Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HWz8WiPVGhcXUaqNSYURr_uYY5m9E50xVxPZB2_Qyjo/edit

The keepers of harmony spent the entire night searching for their missing friends without success. Even with Derpy’s help, there was no trace of them. It was without question now that something must have happened. Eventually, the group had to admit that they were all too drained to keep searching and went home to sleep.

Two more days passed without any sign of life from the three missing friends. Fluttershy feared for the worst. She figured Obsidian’s time had come and he hid himself somewhere very hard to find to die and both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went searching for him. The truth, though, was a lot different.

It was the third day now after the three disappeared mysteriously. Twilight was getting ready for another round of search when somepony knocked at her door. She instantly opened it with her magic, hoping it would be Obsidian. Although it was not the black stallion standing on the other side, it was a big surprise for her none the less.

“Shining Armor!” the purple mare exclaimed. “What a pleasant surprise!”

“Hi there, Twily. It’s good to see you, little sis’,” he replied, friendly but serious.

“Is something wrong? Is Cadence with you?” Twilight wondered.

“No. She’s busy with her duties in Canterlot,” her brother answered.

“Well, why don’t you come in? Can I offer you something? Tea? Cookies? A sandwich maybe?” the purple mare offered.

“Twily... as much as I’m happy to see you again and as much as I’d love to just talk with you, I have to tell you I’m here on duty,”Shining Armor stated.

“On duty? Did something happen?” the purple mare wondered.

“I’m pretty sure you should know that even better than me. We got a notification that some of your friends went missing,” Shining Armor replied.

“Really? By whom? I thought the royal guards were only responsible for matters of national security,” Twilight wondered.

“It is a matter of national security. Your reaper friend Obsidian Shards told us all about it,” the white stallion replied.

“Obsidian?! You found him? What about the others?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. We found them. And this is why I’m here. Let’s go get your other friends. You need to hear the official announcent,” her brother stated.

“I don’t quite follow. What’s going on? What did Obsidian tell you?” Twilight wondered.

“Just come, sis’,” Shining Armor requested.

Twilight was pretty confused. If the royal guards were able to find her missing friends, why was this a matter of national security?

---

The purple mare lead her brother around the village, gathering the rest of her friends. After they united, the four mares were brought in front of Sugarcube Corner.

The sweets shop was surrounded by dozens of royal guards, blocking any possible way in. Naturally, this sight attracted a lot of curious ponies, but none were given any information.

Next to the front door was the Cake family, apparently talking to a cloaked black stallion. The four mares instantly recognized him.

“Obsidian!” they shouted, running towards him.

Fluttershy ran ahead and embraced the reaper, crying in relief to see him again. Obsidian, though, remained silent, coughing from the sudden hug.

“Obsidian! What is going on?” Twilight wondered.

Her question was met with silence. The reaper stood motionless, apparently looking down to the ground, coughing out dark particles every now and then.

“Mommy? Daddy? Where’s Pinkie?” Pumpkin Cake wondered.

“She is... she went traveling, Pumpkin,” Carrot Cake replied.

Now, the focus of all the mares switched to mister and misses Cake.

“Traveling?” Applejack asked.

“Oh dear... they don’t know it, yet,” Cup Cake analyzed.

“Know what?” Rarity wondered.

Now, even the Cakes became silent.

“When will she be back?” Pound Cake asked.

“We don’t know...” Cup Cake answered.

This whole situation was hard to understand for any of the four mares. Judging from the large deployment of royal guards, something very big must have happened. Yet, nopony knowing what was going on wanted to speak about it. Finally, Shining Armor stepped in front of the crowd and began to speak.

“Attention, ponies! Sugarcube Corner has become a crime scene. The sweets shop will remain closed until further notice. We are still investigating, so we ask for your understanding that we can’t give out any information about what happened. Just stay calm. The situation is under control now,” he exclaimed.

This announcement awoke uneasy mumbling in the crowd. But the keepers of harmony were even more unsettled.

“A crime scene? Did somepony get hurt?” Rarity worried.

Finally, Obsidian broke his muteness and responded.

“Nopony who was not meant to get hurt,” he spoke weakly with a very rough voice, coughing again after he finished speaking.

“What’s that supposed to mean? What the hay is goin’ on, Obsidian?” Applejack wondered with a worried and angered tone in her voice.

The reaper became silent once again, just coughing a few times.

“My love... what happened to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash? Did you see them?” Fluttershy asked.

“The less you know, the better. Just do not expect to see them again... ever...” he replied coldly.

“What the... what are you saying, Obsidian?! What happened to them? Where did they go without telling us first?” Twilight wondered.

Once more, the reaper denied to answer. He kept on staring to the ground and coughing. Acting like he didn’t hear this question, he turned his head over to the Cakes.

“Are you ready to leave?” he wondered.

“I guess we are. We got all our personal belongings in the cart... By Celestia... I’m so glad it’s finally over,” Carrot Cake spoke.

“You are leaving Ponyville? But why?” Fluttershy wondered.

“We have to, deary. After all this, there is no way we could keep living in Ponyville. Too many bad memories and after what happened, I am sure the ponies here won’t forgive us or ever trust us again. We have to open a new sweets shop in Fillydelphia,” Cup Cake answered.

“Is Pinkie there?” Pumpkin Cake wondered.

“No, Pumpkin. She went somewhere else. But don’t worry. She will get a letter, telling her where we moved,” her father lied in order to protect the little filly from the truth.

