Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IhyWXgDqw3qgDHfM2KirdNlqt96ylTnkuKaynGJNros/edit

As Obsidian finished summarizing, he noticed the sad expressions of all the present ponies. He had tried hard to leave out everything traumatizing, but it seemed like this turned his story into a very sad one instead. After several minutes of silence, created by how taken all his listeners were, Pipsqueak finally broke it with a question.

“What happened to Claymore?” he asked.

“She became my mentor for the first twenty years after I became cursed. Then she completed her duty by reaping the last name in her book of death. After that, she aged very rapidly and finally passed away gently by simply falling asleep,“ the black stallion replied.

“Did you reap her after that?” Rarity wondered.

“No,” Obsidian responded while shaking his head. “Although I was present when she died, it was another reaper that helped her soul leave this world.”

“But... you weren’t all alone the whole time, right? I bet you had somepony...” Sweetie Belle wondered. The reaper shook his head again.

“After Claymore passed away, I was on my own until I became stationed in Ponyville. Mistress Celestia, too, thought that I had a lot of potential and frequently put my skills to test by giving me difficult missions. Through that, I can hardly remember any times I interacted with intelligent beings, other than demons. It did not matter for me, though. The only thing I cared about for more than three hundred years by now was to serve my mistress to her full satisfaction,” he explained.

Another moment of quietness passed by as the ponies took in Obsidian’s words. He studied their expressions and reactions carefully while they were sunken in thoughts. The reaper was not sure if what he did right now was either right or wrong and he started to wonder why he even went so far. Never before had he spoken so openly about his life to anypony.

“Wow, O... Knowing what you’ve been through even as a child puts you in a whole new light,” Rainbow Dash commented suddenly.

“Yup... That explains so much now,” Applejack agreed.

“My goodness,” Fluttershy spoke while coming closer to the black stallion. “Losing everything you had in such an awful way... This is just... I can’t even imagine what you must have gone through. I’m so sorry for you...”

As soon as she finished speaking, the yellow mare wrapped her front legs around Obsidian.

“My tale is nothing special. Most reapers have similar stories to tell about their past and how they became cursed with the reaper curse,” he reasoned and looked around the circle of ponies.

His eyes stopped wandering as they focused on Twilight. She had been very quiet until now. The purple mare looked at the reaper in condolence. A moment later, she slowly walked over to Obsidian and spoke up again.

“I know you usually don’t like this. But this just needs to be done right now,” she explained.

Just like Fluttershy, she embraced the black stallion. Obsidian became paralyzed for a moment, as he was not expecting this. He started to get used of being close to Fluttershy, but that was the only exception he made. The reaper remained silent, though. For some reason he really could not explain, it didn’t bother him.

Now, one by one, the other keepers of harmony embraced Obsidian as well and even the school kids joined the group hug. This had turned into a very weird moment for the reaper. He usually was very tactical, cold and planned. But right now, he had no idea what to think or do anymore.

“Obsidian. You and I have one thing in common,” Twilight started, catching the reapers attention. “Before I came to Ponyville, I didn’t know anything about friendship. I didn’t care for others and only focused on doing good on my duties as a student. But then, I met these five wonderful ponies here. They changed my life. I discovered the magic of friendship and ever since then, I gained so much. You are a reaper and so you may never be able to feel as we do. But I want you to know that as long as we live, you can count on us as your friends. We will do whatever we can so you never have to be alone again.”

“All of you?” Obsidian wondered. The keepers of harmony nodded, all at the same time.

---

Fall slowly went by. Obsidian became very mute and thoughtful. The events and words after he revealed his past to the keepers of harmony had a huge impact on him and kept him occupied. Though Obsidian could not explain the reason for this. Now, afterwards, he really wondered why he even told them about his life in the first place. This was very out of character for him.

