were allowed in this establishment. It was a relief to find herself surrounded by her brethren in this maddening world.

She sat on a stool near another earth pony who was nothing but bones at that point. The bartender greeted her and asked her what she would like to have. “Uh, just give me an apple cider please.” He nodded in response and filled a cup with apple cider. She took a sip of her drink. The cold beverage tasted really good and despite her bruised and battered body, the drink eased her pain. Then, the earth pony next to her spoke in a tired.

“You must be new here; I see you still have your skin.” she said in a matter-of-fact voice.

“Yeah, I just got here a couple of minutes ago. I don’t think I've fully recovered from the shock of knowing I'm dead.”

Applejack sighed as she thought once more about her life in Ponyville. “I still had so much to do in my life.”

“Yeah, I totally understand that feeling. It feels like we’ve died too soon. But at least in here, you have all the time in the world to do something truly worthwhile. You just have to let go of your previous life first, as hard as it is.” The other pony started chugging down their drinks, the beverage falling and leaking through her bones, making a small mess on the bar’s floor. The bartender didn’t even look annoyed in the slightest, he must have gotten used to this happening all the time.

“I don’t know what else I can do here. I’ve spent my whole life working at Sweet Apple Acre, selling apples and making a profit for the Apple family. Am I supposed to give up everything I've learned in Ponyville?” The skeletal mare looked surprised to hear that she’s part of the Apple family.

“Oh, so you’re part of the Apple family? I’ve heard there were some of them here in Ghost Town. They must be your family.” Applejack’s interest had now peaked. She got up on the edge of her seat.

“Where could they be?”

“Somewhere on the northern part of the city. Keep looking and you’ll find them eventually. But be careful, this place is home to the rich folks of Ghost Town, they’ll hate you on first sight.”

“Thank you miss. I’ll be careful.” finished the mare as she took one last sip of her drink. She reached for her hat and took out a coin that she placed on the counter before leaving, this time heading in the north.

~***~

The earth pony was relieved to finally get out of the narrow streets located in the south of Ghost Town. The streets in the north were much bigger, feeling less claustrophobic. Although she could notice that the resident of this hemisphere wore fancy clothing and looked bizarrely at her, much like the skeletal mare warned her about. The mare tried her best to ignore their gazes, but it would only become harder and harder to act as if they weren’t staring her down. One of them moved in front of her, blocking her path.

“Um, excuse me sir, I think you’re standing in my way.” she asked, trying to put on a more confident expression. The fancy skeleton looked at her with heavy distaste.

“Where do you think you’re going newcomer? We don’t take kindly to seeing your filthy hooves dirtying the roads in the north. Come back once you’ve got some gold on your hooves.”

“Uh, I’m sorry sir, but I really need to see somepony here. I-I won’t be here for long.” The undead glared at her even further, before taking out a cigarette from his pocket and moved out of her way, cussing her in the process.

Eventually, after a long, long walk, she saw a big ranch just outside the main road. “This must be the place!” thought Applejack as she picked up the pace, excited at the idea to meet her family in the Underworld. She got up to the ranch and spotted two skeletal earth ponies bucking the apple trees around their estate. The two paused for a moment when they saw the mare approaching. Once Applejack finally got close enough to recognise them thanks to their mane, her eyes started to tear up.

“Mom... Dad...”

“Sweetie!” said the two of them in unison. Applejack ran up to both and hugged them. She struggled to form a full sentence in between her sobs.

“I-I’ve missed you both...”

“And so did we.” responded her father. “Why don’t you come inside? There’s a lot of catching up to do.” Applejack nodded silently and followed her parents inside their home.

~***~

They were sitting around the dinner table, the other members of the Apple family were still out working in Ghost Town, so they were the only ones present at the moment. Although her parents were happy to see her at first, they didn’t seem to be now that they were sitting in silence around the dinner table.

“What is it mom?” asked Applejack.

“It’s just that... We never thought we’d be seeing you here so soon. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see you again Aj but I would have rather waited a couple more decades if you know what I mean.” answered Pear Butter.

“Yeah, it makes me feel bad to leave Big, granny and Applebloom all on their own up there. I was the one who worked the hardest in the family.” sadly replied Applejack. Her concerned father got closer to her to look at her wounds.

“You look awful sweetie, what happened to you back in Equestria?”