“You have kept your part of the arrangement, mister and misses Cake. You have proven yourself to Equestria, so Mistress Celestia will keep her part as well. By the power granted to me, I hereby declare all your past connections and actions for null and void,” Obsidian spoke, his voice getting rougher and rougher the longer he spoke, ending in him coughing heavily a few times.

“Thank you... thank you so much,” Carrot Cake replied, sighing in relief.

Meanwhile, Twilight started getting angry.

“Hey! Stop ignoring me, Obsidian!” she shouted.

“Me paenitet,” the reaper apologised and turned his head back to the group.

“Do you have any idea how worried we were the past three days? We’ve been looking for you, Pinkie and Rainbow every day from dawn to sundown! You can’t just sit there, knowing precisely what’s going on and not telling us anything! Where is Pinkie Pie? Where is Rainbow Dash? What does this all have to do with Sugarcube Corner and the Cakes leaving?” Twilight insisted to know.

Again, the reaper lowered his glance to the ground and remained silent. That was enough for Twilight. If he wouldn’t spill the beans on his own, she would make him speak.

“Obsidian Shards, I order you to tell me what happened!” she spoke out, half yelling.

Shining Armor instantly turned around to her sister. He knew she had authority over the reaper and by giving him this order, he was forced to speak. The white stallion stepped next to his sister.

“Twily... some things should better remain unknown. Obsidian Shards: as captain of the royal guards, I give you the authority to reject this command,” he spoke.

“Wha... what?” was all Twilight could say now.

She was stunned to hear that even her own brother tried to cover this incident up and hide things from her. The purple mares eyes jumped between Obsidian and Shining Armor, looking at them both in disbelief.

“Captain... I suppose I would not be able to hide it from them anyway. With your agreement, I would like to take Twilight Sparkle inside and show her what had happened... Only Twilight Sparkle,” Obsidian requested.

Shining Armor focused his sister. He could see the wild mix of emotions in her eyes. Anger, worry and a huge confusion. He knew she wouldn’t stop looking for answers until she found out what she wanted to know. It would be better if somepony explained it to her, he figured.

“Twily... Sister... this is something nopony should see or even know. But I know you and I know you are strong enough to take this,” he spoke, then turned his head back to the black stallion. “Alright, Obsidian. Take her inside and show her. Guards! Make space for the reaper and my sister! They are allowed to enter!”

Instantly, the guards stepped aside and opened a path to the front door. As Twilight was about to head inside, she was stopped by Carrot Cake.

“Twilight. One thing before you go inside...” he spoke.

“Yes, Mr. Cake?” Twilight wondered.

“We... we never wanted this. Any of this. We had no option. Cup Cake and I just wanted to live a normal life and protect our foals. We haven’t done anything illegal, but this also wasn’t entirely lawful either. I know, it’s asked for too much to say ‘please don’t judge us for this’, but I just want you to keep in mind that we did everything we could in our... special situation. We are sorry... very sorry,” Carrot Cake explained.

Twilight still didn’t quite understand what he was talking about, but figured that it would soon be explained anyway. She just nodded, signaling she understood. Then she went inside the sweets shop.

Obsidian followed her, but stopped at the doorstep. He turned his head back to Fluttershy, giving her a much saying glance. The yellow mare instantly understood what this look meant. He would not come back outside again and was asking for forgiveness.

Fluttershy tried to run towards him, but the guards held her off. She called for him. She struggled to come and embrace him one last time. But it had no use. She was not allowed to enter. She was not allowed to prevent what was going to happen.

---

The inside of Sugarcube Corner looked like always. Nothing indicated that a crime was committed here, confusing Twilight even more. Obsidian, though, lead her to the kitchen. It was now that Twilight realized something was off. Next to the fridge was a heavy metal door with a broken lock.

“Huh? I never noticed that before,” she stated.

“That might be because this door is usually hidden behind panels, which can not be removed unless you know how to,” Obsidian explained.

“A hidden door? What’s up with that?” Twilight wondered.

“You will understand soon. But before we go inside, I need to warn you. What you are about to see is more horrifying than everything you have seen so far. It will shatter all you believed in. Are you sure you wish to proceed?” Obsidian asked.

“I want answers, Obsidian. I’ve seen so many horrible things already. I doubt that whatever lies beyond will throw me off any more,” the purple mare replied.

“As you wish,” Obsidian spoke, bowing down.

Twilight used her magic to open the door. Stairs were behind it, seemingly leading down to a hidden basement. Although the way down was dark and she couldn’t see much, she already experienced a dreadful sensation.

The purple mare gathered her courage and started walking, casting a light spell to illuminate the way. The passage down was narrow. Barely wide and tall enough for a full-grown pony. As she reached the bottom, another metal door was in front of her. This one too had a broken lock, as if somepony had destroyed it in order to get through.

The door slowly opened by magic. Although it was just opened by a tiny gap, Twilight instantly became nauseous from the strong smell of decay coming from the other side. This already made the mare question if she wished to proceed, but her curiosity and worry about her friends drove her on.

Finally, she opened the door fully, revealing the interior to her eyes. Twilight became shocked deeply and paralyzed from the sight present to her. It was a torture room. No, much worse than that. It was a torture room filled with macabre decor to theme it like a party room.

Furniture made of bones and pony flesh.
Dried entrails hanging across the room to act as streamers.
Preserved organs filled with helium to be used as balloons.
Countless painted pony skulls hanging on the walls.
Large banners made of pony hide hanging from the ceiling, reading ‘Life is a party’, written in blood.
Torture instruments were scattered all across the room, most of them blood stained.