The black stallion still kept on meeting the keepers of harmony and spent time with them, rather remaining more in the background as usual. But he barely spoke at all anymore and seemed lost in thoughts very often. Why did he give them so many unnecessary, personal informations? Why didn’t it matter to him that they all held him? Why couldn’t he get Twilight’s words out of his mind? And most of all, why couldn’t he stop staring at Fluttershy?

Whenever Obsidian was out, either only with her or the entire group, his eyes sooner or later wandered over to her. Most of the times, he didn’t even realize it until Fluttershy looked back at him. This, for some reason, gave him the feeling he was doing something wrong, causing him to look away instantly. Obsidian failed to analyze his own behavior and thoughts.

After revealing his cutie mark story, Fluttershy insisted on him sleeping in her bed from now on. She didn’t want him to be alone in that gloomy basement anymore, lost in the world he was forced to live in from his childhood on. Even in bed, Obsidian was just not able to stop thinking. Each time, as soon as Fluttershy fell asleep, he removed the heart pin from his cloak and eyed it up. He turned it in his hooves and held it in the moonlight while rummaging his thoughts, trying to find an explanation for them. He only stopped playing with the heart pin when he started to get tired as well. Sometimes, he then turned over to Fluttershy, watching her sleep until he, too, fell asleep.

The only times Obsidian could somewhat distract himself were when he went hunting for demons and undeads. His success quotient, though, was notably lower than usual. Not because he couldn’t find any, but because they kept getting away. The thoughts kept steering in his mind, draining on his attention and concentration. This was unacceptable for the black stallion. Getting sloppy on his duties was just not an option for him. So, at the first morning of winter, he prepared to go out on a hunt again.

Obsidian set his sights on hunting and consuming at least ten demons today to make up his rate again. He was down in his room, drawing banisher circles on scrolls and crafting cursed amulets to attract demons. He wanted to make sure that this time, he would succeed. So, Obsidian unlocked the chest he hid under the stairs and picked up some of the food Pinkamena had gifted to him. Transporting it around was always risky. If anypony saw him with this, it would instantly force him to cancel his mission in Ponyville, because nopony would be able to trust him anymore. But Obsidian had done this countless times before and reaching his personal goal had highest priority to him right now. Already while packing, he started to question his own motives. Was he truly trying to catch up on his duties? Or was this just an excuse to win some time away from these thoughts haunting him? Odd Cirs found Obsidian’s insecurity rather amusing and he kept on mocking him by giving him more questions to think about. Right now, though, he was silent and appeared to just observe.

Obsidian was ready. He locked the chest again and walked over to his small shrine. A few black roses had withered. He replaced them with fresh ones and optimized the positions of the two skulls. The black stallion stared at them for a moment, about to sink in thoughts once again. But he snapped himself out of it and spoke to the skulls.

“Mother. Father. Wish me luck on my hunt today.”

---

Roughly an hour later at the Ponyville library, Spike was all alone, busy sweeping the floor. He frequently looked around nervously, afraid Twilight might come home. The baby dragon had no idea what to think of her anymore. It had been a few months now since the last time she... lectured him. But he was very afraid this could happen again, since these punishments seemed to come at very random times to him.

Spike wondered what was wrong with Twilight. He still loved her, despite the way she treated him. But ever since she came back from Princess Luna’s version of the Grand Galloping Gala, she was acting so weird. The purple mare used to smile and laugh a lot more often. These things became rare since then. Just what happened in Canterlot? What changed Twilight so much that she became so depressed and violent?

Spike couldn’t just ask her. If he did, she would punish him more. Twilight precisely knew how to really torture him, even without causing permanent damage on his body. He also couldn’t ask anypony else. Twilight forbid him to.

Spike sighed. There was nothing he could do without risking to go through hell again. Even worse to him was that he was no longer sure how to feel about Twilight anymore. He was torn between love and fear. A combination that was extremely difficult for him to get through.

“Spike! I’m home!” a voice spoke coming from the front door.