“We were attacked by a demon, Devil Kong it called itself, he tried to kill Applebloom and her friends. I had to get in the way to save the fillies and in the end... I was far too injured to keep on going. I just hope they’re alright...”

“That’s horrible... I’m sorry you had to go through this.” muttered Bright Mac in sorrow.

“Hold on, the Reaper Silas Mann can travel in and out of the Underworld at will. Do you think he could send our daughter back to Equestria?” asked Pear Butter to her husband.

“Yeah, it’s worth a shot.” Bright Mac turned his head towards his daughter. “What do you think of this idea sweetie?”

“Uh... there’s just a big problem with this. Silas has some beef with my friends and I. He really wants us dead. I don’t think he’ll want to help me in the slightest.” Her parents looked at each other in sadness for a while until something clicked in the father’s head.

“I know! We’ll have you put on a disguise, so Silas won’t recognise you!” Before anyone could express their opinion. He ran upstairs up to his bedroom and started making a lot of noise upstairs. He came back with a high-quality skeleton costume. “Here, put this on.” he said with an excited smile. Applejack hesitated at first, but ultimately decided to put it on. After all, if she could get out of here and go back to her family in Equestria then it’s worth it.

“Wow, that looks surprisingly convincing. Where did you get this costume honey?”

“I got it at a cheap price from a strange wizard who claims to be hunted down by the uh, Japanese mafia as he told me.”

“Alright! I’m ready to go!” exclaimed Applejack, renewed with determination.

~***~

The trio have been walking up north yet again. They’ve eventually arrived at the Mann Manor, the place where Silas Mann resided alongside his family. The place looked archaic in comparison to some of the other buildings in Ghost Town. It was supposedly built somewhere in the 1900’s when the Mann’s first arrived in the city. They walked up to the front door and knocked, awaiting a response. No one answered and they waited for a few minutes before deciding to simply go in anyway seeing as the door wasn’t locked. The interior looked destroyed in some places, with cobwebs being in nearly every corner of the mansion. Pumpkins were littered around the entire manor, some even had bombs attached to them, which was a security hazard. The Manns didn’t appear to care much about the manor’s integrity, that’s for sure. As they were wandering the corridors of the mansion, they noticed a couple of the manors resident through a window talking to each other.

“God dammit Blutarch! For the last time, you didn’t outlive me; my body was sent a millisecond before yours to the Underworld all those years ago!”

“I don’t believe you for one second Redmond! You were sent to the Underworld before me! Therefore, I’ve won!” A strange, robed figure sitting in a chair on the other side of the room turned around to look at the two undead in irritation.

“Please quiet down while the great Merasmus reads the Bombinomicon in silence! You’ve been having this argument for over 30 years at that point. Please shut up.”

Applejack looked at her parents in confusion, hoping for some clarification. They, did seem to know what was going on in between these two. Finally, Bright Mac spoke up.
“They’ve spent their entire lives fighting over a land bought by their father. It’s something they just can’t seem to let go, even after 30 years. Ever since we first arrived in Ghost Town, they’ve been at it.”

The ponies resumed their walk towards the Reaper of this manor. Eventually, they came across a big room with a control point surrounded by a broken floor that led to nothing but complete darkness, with a few glowing eyes staring back at them. To their right was a window showcasing the adjacent room where Silas was currently in. On his back was his famous Headtaker axe that he used to decapitate his many victims. The tall and imposing skeleton was looking at his reflection in the mirror in front of him, talking to it.

“Weewoo weewoo, hey I gotta talk to you again!” said the reflection. Silas looked rather annoyed, but nevertheless, he approached the mirror.

“Ok, what is it this time?”

“What do you mean by what is it this time!? You’re falling behind the others in your fucking quota! You haven’t reaped many souls recently, much less any at all!”

“Yeah yeah, I’m working on it. Just cut me some slack! I can easily make a comeback... I’ll show you!”

“Doubt it. You’re still ashamed you were beaten by a bunch of little ponies who are worshipping friendship like it’s the Holy Grail or some shit...” The reflection’s hand lunged out of the mirror to point at Silas. “You’ve lost your confidence!”

“Nuh uh! I was beaten by a stupid fucking paladin! A god damn black douchebag of a dragon and a roïded up guy who acts like he has a small dick!” replied the Reaper as he spun around and struck a pose at the mirror.