And everything... absolutely everything was covered in long dried blood. So long that it even seemed to be layered several times at certain places.

The center of this ghoulish place was a rack. It seemed to have been used just recently, as there was still fresh blood dripping from it.

Twilight was so horrified from the appearance of this room that she failed to analyze it properly. Her eyes just kept jumping from one disturbing thing to the other. It took her a while to finally realize there was something pink in this room.

“Pinkie!” the purple mare shouted out as she finally realized what she was seeing.

She ran over to her friend, who seemed to wear a dress. But as she came closer, she realized Pinkie Pie wasn’t moving and was covered in blood. Twilight also realized that this dress was in fact made of cutie marks and Pegasus wings, while Pinkie was also wearing a necklace of unicorn horns. On closer inspection in this dark, morbid room, Twilight realized that Pinkie’s face was half missing and her stomach looked like it had been repeatedly pierced by sharp objects. It slowly got through to Twilight: Pinkie Pie was dead.

The purple mare stood in front of the corpse, shaking all over. Her mind had become a lot stronger due to surviving the events around Despair, but she still had huge issues to make sense out of what she was seeing. Twilight felt a strong urge to hug the dead body of Pinkie Pie and cry out loud over her death, but at the same time she was deeply disgusted and horrified, wanting to avoid any contact with the blood or dress.

“Rainbow Dash is here, too,” Obsidian announced, his voice still weak and rough.

Twilight turned around, seeing Obsidian dragging the cerulean Pegasus mare out of a corner. She quickly realized that Rainbow seemed unnaturally stiff and was placed on a stand, supported by timber studs. As the purple mare came closer, she could see stitches all across her friend’s body and her eyes were dull. Rainbow Dash was dead as well and had been stuffed.

The purple mare’s expression began to slide more and more into complete desperation. Tears started rolling down her face as her focus kept on jumping between Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

Minutes passed while Twilight tried to pull herself together again. The heavy confusion and being completely unable to make sense out of anything intensified the horrors she was seeing a lot. Finally, Twilight stopped crying again and started to speak.

“H...how... how could this happen?” she asked.

Obsidian took a deep breath. He didn’t precisely know how to start explaining all this. After all, this was a long story to tell. He decided to begin by handing Twilight a scroll containing the royal seal. She opened it and started reading. It was clearly written by Princess Celestia.

Dearest Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student,

When you are reading this, it means you are now suffering from the consequences of my order given to your friend Obsidian Shards. It fills me with incredible sadness and regret to inform you that I had ordered him to reap two of your best friends: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

Sadly, this was unavoidable. We have evidence that proves Pinkie, also known as Pinkamena Diane Pie, continued her family traits of kidnapping, torturing and cannibalizing.

Since she was destined to become the keeper of laughter, she was under immunity of punishment for many years. We couldn't risk losing control over the elements of harmony in case of unexpected disasters. The following years after Nightmare Moon’s return had proven my decision correct.

Now, after thirteen years from when we first gained evidence, we finally reached the point where we could bring her to justice for her despicable crimes, but that again required an incredible sacrifice.

We had to wait for her to kill Rainbow Dash. When we already lost a keeper of harmony due to unavoidable events, it wouldn't matter anymore if we lost another.

Both of us, Obsidian Shards and me, had been knowing about this from the very beginning. I can not express how very sorry I am for doing this to you, but I had no choice. Neither did Obsidian. He simply followed my order loyally. I can only hope that, by the time you get and read this letter, you will be able to understand why I acted like I did.

The decisions I made were paid with blood of innocent ponies, and even that of your friends. I can only hope for your forgiveness.

Your mentor, Princess Celestia.

As Twilight finished reading, she began to shake again, her eyes growing wide open and her head slowly turning back to the pink corpse.

“P-P-Pinkie w-was... a... a cannibal?” she asked.

“Yes. She has always been. All her life long,” Obsidian replied.

“I-I... I... how... why...” Twilight stuttered.

This whole situation had been hard to believe for her to begin with. But now with this knowledge, Twilight completely failed to make any sense out of anything anymore. She just stared at Obsidian, begging for explanation. The reaper nodded in understanding, starting to tell the story of his mission.

“What you are seeing here is the end result of something that rooted in a mission I had to execute sixteen years ago,” he started. “Both the Pie bloodline and the Cake bloodline were very infamous amongst those responsible for the security of this land. For hundreds of years, these two families had been suspected to be very weak towards Maledictum Insania, leading them into a form of insanity in which they started torturing and eating other ponies. We never managed to find evidence for their actions, though.

“That was until sixteen years ago. Mistress Celestia finally obtained a clear proof of their actions, enabling us to punish them. Our mistress ordered us to make precise research about each member of both families to prevent any undeserved executions.

“While in the Cake family there were a few members who were not affected by the curse of madness and just ate pony flesh because they were forced to, the Pie family was corrupted thoroughly.”

Obsidian stopped as speaking became too difficult for him and he started coughing out dark particles again. He took several deep breaths and then continued.

“Since the obliteration of the Pie bloodline was of very high importance, Mistress Celestia ordered me to systematically hunt them down. It took me five years to find them all.

“The last remaining members were Pinkamena’s parents and siblings. I suppose she never spoke about how she got to Ponyville. That might be because she does not remember. The night I discovered her family rock farm and assassinated them, she was still very young.