The purple mare came back from her shopping trip. Hearing her voice immediately sent a chill down the baby dragon’s spine. He lightly started to panic and considered several things he could do right now. Although he favored the idea to run away, he knew that Twilight would punish him for this. Spike gulped hard, gathered his courage and ran over to the purple mare, saluting to her.

“Yes, Twilight. Welcome home, Twilight,” he greeted hastily.

“Sheesh. Calm down, Spike. You really are exaggerating with this lately,” the purple mare replied.

“Eh. Yes. Sorry. Whatever you say,” the baby dragon commented nervously.

Twilight sighed and slowly looked around the library, scanning if he had done his chores properly.

“Everything looks fine. You’ve done well, my number one assistant!” she finally concluded happily.

Spike wiped the sweat from his forehead and exhaled in relief. Twilight turned around to him.

“Looks like the purchase of these was fully justified,” she commented while opening a bag on her back, “I think you deserve a little reward for your hard work.”

A few fairly large green gemstones levitated out of the bag and over to Spike.

“Oh boy! Emeralds! Thanks, Twi!” the baby dragon stated happily.

“No problem at all. You’ve been working really hard lately,” the purple mare responded and smiled.

Spike happily started chewing on the gemstones while Twilight scanned through her books. Moments like these made him believe that everything was just a bad dream and Twilight never hurt him. The baby dragon sat in the sunlight, enjoying the crunchiness of the emeralds and the rich, green lights they reflected on the floor and walls.

“So, how’s the thing with Rarity working out?” the purple mare suddenly asked.

“Well, she still only thinks of me as ‘cute little Spikey Wikey’. I don’t think she really understands I’m serious about my feelings for her...” Spike replied while eating.

“To be honest, I don’t believe you either,” Twilight stated coldly, causing Spike to nearly choke on an emerald shard.

“W-what do you mean by that, Twi?!” he asked in shock. The purple mare put her books back in the shelves and turned around to him.

“Did it ever come to your mind that you are a baby dragon?” she questioned him. Spike hesitated with the answer. He found himself caught off guard.

“What makes you think that a pony could ever have romantic feelings for a premature being of an entirely different species?” Twilight wondered with a serious expression.

“Well... um... Obsidian is not a pony and-” Spike started, but got interrupted by the purple mare.

“Oh come on, Spike. That’s a completely different thing. Obsidian at least used to be a pony, unlike you. And he is an adult. I mean, just look at yourself! I had to take care of you for almost eleven years by now and you still look like you just hatched! I am aware we ponies don’t know a lot about dragons. But I do believe that after so many years, you at least should be a little bit taller,” Twilight countered.

Spike was speechless. These words hit him really hard. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes while he stared at Twilight in disbelief of what she just said. She slowly approached Spike, looking down on him in disgust.

“You are pathetic, Spike. A small, weak, helpless excuse of a dragon who thinks he can be like a pony. But the most disturbing thing about you is that you actually have feelings for one. Rarity is a pony, Spike! A pony!” Twilight said, getting louder and more brutal in tone.

“B-b...but...” Spike whimpered.

“You make me sick. You make me so sick, you worthless little piece of trash!” Twilight started shouting and used her magic to lift him into the air. Immediately, Spike knew what was going to happen. He panicked and tried to run away, hoping he could somehow escape yet another round of torture.

Twilight smashed the baby dragon against a wall and threw the wooden pony head statue from the middle of the library at him, hitting him repetitively with it.

“Why didn’t you just stay at the dragon colony? Why did you have to come back and keep annoying us with your stupid baby-ish dragon needs? I had it with having to act like everything was fine around you! You have been such an annoyance all these years! You are good for nothing but chores and sending letters! I should enchant a broom and a quill to do that instead! They would be fully able to replace you!” the purple mare kept shouting.

Despite the thick scales, Spike started bleeding by now. The dragon blood mixed with his tears as both ran down his body. Yet, he kept hearing every last word the purple mare shouted at him, making this whole impression even more painful. Twilight put the wooden statue back to its original location and lifted the baby dragon in the air again, smashing him against the ceiling. Then she stopped her levitation spell, letting Spike crash to the floor.