“You forget that one time where you got rainbow boomed by the Elements of Harmony. You were defeated by the skittles my man.” The reflection took out a pack of skittles and began chewing on them.

“No! See I- Ok ok, that one was legitimately pretty embarrassing. But I'm telling you, this time, I’m going to reap their souls for the great cause that I'm supposed to be supporting in the Underworld.” he said as he pointed up at the sky. “Come to think of it, do you ever wonder who benefits from all these souls us Reapers keep stealing?”

“Come closer and I’ll tell you.” Silas took another step closer to the mirror. “I don’t know and I don’t care to know!” His shout startled Silas and he fell down on his back. “We have a job to do, and we do the job effectively. That’s all that’s expected of us. For fuck sake, we are the most powerful Reaper in the Underworld and we’re somehow at the bottom of the charts in terms of souls to reap! That’s extremely embarrassing!”

“Oh bummer, and here I thought you had a lot more knowledge than me.” replied the Reaper as he stood up.

“The fuck do you mean? I’m literally just your reflection. I’m not an omniscient god who can tell you everything, otherwise we wouldn’t have been humiliated by a bunch of ponies.” Silas contemplated the mirror’s words for a while before turning around only to be face to face with three ponies standing in front of him.

“Oh shit!” He cleared his throat and made his introduction while striking an extravagant pose. “Hello everybody! My name is welcome... What?” His face turned to confusion for a moment before he turned his back on the three ponies. He then turned to look back at them once more, striking an even more extravagant pose. “Hello everybody! My name is Silas Mann and welcome to the Mann Manor! What brings you in here? Oh! Are you new in town? Don’t think I’ve seen you before girl! It’s great to see new faces around!” Applejack didn’t want to answer out of fear that he may recognise her voice so her father, Bright Mac, stepped in front of her to speak up.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Silas, we’ve come for a request. You see, our daughter has died too young, and we were thinking if you could, uh maybe, send her to the realm of the living?” The Reaper looked suspiciously at the trio for a moment before his expression turned to joy.

“Hmm, oh I remember you two! You’re part of the Apple family!” Applejack began to feel nervous; Silas is for sure going to catch on to their trick. Her parents exchanged worried glances before Silas resumed. “I love your apples! They are simply fantastic, but uh, I'm sorry. I can’t really do that even though I have what it takes to do so.” Pear Butter was taken aback by his response.

“Why can’t you do it? What’s stopping you from sending our daughter back?”

“The people that end up in the Underworld are there for a reason. Their souls are to be used for a higher purpose when needed, but no one here knows what that higher purpose is. All we Reapers know is that if you ever go against the mainframe... we’ll wish we didn’t. Well, there’s no escape but then, who would wanna leave? This place is a fantastical paradise and it sure ain’t make-believe!” The tall undead bent down to stare directly into the eyes of Applejack but thankfully didn’t seem to recognise her. “Come, it’s going to be dinner soon. Since you’ve walked all the way here, I believe I should treat you to a nice feast!”

Silas Mann quickly dashed past the three ponies and gestured at them to follow him. They obliged and walked throughout the nicely lit hallways of the Mann Manor. Silas was very eccentric with his movement; jumping on chandeliers on the ceiling and cartwheeling his way while still maintaining a good conversation with the trio. “Oh my, I don’t believe I’ve asked your name young Mrs. Apple.” Applejack looked at her father with worries, he understood and spoke up to Silas.

“Her name is... Bright... Apple.” He said hesitantly. Pear Butter responded with a face palm, but thankfully Silas didn’t seem to think much of it.

“Oh? You’ve named her after yourself?” He chuckled briefly as he jumped at a chandelier and held onto it with his legs. “That’s adorable!” He swung towards Applejack. “Nice to meet you! I’ll make sure your stay in Ghost Town will be wonderful!” He reached out a hand and shook her hooves before swinging back and let go of the chandelier, landing on his hands and proceeded to walk in a hand stand, much to the two parents' amusement. Applejack couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. She had never seen Silas Mann like this. Usually when he was out in Equestria, the Reaper had a rather deep and zombie-like voice. He sounded much more threatening, and he wasn’t moving around in such an extravagant manner. Could he have always been like this? Or perhaps, something changed in him over the course of these months. Could he have gone insane.... Maybe.