“Another aspect worth mentioning is that all Pie family members are known to be excellent hunters and fighters. They had been abducting, torturing and killing ponies for such a long time, they developed their own techniques. Even the youngest of them were capable of keeping up with a reaper and even defeat one.

“The battle against her parents and two sisters was very difficult, even for an elder like me. Eventually, I managed to kill them all, but not without getting heavily injured myself.

“Since the farmhouse, where the battle was taking place, was already too heavily damaged with distinctive marks of combat, I decided to let their death look like an accident and set the building on fire.”

The reaper paused again. He seemed to have big problems to speak at all, but forced himself to continue. He coughed up more dark particles, gave himself a short recovery break and then continued.

“It was then when I heard a scream. I looked around the house and discovered a small pink filly, hiding in a cupboard in the kitchen. I immediately knew that this would become a big problem.

“My order only extended to the last two adult Pie family members and their two daughters. The reports never spoke about a third daughter. It is supposed that the reapers doing the research on the Pie family never considered Pinkamena as one of them, since she looked a lot different to the rest of her family.

“But there she was. I was not allowed to kill her, so I was forced to save her life and rescue her out of the house I set aflame. In fact, this was the only thing she still remembered of me: saving her life after her parents and sisters died.

“She never saw me fighting and killing them. Only thanks to this, I was able to gain her trust in such a level that she even showed me her darkest secrets.”

Obsidian paused again, placing a front hoof on his throat. It was clear to Twilight that he was injured in some way, making this conversation very difficult for him. Yet, she didn’t want him to stop. She needed to know all the details that lead to the death of her two friends.

“I knew that Pinkamena had a high chance of becoming a cannibal like the rest of her family. She had been fed with pony flesh for years already and the trauma of losing her family would have further weakened her already very fragile mind.

“I could not just give her to an orphanage or let her get adopted by a regular family. She would end up killing them. I needed to give her to ponies she would never dare to harm, because they were from a befriended cannibal family. I had to give her to the Cakes.

“At this point, Carrot Cake and Cup Cake were amongst the last of the Cake bloodline. Although they were born and raised as cannibals, they were unaffected by Maledictum Insania and wished for nothing more than to just live a normal life. Mistress Celestia pardoned them and allowed them to be with normal ponies under the condition to never eat flesh again and doing everything she asked them to do.

“Back then, they were still under strict observation and it was known to most reapers they started building a sweets shop in Ponyville. They were the best opportunity available. As cannibals fighting their addiction successfully, I figured they would be able to teach Pinkamena how to control her hunger too.

“This, though, turned out to be wrong. Pinkamena was very focused on continuing the traditions of her own family and trained herself in combat, hunting, the arts of torture and Equestria’s organization in order to bypass laws and reduce usable evidence to a minimum.”

The reaper paused again. His voice started getting very weak now. This time, he gave himself a good minute to recover before continuing.

“Young Pinkamena fell unconscious after I dragged her out of the burning farmhouse. I had to transport her somehow without letting other ponies see what I was doing to avoid getting them suspicious about the pink filly. So I wrapped her into a large piece of cloth I found and ran towards Ponyville in the middle of the night.

“The only pony who had seen me was Big Macintosh. He was just a colt back then. I was forced to ask him if he knew the Cakes and where they could be found. This encounter was something he memorized.

“Not much later that night, I arrived at the front door of the Cakes temporary home. They had been speaking to reapers before, so they knew what they had to expect and do. I informed them about my actions and asked them to adopt Pinkamena.

“Being in their very unusual situation, they did not have much to argue about and took her in, knowing that despite the good relationship between their families, she could turn against them any given time.

“Fortunately, this never happened. Instead, Pinkamena learned that she was in a special position, which allowed her to demand next to everything from the two of them and they could do nothing to stop her. She had free access to all the ingredients they owned and could devour as many sweets as she wished to. Mr. and Mrs. Cake would never try to hold her back. In contrast to Pinkamena, they were nearly defenceless.”

Obsidian stopped again, breathing heavily. He needed several minutes more this time before he could carry on.

“The years passed by and Pinkamena grew adult. One of the many things she demanded from the Cakes was the construction of this hidden basement room. Only they and Pinkamena knew about its existence and how it was accessed, leaving even us reapers clueless of her actions for many years.

“We just assumed that Carrot Cake and Cup Cake were successful in teaching her how to fight her alogophagous desires. The truth, though, was that the pink mare dominated them. She made sure that they never attempted to do anything that would be to her disadvantage or would displease her.

“But the Cakes proved their loyalty to Mistress Celestia, taking the humongous risk of informing her about Pinkamena’s actions and demands secretly. They told her all about how she used the highly elaborated numbering system of her family.

“It allows her to classify all the ponies known and available to her, giving her a very precise impression which ponies she could abduct, torture, kill and eat without getting uncovered. The system is so well thought through that up until today, nopony ever even noticed that ponies were disappearing around Ponyville. This is how she managed to kill over a hundred ponies without anypony ever noticing anything.”

The black stallion halted again, coughing several times heavily. Each cough blasted out a small cloud of tiny black pieces.

“The Cakes also informed Mistress Celestia that she rediscovered one of the greatest tricks of both families.

“The Pies and Cakes originally got their name from their naturally given skills in baking. As they became cannibals, they combined this talent with their macabre desires and sense of humor.