“Rarity will never love you! When will you ever understand that? We are all just acting friendly around you because we are forced to deal with you! Nopony really gives a flying feather if you are here or gone! All you do is making our lives more difficult and-” she kept on shouting, but suddenly stopped as she heard somepony approaching the library.

She quickly knocked Spike unconscious, hid him under a chair and focused the door.

“Spike! I’m ho... wait,” a female voice spoke while entering the library.

It was another Twilight, wearing shopping bags on her back. She stared at the other Twilight in the middle of the library in confusion.

“What’s with this mirror?” she wondered and slowly came closer to the first Twilight.

That one too, approached until they were just in front of each other. The two Twilights looked at each other with the same confused expression. The first one imitated all the movements the second one did in perfection to improve the impression of her being just a reflection in a mirror. When the second one turned around, so did the first at the same time. When the second lifted a leg, so did the first.

“Where did this come from?” the second Twilight wondered. The first even imitated her lip movements at the same time.

The second Twilight looked around to see where the mirror was beginning and where it was ending. It took her several seconds to finally realize that this ‘mirror’ had no corners or sides. The second Twilight’s eyes went wide open in shock and she slowly turned her head back to the first Twilight, who looked shocked as well.

Suddenly, the first Twilight changed her expression. An evil grin grew on her face and the color of her eyes turned from purple to red. Twilight realized that this ‘reflection’ truly was Despair way too late. Once again, they had direct eye contact and Despair absorbed more of her memories. This time, she was able to gather many of them. All of Twilight’s memories in Ponyville, back to the day she moved to the village rushed past her eyes. Finally, Despair had enough for the moment. She casted two spells shortly after another. The first one reversed the effect of the memory absorbing ability of Despair, giving Twilight the memories of what she had done with Spike the past few minutes. The second spell erased the memories of their encounter and knocked the purple mare unconscious.

Despair now broke her disguise spell, revealing her true colors and the heart shaped hole in her chest, which instantly started bleeding again. She towered over the purple mare, grinning victoriously. She so would have loved to kill her right there. But no, that would be against her plan.

Despair turned around again, using her demon magic to pull Spike out from under the chair and placed him near Twilight. Then she reached her left front hoof inside the hole in her chest, covering it with blood. The demoness held the hoof over Spike, covering him with additional drips of blood to make his injuries look even worse. Then she drew a trail of blood from him over to the purple mare. Lastly, Despair let blood drip on Twilight’s front hooves. This would make for a very nasty surprise when they woke up again.

The demoness was done. She looked around the room one last time to make sure everything looked authentic. Then she teleported away.

---

It was evening already when Obsidian finally returned from his demon hunt with minor injuries. The result was very disappointing. From the ten demons he planned to hunt and consume, he could only find six and was able to actually consume only four of them. Yet, he managed to use up all the supplies he brought with him. Such bad results were very unusual for him. He didn’t want to think about it, though. The reaper already spent too much time thinking lately. Instead, he simply sat down in the shadow of a tree close to Fluttershy’s cottage and tried to meditate.

Half an hour passed until the sun finally went down. The black stallion still couldn’t concentrate properly. The impressions and words of the group just wouldn’t leave him alone. Obsidian just had no explanation why the embrace of the keepers and Twilight’s caring words occupied his mind so much. But more than these events, other, even stronger impressions filled his mind:

A yellow coat, a pink mane, teal eyes, butterflies.

Why couldn’t he stop thinking about Fluttershy? Her gentle smile, her shy blush, her soft voice, her appealing scent... Why did she take so much space in his mind?

Fluttershy was special, yes. Her soul was very dark, just like his own. She had an enormous inner strength, which kept attracting him since the very beginning. But that just wasn’t the reason. This did not explain why he kept thinking of her even more than about anypony else. Obsidian knew something was happening with him. He just didn’t know what it was and he couldn’t handle it. Never before had anypony kept him that busy. Was there something else about her? Something he overlooked?