~***~

They arrived in a large room with a dinner table in the middle. Sitting at the table were a ghost, Redmond and Blutarch and lastly Merasmus with his Bombinomicon close by. They were waiting at the table for the new guests to arrive.
“Finally, the great Merasmus can enjoy a nice turkey. You sure took your time.”

“Why are you inviting strangers in the Mann’s proprietary?” said Redmond as he went out to take a piece of the turkey.
“Hey! Don’t try to eat before me!” shouted Blutarch as he slapped away his brother’s hand.

“Boo!” added the ghost of Zephaniah Mann, the patriarch of the family. However, due to his inability to speak, control of the manor and the town was relegated to Silas Mann. The ponies sat next to each other as Silas chose the seat on the far end of the table since he is the ruler of the manor. He backflipped off the floor and landed on his seat perfectly and the Apple family applauded this little spectacle while his brethren only responded with tired grunts.

“Today, the great Apple family who has been selling us some amazing apples have received a new member to partake in the community of Ghost Town! Cheers to them mates!” announced the tall axe wielding undead in celebration. The others reluctantly raised their glasses of wine to please Silas. Applejack tried to smile in order to hide her nervousness. The other zombies then drank their glasses of wine after the cheers with the three ponies following suit.

After Applejack finished her sip, she noticed Silas’s gaze was now locked onto her. His face was expressing distrust. She only realised now that unlike the other skeletons in the room, her wine didn’t spill on the floor. “What is that I spy with my flaming eyes? I think I see a bit of flesh inside this skeleton over here. Time to investigate what’s underneath the seams!” He got up from his seat and rapidly approached the frightened mare on all four. He was inspecting her top to bottom with a very serious look that contradicted his earlier attitude.

“Forgive me for not telling you earlier Mr. Silas. Our daughter is very shy which is why she’s wearing one of our skeleton costumes.” said Pear Butter. Silas turned to look at her with a surprised look.

“Oh, is that so? Well forgive me for being suspicious. I just thought that you were trying to hide something from me since you’ve refrained from telling me this earlier. Well, in any case, I should apologise for my overly aggressive response.” said the pumpkin headed skeleton in a much nicer tone. Applejack simply smiled and nodded, trying to hide her shaking. Merasmus face palmed at that exact moment.

“Did you seriously not notice this earlier? It’s pretty obvious she was wearing a skeleton costume. I’m just saying.”
“We all make mistake, don’t we?” said Bright Mac in an attempt to further deescalate the situation. Silas laughed happily before walking back to his seat in a goofy manner once more.

“Ok, I may be super on edge right now. So, excuse me if I'm like fucking exploding upon literally anything happening. Anyway, let’s continue our dinner.” The dinner went on without a hitch, that was until Applejack began to feel her stomach turn inside out. She absolutely needed to go to the bathroom. She whispered into her father’s ear to let everyone know.
“Oh, um, please excuse our daughter. She just needs to go to the bathroom quickly.”

“Oh, that’s no prob- Hey stop fighting you two!” Silas threw a fork at the two brothers who were fighting over their food. He looked back at the two parents with an innocent smile contradicted by his occasional stares of discontent at the two Mann’s. “Wait come to think of it, you are not dead anymore Merasmus! Why are you still here?” The wizard looked at the Mann with an unimpressed look.

“The great Merasmus is in quite the deep end I'm afraid. Let me tell you, there is one group of people you do not want to mess with! The Japanese mafia! They are going to break my legs if they find me, so therefore, I'm hiding in Ghost Town where they’ll never reach me! Ha ha ha ha.... help me.”

“You always get yourself in this much trouble? Last year it was the Soldier evicting you from your castle of doom by turning it into a raccoon sanctuary and now this? Gee, you really have it rough.”

“Don’t forget the part where the Soldier killed Tom Jones and I was blamed for it. I hate Soldier.” added the wizard. Bright Mac joined in the conversation.

“My daughter told me there was another Soldier in Equestria now.” Merasmus looked completely defeated after hearing this statement.

“Dear Bonzo no... I think I'm staying here forever.”