“As all of them, Pinkamena found a way to use pony flesh in sweets to make them taste extraordinarily good, even for the average vegeterian pony. By now, every last pony in Ponyville, no matter if adult, elder or foal, was secretly fed other ponies at least once, merely to give Pinkamena a few twisted jokes.

“You can imagine that she fed pony flesh to all of her friends a lot more often. She always hoped to turn some of them into cannibals as well this way. It is to suspect that each time she provided you sweets, they all contained pony meat.”

As if the stench of this room and the gruesome things inside it weren’t enough already, Twilight became very sick from the thought that Pinkie Pie tricked her into eating pony flesh several times. Although Sugarcube Corner was generally selling very tasty treats, Pinkie’s always seemed to be the best and all of her friends were huge fans of her cupcakes. Knowing now what they were containing, she wondered if she would ever be able to eat sweets again.

“If you put this all together, absolutely everything about Pinkamena’s behaviour becomes explainable.

“Eating a lot of sweets alone does not provide a pony enough energy for a hyperactive lifestyle like hers. She got the extra energy from the flesh she feasted on.

“Her habit of covering cupcakes with hot sauce had the reason that it blended out their sweetness and made the flavor of meat resurface.

“The only reason why she even ate sweets in such a quantity was to be able to cope with her addiction for flesh.

“Her random behaviour sprouted out of her random, chaotic mind, influenced by insanity and her inner demon. Born in an insane family, she may have had a weak mind, but in return was able to handle the demon growing inside her for a very long time.

“She tried so hard to gain as many friends as possible and learning as much about them as possible in order to add information to the Pie’s numbering system.

“As some villagers might be able to confirm, it was completely impossible to run and hide from her. The years of training made her one of the most dangerous predators of Equestria.

“All the time, she acted as one of the weakest and most helpless of you, but the truth is that for a very long time, she was the most dangerous of you all.”

Twilight’s mouth slowly fell open and her head turned over to the dead pink mare again. All these years, Pinkie Pie had been acting around them? All these years, they were living with a pony eating beast? How could a pony that was so funny and appeared so innocent be such a heartless monster?

It seemed like now, after so many years, Twilight was finally looking at the true Pinkie Pie. The Pinkie wearing a dress she made out of all her victims. The Pinkie owning a torture room she used very frequently.

Everything Obsidian said made sense, but this all still didn’t explain what happened to Rainbow Dash. Twilight’s focus turned back to the reaper, telling him to go on.

“Of course, Mistress Celestia’s first instinct was to give her the same judgement the rest of her family had received. Since she is the only pony able to read and rewrite the original book of death, she opened it up in order to rearrange destiny to make Pinkamena’s death occur soon. But while she read Pinkamena’s fate, she realized something was very strange about her.

“Careful as our mistress always is, she asked Lady Truesight to look into Pinkamena’s future. It was then that it became clear we could not just murder her.

“This insane pony was destined to become the keeper of laughter. A twisted irony... the pony responsible for countless slow and painful deaths would become the one rescuing all of Equestria from Nightmare Moon.

“Yet, this destiny made sense. Who would possibly be a better bearer of the element of laughter than a pony who laughs stronger, louder and longer than any other pony in the land?” Obsidian questioned.

Again, a few minutes passed while the reaper took a break. Then he continued again.

“Mistress Celestia became furious as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop Pinkamena. If she would have ever become uncovered, nopony would ever trust her again, not only rendering her useless as a keeper of harmony, but also making Equestria completely defenceless.

“Mistress Celestia could do nothing but sit back and watch as she lured one pony after the other into this room, giving them brutal and undeserved deaths. Each time she met Pinkamena, Mistress Celestia had to hold herself together a lot.

“Barely anypony ever evoked as much despise in her as she did. After each encounter with her, Mistress Celestia became so enraged that she spent the rest of the day shouting at us.

“But after she discovered who the six keepers of harmony will be, she finally found a way to bring Pinkamena to justice.”

Obsidian stopped again, but this time he summoned his book of death.

“Rainbow Dash. Pegasus. Scheduled to die on the 19th August 1628 at 16:17. Cause of death: Being tortured to death by Pinkamena Diane Pie,” he read out loud, then made the book disappear again.

“This is the original date of her death. Mistress Celestia may be able to alter the fate of ponies, but there is no way to extend a pony’s life span. The only thing that could have been done was altering destiny to kill her earlier.

“But the demons were aware that the keepers of harmony were normal ponies and, compared to Mistress Celestia, have a much shorter life span. They were just waiting for a chance to kill you and even though this chance never came, due to us guarding you from the shadows, it was still just a matter of time before one of you eventually died, causing ponykind to lose control over the elements of harmony.

“So, Mistress Celestia was forced to maintain this destiny for Rainbow Dash in order to be able to guard all of Equestria for as long as possible. Still, she had to make preparations to ensure, once Rainbow Dash was dead, Pinkamena would follow her quickly.

“This is where my story as one of your friends and bodyguard begins,” the black stallion explained.

The last statement shot through Twilight like a bolt. She understood now. That was his secret mission he mentioned to her. That was the true reason he was living with them.

“Since Pinkamena only remembered me as the one who saved her life, it was clear that once she remembered me, she would feel strong sympathy for me. This is why I was selected for this mission.

“Sympathy alone, though, would not be enough for me to catch her off guard so I could kill her swiftly. As it was seen from Rainbow’s destiny, she would murder her own friends without a second thought.

“In order to truly become accepted by her, I had to show her that I, too, am a pony-eater.