The reaper concluded that he should do more research on the yellow mare. In addition to that, he aimed to research his own behavior while being around her.

Obsidian finally stood up again and walked in the cottage.

---

Fluttershy was sitting on the sofa, reading a book. The sound of the opening door made her look up, smiling warmly at him.

“Welcome home, my love!” she greeted happily and closed her book.

“Salvē, Fluttershy,” Obsidian replied. The yellow mare got up and walked over to him.

“So? How did it go?” she wondered. The black stallion lightly sunk his head.

“I was only able to find and defeat four...” he replied.

“Oh...well at least you came back in one piece! Looks like it was a tough battle, though. Let me take care of those scratches,” Fluttershy offered and flew to the kitchen to get a first aid box.

The reaper remained silent. He was not sure what to think of this. The yellow mare returned with the box and landed back on the sofa.

“Come on now, Obsidian. You don’t want any more additional scars, do you?” she questioned friendly.

After a moment of hesitation, the black stallion concluded that this would provide a good situation to start his research. He nodded and sat down on the sofa, next to her.

“Okay. This may now just hurt a teeny, tiny bit,” the yellow mare announced and started cleaning the scratches.

Obsidian didn’t show any response. Compared to what he had gone through in the past three hundred years, the light burning of the sanitizer was nothing. The reaper looked down to the ground, but kept paying close attention to everything happening. Obsidian already noticed another strange change in his own behavior. Usually, letting others take care of him put him into discomfort. But when Fluttershy did that, it didn’t matter. Why didn’t it matter? Why is it that he tolerates her being close to him after such a short period of time?

“Okay. Those are done. Did they get you anywhere else?” the yellow mare asked.

Obsidian nodded. He slowly took off his cloak and placed it aside. Then he turned around, showing the claw marks on his back.

“Oh my. How did they manage that?” Fluttershy commented in empathy. Then she started taking care of them, too.

Obsidian realized that he was more concentrated right now than he had been the whole day. His mind didn’t drift off. He paid close attention to everything coming from the yellow mare.

“Goodness... you’re carrying so much tension in your back. Sleeping on the ground for so long really didn’t do good for you,” she commented. Obsidian was still mute. He kept on staring at the ground with an empty face.

“Let me take care of that,” Fluttershy spoke gently and started massaging him. This was just so strange for the reaper. Such kindness... such affection... he had completely forgotten what this is like. She was right, though. The massage really helped him and he started to relax. After a while, the yellow mare suddenly stopped.

“Hm... maybe I’ll just... hold on,” she stated and put a hoof on his right shoulder. Then she grabbed his right front leg with the other hoof, making the reaper look up to her.

She suddenly gave the front leg a hard pull. Obsidian did not see this coming and showed a mild grimace of pain. This didn’t work out as Fluttershy planned.

“Oh... I... I’m sorry... I just wanted to-” she started to apologize, then got interrupted by the reaper.

“Harder,” he stated coldly.

The yellow mare was surprised to hear that, but it confirmed to her that she did the right thing. She pulled on his leg again. Harder and faster than the last time, causing Obsidian to twitch his eye and show his fangs in pain. With a loud pop, she put his shoulder joint back in position.

“Better?” Fluttershy asked unsure. The black stallion stretched his limbs and bent his neck. Everything was back in place and loosened up.

“Much better. Grātiās,” he replied. Fluttershy smiled happily.

“It’s okay. I’m glad I could help you,” she commented and packed the first aid box again. “Well, time to make dinner.”

The yellow mare carried the box back to the kitchen and stored it. Then she picked up some lettuce and carrots. Obsidian’s eyes once again were glued on her. There was just something about this mare... but what? The reaper stood up, leaving his cloak hanging where it was right now and walked over to her.