~***~

Applejack finally found the bathroom she was desperately looking for. Inside, she took off her costume to sit on the toilet and relieve herself. It was quite painful seeing as her digestive system was damaged, but she pushed through the pain to let it all out. This indigestion must be a cause of her body decaying. Minutes passed by until she heard a knock on the door.
“Are you alright in there?” It was Silas who came to check on her. Applejack panicked, she couldn’t answer him or else he’ll figure out who she really was. “Don’t be shy, you can take your time to answer me. You see, I'm just worried something is wrong and I don’t want my guests to have a bad time in my domain. J-just say yes if you don’t need any help.” The mare was surprised to hear this much concern in Silas. All her memories of him have always been of his more unhinged and bloodthirsty side. It felt nice to see other emotions from him. She cleared her throat and spoke in a higher voice so he wouldn’t recognise her.

“Yes... I’m done.” She got up from the toilet and flushed it.

“Oh ok! I’ll wait close by to escort you back to the dinner table, if- if you don’t mind, Mrs. Bright Apple.” Applejack left the bathroom and followed Silas as he walked in direction of the dinner room. He was still cartwheeling his way across while trying his best to get a smile out of her, with great success. However, as she was walking, her flank got caught on the sharp wooden edges of a broken wall. She tried to pull the costume out but ended up ripping a part of it. She looked to see the damage and her entire body froze once she saw that her Cutie Mark was exposed. She looked in horror at Silas as he froze in place when he saw the three apples on her flank. He looked at a nearby mirror.

“Three apples on her flank! Applejack! It’s her, we’ve been bamboozled! Kill her Silas! Kill her!” said the reflection. Applejack ran away from the axe wielding skeleton as he approached the mirror.

“She died! This is something I never thought would happen anytime soon! What could this mean?”

“I don’t fucking know! We shouldn’t be standing idly now! We are being offered a golden opportunity! We must kill her! After her!” Silas walked right through the wall as if it didn’t exist so he could retrieve his axe and hunt her down.

~***~

The young earth pony ran through the haunting corridors of the Mann Manor in search of an exit. Suddenly, the lights around dimmed. The corridor was now shrouded in complete darkness. A ghost came from a nearby room as started slowly making its way towards her. “Boo!” was all it could say. When she got close to the ghastly apparition, she avoided it by sliding underneath it. However, as she did, an overwhelming fear assaulted her senses. She was terrified to an impossible degree, courtesy of the ghost’s ability. The world around her began to twist into visions of unimaginable horrors, making her escape even harder. Suddenly, Silas phased through a wall in front of her, blocking her route in the process. His face was now contorted in an expression of pure insanity as his smile stretched well beyond the size of his pumpkin head.

“Come here lad!” He lifted his axe high in the air and swung downward towards the pony. She narrowly dodged the axe swing but the sheer force of it knocked her into the wall. Silas took the axe out of the floor and aimed another swing at the mare. She jumped above the axe swing and ran up the stairs that were on her right.

“Hey! Hey! Come back here, I’m not done with you!” Applejack arrived at the top of the stairs and looked around. There was a balcony in front of her and another hallway to her left. She chose to run to the balcony as she could see the city from there. She stopped when she realised that there was no way out from this place other than the direction she came from. In front of her was a very nice view of Ghost Town and the giant river connected to it, but the drop would almost certainly break all of her bones and leave her defenseless. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she heard the maniacal laughter of Silas Mann who had just arrived at the balcony, his thundering footsteps announcing his arrival.

“Heeeeyyyyy. It’s me, the Horseless Headless Horseman! If only you would have taken the hallway that led to the entrance of the manor, you would have escaped from me. But at least, you’ll have a nice view before you die... uh, again.”

Applejack, refusing to give up, bucked Silas as hard as she could in his chest. He clenched his teeth in pain before swinging his fist down at the mare, violently knocking her to the ground, snapping one of her hooves. “Goodness gracious how long have I waited for this?” casually said the Reaper before lifting his axe above his head. Applejack closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable.With tremendous force, he brought it down on Applejack... only to be knocked back. He looked at the earth pony in confusion. “Aye?” Applejack looked at her hooves and was surprised to see them glowing a bright yellow. Silas fell in a hunched position, looking very unamused.

“Oh great, just as I finally get to do it. You get resurrected. Must be that damn Drag again! Aw, why can’t I win just once?” Silas fell on his rear in a foetal position.