“In a timespan of about one year in which I supported her in every way I could, she learned to trust me blindly, even letting me sneak up on her from behind without her instantly reacting and trying to kill me. My entire efforts and all events happening around us and our friendship were arranged by Mistress Celestia, even going back to Trixie and the Salamander.

“She was meant to die soon anyway, so Mistress Celestia used her as a tool to seal a friendship between me and all of you. Already at the first night after I defeated the Salamander, I met up with Pinkamena, reawakening her memories of me rescuing her and revealing to her that I eat ponies just like her, even going so far as proving it to her by eating some pony meat I brought in front of her eyes.”

Obsidian took another break to allow Twilight to process the information given to her. She was clearly shocked to hear how this all had been set up from the very beginning. After a while, the reaper started speaking again.

“Pinkamena was very happy to finally have another cannibal as a friend. She immediately showed me her secret torture room and her collection of trophies. We quickly worked out a deal. She would share a portion of her prey with me if I helped her luring more ponies into her hooves in return.

“Mistress Celestia was aware that such a deal was necessary to gain Pinkamena’s complete trust. She could do nothing but agree in letting me increase the frequency and amount of undeserved deaths in Ponyville even further for one whole year.

“But in the end, all sacrifices were worth it in a questionable way. Pinkamena trusted me completely. I became the only creature in all of Equestria who would have a chance to kill her instantly by surprise, avoiding any additional deaths from Rainbow's passing on... Yet...”

The reaper suddenly stopped. His glance lowered to the ground and his rough and weak voice changed in tone, letting him speak on filled with regret.

“Yet... the more I became friends with you all, the more I started questioning if all this was truly justified and necessary.

“As you know, I changed during the year I spent with all of you. I regained emotions... but even more dramatic is the fact that I regained a conscience, too.

“If you think back to the beginning, you will remember that Rainbow Dash had huge problems trusting me. Since she and her death were the key element to Pinkamena’s punishment, I tried hard to quickly gain her trust as well.

“Rainbow Dash revealed to me that she had nightmares, in which her wings and cutie marks started bleeding, her body caught on fire and in the end, I appeared in front of her to kill her.

“Rainbow Dash was a spectralist. When Truesight told you all that there is nothing to being such a rare pony, she lied. All spectralists have the unique gift to sense the future. This ability even was Lady Truesight’s special talent, but Rainbow Dash never needed it.

“Her talents were entirely different, so she never was aware she had this ability. The only thing she ever sensed coming was her brutal death, triggered by me approaching Ponyville the first time.”

Once again, Obsidian paused to recover his damaged voice. He didn’t dare to look up to Twilight right now. He could only imagine what kind of expression she had written on her face this moment.

“As long as she had these nightmares, it would have been impossible for me to gain her full trust, enabling me to lure her into Pinkamena’s hooves once her time had come. So I created a cursed dreamcatcher, telling her it was a magical artifact to help her with her nightmares. The truth, though, was that I cursed it to rob Rainbow Dash of her spectralist ability.

“From then on, I simply guarded you all and spent as much time as I could with you to let our friendship deepen to the point where all of you would trust me blindly.

“Everything was set and all that was still left to do was to let the time pass by... but... as it did so, Fluttershy and I fell in love and I grew a deep appreciation for all of you, even Pinkamena.

“The closer hers and Rainbow’s date of death came, the more I started feeling regret over what I was about to do. Yet, I knew precisely I was not allowed to change this. If I would not lead Rainbow Dash into the deathly grip of Pinkamena and let her get tortured to death, all the previous slow and painful kills Pinkamena and I caused would have been worthless waste.

“A time began in which I started question everything about me. If I was really such a cold-hearted monster that could betray its own friends like this. If I was still reaper enough to fulfil my mistress’ wish.

“In the end, I had no option but to just go on with the plan.”

Obsidian took another break. By now, his voice was so damaged that he could hardly raise it at all anymore. Five minutes passed before he could finally speak again.

“Three days ago, the great day arrived. Pinkamena had to gather fresh pony flesh again and calculated that her next victim would be Rainbow Dash.

“She was meant to die and Pinkamena was meant to follow her quickly. I knew that by the end of this day, you would all hate me.

“I took preparations, gathered my belongings and getting ready to leave as soon as my work was done. I could not bear the thought to face you all again after my betrayal.

“Then I had the last ever race with Rainbow Dash... She was so clueless when I told her to meet Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner at three o’clock... After I said that, my part of the arrangement was done.

“The next thing I had to do was to wait. Wait until Pinkamena finished what we all planned for, years beforehand. I was supposed to come and visit her in here, ten minutes after she would have finished Rainbow Dash. Then, I would quickly take her life while she would be busy with the carcass of her friend and reap Rainbow Dash afterwards.

“That was the plan... but I could not do it. My conscience would not allow me to deceive you all like this and it would not allow me to ever forgive myself, should I just sit back and let Rainbow go through the horrors she had seen coming in her visions.

“Ultimately, it were the thoughts of her visions that made me change my mind. According to the plan, I was meant to sit back and wait until Rainbow Dash gave her final breath. She would never have seen me again. But in her visions, I was the one delivering the lethal blow.

“As I realized this, it dawned on me that destiny already chose which path I had to go. No matter what, I had to interfer. But all I could do was to act according to Rainbow’s visions and reap her nearly half an hour too early.