He decided to help and made a knife and a carrot levitate to the table in front of him. Now even Fluttershy noticed that he actually sought her company. This idea made her happy and she snuggled lightly against him. As usual, Obsidian did not respond to the approach, other than giving her a glance. It didn’t matter to her, though. When having a reaper as partner, such things are just to expect, she figured. Obsidian was skilled with the knife. It didn’t take him more than a minute to cut all the carrots.

A few minutes later, dinner was done. Fluttershy spread it on two plates and they both carried them over to the dining table. She was about to take a seat when Obsidian suddenly grabbed her right front leg. The yellow mare turned around. Obsidian wasn’t looking at her. He gazed down, seemingly sunken in thoughts.

“Obsidian? Is something wrong?” Fluttershy wondered. The reaper loosened his grip and came a step closer to her. He rose his head again, looking her into the eyes. His face was expressionless like always. But something in his eyes exposed that he was very unsure right now.

The black stallion kept on gazing at Fluttershy. He just wanted to keep staring into these teal eyes out of reasons he didn’t understand. She, though, couldn’t keep the eye contact for long without starting to blush. This made her only more appealing.

Appealing... Obsidian noticed he used this word in an unusual quantity when he thought about her. There was something in her eyes... this shine of life. This warmth. It reminded him of how his parents used to look at him. Although their love for him was a different one, the shine was the same.

Yes, Fluttershy loved him. Obsidian Shards, the elder reaper. The one who had forgotten what feelings are. The one who lost the ability to feel for anypony long ago. But if he was able to truly realize others loved him... and if he couldn’t get those ponies out of his mind... Then what would this make him? Was he still the same cold reaper he used to be? Was the answer to his questions maybe not inside her, but inside himself? In an area of his being which he thought was dead for long? There was only one way to find out.

Obsidian came another step closer to Fluttershy and did something he had only done once before. He placed his lips on hers again. Although Fluttershy was caught by surprise this time as well and blushed hard, she remained relaxed. She closed her eyes and enjoyed this moment.

Obsidian focused on his senses. Felt her lips on his own. Saw her blushing. Felt her breath in his mane. Heard the light noises she made in happiness. Smelled her scent. But, again, he felt nothing.

That was until he noticed he did one thing different to how she did. Fluttershy had her eyes closed. Apparently, this brought her a lot more joy.

So, the black stallion closed his eyes as well. With his sense of sight gone, Obsidian focused more on the things that were going on inside him now. He noticed something. A weak sensation of warmth. It wasn’t coming from her, but from inside him. It was pleasant, but unlike anything he knew.

The sensation caused Obsidian to instinctively embrace Fluttershy. She did the same at nearly the same time, as if it was natural. The black stallion could feel her body reaction to their kiss now. He could feel her heart beat faster, her breath getting deeper and her face getting warmer. Similar reactions started developing inside Obsidian. The sensation he experienced grew stronger and stronger. He was now able to realize it came from somewhere in his chest.

Holding Fluttershy so close was a pleasant experience. Obsidian slid his hooves up her back to her neck, enjoying the softness of her coat. The warmth inside his chest now replaced the coldth he carried with him for a very long time. His heart started beating faster and felt as if it was growing in size.

Finally, Obsidian withdrew from Fluttershy’s lips. She opened her eyes again. They were sparkling. Obsidian’s eyes remained shut for a moment longer as it finally became clear to him why he was focused so much on the keeper of kindness and why he just couldn’t stop thinking about Twilight’s words.

Obsidian smiled. The first time he didn’t act an emotion for hundreds of years. This was real. This was true and honest.

Now he opened his eyes again. His black, still functional eye had gained in shine and focused on the yellow mare. With one statement, which ended his doubts and muteness, Obsidian’s life changed a second time:

“I love you,” he spoke, slowly and warmly.

At this moment, it started snowing outside. The nightshift Pegasi flew over Equestria and spread out the first snow of the season. After another, shorter kiss, the couple walked over to the window and watched as the meadows slowly turned white in the moonlight.