The glow around Applejack’s body got stronger to the point that it was now lifting her up in the air. In a matter of seconds, she disappeared completely from Silas’s view.

Applejack’s parents came rushing upstairs after hearing the commotion. They looked around but could only see Silas standing by himself in the hallway. “Where’s our daughter?” asked Bright Mac. Silas fixed his posture and turned around to face them.

“Back to the realm of the living. I hate to say it but... dinner’s over, you two will have to go home now. I’ve got some important business to attend to. We’ll catch up later guys.” He ushered the two ponies out of his manor. The parents looked sad, yet happy at the same time. The Reaper stopped by at a mirror once he got back inside. “She escaped...”
“I know, we fucked up good... yet again. Isn’t this getting tiresome to you? Because it is to me. We gotta do something man! We’ve lost all our confidence! Became the laughing stock of the other Reapers!”

“... Ok fine!! I’ll go back to Equestria and I'll finish the job myself instead of waiting for them to come back to the Underworld!” replied Silas with a look of wrathful determination.

“You better do it! You haven’t gone there in two months and that’s way too long and you know it!” Silas grabbed his head and lifted it as high as he could. A portal formed underneath him, and he slowly sunk into it.

~***~

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were hiding in the Everfree Forest. Suddenly, they heard a large explosion and saw something fly high into the night sky.

“Girls, what was that?” said a scared Applebloom.

“I don’t know, you think Devil Kong is gone?” responded Sweetie Belle. Silver Spoon held her even tigther.

“I sure hope so...” The three fillies could clearly see the sadness in Applebloom for she had witnessed her sister’s death at the hands of the demon.

“I-I don’t think we should stay in this forest any longer. Bad things always happen in the Everfree Forest. Come on girls let’s go!” quickly spouted Scootaloo who was trying to mask her fear and sadness. It was best to keep Applebloom somewhat distracted to take her mind off this traumatising event. They walked in direction of Sweet Apple Acre. Minutes felt like hours to them, it’s as if time has slowed down tremendously after the traumatic event that nearly resulted in their deaths. Out of nowhere, a bright purple light shined behind them. A familiar evil laughter echoed behind the fillies. They turned their head hesitantly to see the silhouette of Silas Mann standing before them. He squatted down to get a close look at them.

“Oh boy! You’re not Applejack, but you four will do.” He raised his axe high in the air, masking the moon with it. Before he could bring it down however, a sword impaled him from behind. “Wai-What?” He looked behind him to see a giant Scaler on a flying carpet.

“What the hell are you supposed to be?” said Aruba. Silas took the sword out of his torso and tossed it away.

“I’m a Reaper. I reap souls for the betterment of the Underworld. Wait wait, what the fuck are you?” Aruba tilted his head to the side in intrigue.

“I’m a Scaler. We are invading Equestria right now.”

“Invading?!” screamed Silas, taken aback.

“Yes, we took over Canterlot. Go check it out if you don’t believe me. Personally, I just came back from a shitty place called the Crystal Empire. I was told that it was a nice place, but apparently, I was trolled pretty heavily.” Silas looked back at the four fillies only to notice that they were already gone. He took on a disappointed posture before setting his gaze back on the genie.

“Aw nuts. Oh well, guess I got nothing better to do.” He took his head out and teleported himself away much to the genie’s surprise.

“Oh damn, I was expecting a fight.” He took out a pipe from his chest. “Man, there’s a lot of weirdos in this world... Gotta go back to Canterlot now.”

~***~

Having just arrived at Canterlot’s doorstep, Silas was bewildered to say the least. There were Scalers mixed in with ponies walking around the city while it was dark. The ponies ran inside their home at the sight of the undead while the lizards were staring at him out of curiosity. Impressed by this sight, a thought came to his mind; what about princess Celestia? Where was she in this invasion? His mouth contorted into a large grin. “Oh yes, please be dead.” He ran up to the princess’s castle and slammed the doors open. “Ding de ling cocksuckers! OK, I just got back from a two-month hiatus, and I'm really hyped up for some shenanigans...” He stopped his bombastic introduction once he noticed that the castle was much darker than he remembered. There were no ponies in sight and the throne was gone. In place of it was Devil Kong, missing all his limbs, his right eyes and his intestines were leaking on the floor. There were hooks coming out of the ceiling, lodged deeply into his missing limbs, suspending him above the floor.