“Taking a life too early is strictly forbidden. If we do so, we interrupt the flow of destiny, causing the book of death to change, often into huge disadvantages for all of Equestria.

“In addition, should I act too early in this case, the results would be even much worse. I was aware that I would shatter Pinkamena’s trust in me, destroying maybe the only chance we would ever get to catch her and kill her.

“Yet, I did not care. I only wished to spare Rainbow Dash of this torture and was willing to pay any price. And so I did.”

After saying this, Obsidian removed the hood from his head and moved the cloak over to his left side, revealing his body. Now, Twilight finally understood why he was so weak. The reaper was in terrible condition. His horn and wings were missing, as well as his cutie marks. He was bleeding all over, fresh cuts all over his body and his coat burnt at multiple places.

“As I came in, Pinkamena just finished torturing Rainbow Dash with electricity and woke her up again. Dash was so relieved to see me. She begged me to help her... I will never forget the face she made after she realized I did not come to save her, but to kill her.

“Pinkamena trusted me up until this point. A year of cooperating with her granted me just one surprise attack she would not be able to stop... and I used it on Rainbow Dash.

“Interfering with her work was an act of betrayal that could hardly be outdone by anything. We had a furious battle, but I realized that as long as we both were down in this room, things could only go out of hoof.

“I had her full hatred and attention, so I could risk to run away, knowing she would follow me. This is where Rainbow Dash, Pinkamena and I appeared to have vanished.

“While Rainbow’s dead body remained hidden in the torture room, Pinkamena kept chasing me. I was not precisely sure what to do. She definitely was a very difficult enemy. Her insanity combined with her highly refined combat and hunting skills made her a foe strong enough to defeat me.

“In the end, I realized that the only way to defeat her was by creating another situation in which I would catch her by surprise. So I chose to confront her.”

Obsidian needed another break. His voice had nearly given in by now. Yet, he had to finish this. He had to reveal every last secret to Twilight.

“At first I put all my strength into the battle against her, hoping I could avoid this very last resort. But she really was too skilled.

“I let my guard down for a moment on purpose, allowing her to strike me and knock me unconscious. Just as I expected of her, she dragged me back to her torture room.

“For the following two days, she pulled off every torture trick on me she knew as a punishment for my betrayal. Though I made this as unenjoyable as I could for her. I did not give her the satisfaction to scream or beg. I just took everything she did to me, knowing I deserved it.

“The only thing I had to be careful about was that she did not attempt to eat any of my body. The sheer amount of demonic energy I consist of would have forced her to give birth to the demon inside her.

“To avoid this from happening, I just insulted her or yawned in her face, provoking her just enough to make her stop with what she was about to do and continue torturing me for several hours more.

“At some point, she became so upset with me that she decided to ram a red-hot iron pole down my throat. She was quite surprised to see that I survived this. It seemed like she never had a victim before that endured this much.

“When she was not torturing me, Pinkamena worked on turning Rainbow Dash into a puppet. She put her back together and stitched her up with a lot of care. Torturing and having the dead body of one of her best friends was Pinkamena’s greatest accomplishment so far.”

Again, Obsidian took a break. By now, Twilight was shivering in fear, hate and revulsion so much, he could hear her.

“At the end of the second day, my body finally gave in. But as you know, reapers can not die. This was why I asked you to keep my immortality a secret.

“Pinkamena did not know this. So, as my heart stopped beating and I gave off my final breath, she started laughing out loudly in victory and prepared her skinning tools.

“While she was distracted, I awoke again and secretly used my dark abilities to loosen the bindings which held me still on the rack.

“Just like unicorns, a reaper without a horn can not cast magic. But I still had my natural dark abilities. I freed myself just enough to be able to pounce her once she turned back to me.

“I just hung there, waiting for her to come close again with the skinning knife. When she finally was just in front of me again, I suddenly grabbed her and sunk my teeth into her face, tearing the skin off. She did not see that coming. The pain and shock caught her off guard, allowing me to pin her into a wall.

“At this point, I let my emotions overthrow my logic. I held Pinkamena defenceless in my very hooves. This pony was responsible for so many deaths. Rainbow’s horrible end was only because this one pony got her sick pleasure out of torturing her. All I could think of now was revenge...”

The reapers voice became even weaker now. But not because of the burning damage and all the speaking, but because it gained a very sad tone.

“I refused to summon my scythe. Instead, I wanted her to see what torture feels like. I picked up a scalpel and repeatedly rammed it in her stomach, avoiding to do lethal damage on purpose.

“I wanted her to suffer... I wanted her to bleed... but mostly, I wanted her to beg for mercy. I kept on shouting at her while continuously stabbing her. Asking her how she liked it. How it felt like. Calling her a sick twisted beast. A monster not worthy existing in Equestria...

“Then... then I saw it... Pinkamena’s expression changed into one I did not expect to see from her. One of sadness and regret.

“By then, she was at the brink of death. But she still put the strength she had left in raising her head, crying and smiling at me... ‘Thank you’...

“She thanked me for punishing her. She thanked me for saying all these bad things to her.

“With a shock, I realized what I had done. By torturing her to the point where she nearly died, I caused the tiny bit of sanity that was left in her to resurface.

“I saw the real Pinkie Pie... I felt so incredibly sorry over my own actions... I was not a single bit better than Pinkamena.

“All I did then was summoning my scythe and ended her suffering, once and for all...” Obsidian concluded.

He was finally done. Twilight stood still, her mouth and eyes wide open. This was a long and terrible story to take in. But at least she now had the answers she wanted.