“Oh, oh my god! You got fucked up good buddy! And here I thought you were always better than me at this whole killing thing. It’s quite hilarious honestly, to see a demon being crucified in a castle of friendship.” Devil Kong lifted his head to look at Silas with disdain.

“I fucking hate you, Silas.”

“Ha! I love you too Devil Kong.” replied Silas Mann, unfazed by the demon’s anger.

“You have step foot into the territory of a bigger monster than me you fool. He will find you... and he will rip you to pieces just like he did to me.” His threat didn’t scare the Reaper in the slightest.

“Bah, unlike you I can teleport back to the Underworld if I ever need an out of jail free card! I’ve got nothing to fear.”

“Keep up that precious confidence, it won’t last long.” The two monsters both heard the sound of the front door opening slowly. Silas turned to look at the newcomer. It was Trixie who had just came in through the door. His entire demeanor changed to express malice.

“Hey ya Trixie! Fancy seeing you here.” The unicorn’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh um, t-the great Trixie wasn’t expecting you to be back already... Much less when I'm serving the even greater Balgo.” Silas titled his head to the side.

“Balgo? Now who could that be?” Devil Kong lowered his head again and pretended to be unconscious. A big figure made its way into the castle. Silas could only notice the two bright yellow eyes piercing the darkness until it got close enough for him to make out more of its features.

“What a surprise, a tall axe wielding zombie here in Canterlot. I don’t think I've seen you before now, have I?” said Balgo. “Please enlighten me as to what you are.”

“Ho ho ho! I am Silas Mann, a cursed spirit and a Reaper that stalks the realm of the living in search of souls to reap! I am here to kill the Elements of Harmony, as well as the Guardians of Equestria!” answered Silas, lifting his axe high up in the air in the process.

“Cursed spirit? Interesting, do you know who sent that curse onto you?”

“A... book.” said the Reaper as he frowned and lowered his axe.

“What...” said Balgo, unimpressed.

“Ok! ok! I read a book of like, super magic and shit and I stumbled upon a page that was a spell that will get you fortune and fame. So, I kinda did not fully read the whole page since I was pretty desperate and that led to me not noticing the fact that I was selling my soul to someone... I did it to save my family form bankruptcy!” Balgo first started to chuckle, and then it turned into an uncontrollable laughter.

“Oh, sweet Knoxx! Don’t tell me that my little trolling attempt actually fucking worked!” Silas unknowingly dropped his axe.

“Trolling what?”

“I wrote that entire page as a troll ‘cuz I was pretty bored at the time. Didn’t actually think anyone would fall for it since I pretty obviously wrote down the entire catch to that spell at the bottom of the page.” Balgo pulled an exact copy of the book he was talking about. He started waving it mockingly in Silas’s face. “Well, since your soul belongs to me. I guess that means that the Underworld is still active, right?”

“Yes, there are still a lot of Reapers collecting souls for the higher purpose. I guess you must be that higher purpose.” said Silas Mann while pouting. “I can’t believe I was working super hard for a guy that didn’t even know that we still existed.” He took out a small mirror and whispered sadly into it.

“If it makes you feel better, you no longer have a quota to meet. You can just join me in my quest to conquer Equestria. You and I are gonna have whole lotta fun.” The undead frown turned into a smile in barely even a second as he putted away his mirror.

“Ok mate! Sounds good to me!” Trixie moved in closer to her master.

“Ok, so I guess he won’t try to kill the Great Trixie now?” Balgo looked at the unicorn before returning his attention to the skeleton.

“Oh right, Silas don’t kill her, she’s a part of the team.” Devil Kong lifted his head once more to express his anger.

“You gotta be kidding me. I get torn to shreds and he gets to team up with him!” Balgo walked over to the impaled demon.

“You know what? We can’t forget about our whole beef Devil Kong. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if you join the three of us in the conquest of Equestria. Surely, you’d benefit from siding with us instead of remaining against us.” Devil Kong nodded in affirmation.

“I see no reason to oppose you Balgo. Fine, I will join you.” The Scaler grinned in satisfaction; he raised his hat in acknowledgement of the demon’s decision.

“Why that’s very good! Yes, I like that. Our first target will be Manehattan. Now, all we need is a name for this team...”