Ten minutes passed while the purple mare looked around the room and focused her two dead friends every now and then while she processed the entire story in her head. Finally, she turned her focus back to the reaper, who was still staring at the ground.

“You... you planned this from the very beginning? You planned to betray us all even before the first time we met and Celestia ordered you to do this?” Twilight asked, her voice calm but clearly anger filled.

“Yes...” Obsidian answered.

“You planned to kill Rainbow Dash... You planned to kill Pinkie Pie... For justice?” She asked again, despise and hatred growing in her voice, but not getting louder.

“Yes...” Obsidian replied again.

Twilight slowly lowered her head, pressing her eyes shut and showing her teeth, pressing them hard together as well while the tears started flowing down her face again.

This was too much. The purple mare learned to trust Obsidian entirely... and now he used this trust to betray her in the worst possible way.

She understood why Pinkie... Pinkamena Diane Pie had to die. But she just could not get over the fact that he used Rainbow Dash as a tool to achieve this.

Although Obsidian explained everything in even the smallest of detail, she still thought there must have been another way to get around this. There must have been a way to rescue Rainbow Dash.

The purple mare slowly lifted her head again, looking at Obsidian with an expression of total hate. At this point, she didn’t even think about how much Princess Celestia had betrayed her, because she was still too busy dealing with the idea of her loyal guardian and friend killing two of her other best friends. Hate and desperation overwhelmed her and the only thing she could think of right now was revenge.

“Obsidian Shards... I order you... give me your scythe,” Twilight commanded.

The reaper reacted instantly. He summoned his scythe and handed it over to Twilight. Then he sat down to the blood stained ground, put his front legs on his back and bending his neck over, looking down and awaiting decapitation.

Now that he finished his last mission and reaped the last two names in his book of death, Obsidian became mortal. He would not recover from his injuries and would soon die. But Twilight didn’t want to let it come to that. She wanted to kill him for what he had done and the reaper made it as easy for her as possible.

The purple mare held his scythe in her mouth, aiming at the reapers neck. Slowly, she lifted the scythe in the air, getting ready to strike. But as she was just halfway out, she suddenly stopped again. In her mind, she kept on repeating the whole story Obsidian revealed to her. For some reason, all the words of regret he had spoken out clustered in her mind, breaking her blind desire for revenge just long enough to make her realize what she was about to do. She was still afraid of becoming a reaper and a lowly motive like revenge would not be enough for her to go so far as to turn into one.

Twilight slowly lowered the scythe again and stared at Obsidian. With her rage broken, she now realized in what kind of position he was. He expected her to kill him. He wanted it. But the motive seemed to be a different one now. It seemed like he didn’t want to be killed just to spare a foal from becoming a reaper. He wanted it as a form of punishment.

After what Obsidian told her, she started seeing him as a cold, brutal and heartless monster again. But this wasn’t the behaviour of a monster. A real monster would struggle to survive and continue doing what it was doing until the last moment.

No. This in front of her wasn’t a monster. It was Obsidian Shards, her friend. A friend who was forced to do something very, very terrible. Finally, the purple mare placed the scythe to the ground.

“Obsidian... what you have done is... it is... I can’t even find a fitting word to describe how unspeakably bad that was. You used us all as toys and even sacrificed Rainbow Dash, all just to kill Pink... amena Diane Pie as well. I feel hurt, betrayed and disappointed like never before in my life. But... the more I think of your words... the more I have to admit you did all you could. You tried so hard to protect us. You tried so hard to save Rainbow Dash. You risked everything, just to protect us. And for that, I can just thank you. Thank you, and forgive you,” Twilight proclaimed.

The black stallion’s head shot back up again, staring at Twilight in utter shock.

“You... you... forgive me? You really forgive me?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yes... I do... I can’t imagine what this whole mission must have been like for you. You started out as an emotionless killer and now became a warm and friendly pony with a conscience. I could watch you turn from an empty shell into a creature with soul.

“If I was forced into your role and would have needed to go through everything you have been through, I would have collapsed on half the way already. This would have been far too much for me to bear.

“Even though the situation was decided and hopeless from the very beginning, you still did all you could to turn it out better. I can’t be mad at you for this.

“I just can’t hate you for doing something you had no chance to avoid anyway. In fact, I even have to thank you for freeing Rainbow Dash from her torture early. She really deserved better than this,” Twilight explained calmly.

Obsidian was speechless. He slowly lowered his front hooves back to the ground. Then he started hanging his head again, his expression shifting into a neutral one. Two minutes of silence passed, then the reaper spoke again.

“No...” he said.

“Huh?” Twilight wondered.

“No... just... just no. You... you can not just forgive me... you can not just thank me... why... why do you not... just...”

Obsidian couldn’t finish his sentence. He suddenly turned around, cowering on the ground and covering his body and face with the cloak again.

Twilight wasn’t entirely sure what was going on at first. The reaper barely made any noise, but seemed to tremble. A light dripping sound coming from him finally gave it away.

“Obsidian... are you... crying?” the purple mare wondered.

The black stallion did not respond. Instead, he just shrunk to the ground even more. Twilight stepped next to him and from an angle in which there was a gab showing his face, she could see a black tear trail running down from his left eye and a red tear trail of blood running down from his right eye. It was now that Twilight understood that not only she would have collapsed from this mission. It also destroyed him.

“Why do you not just punish me? How do I deserve your mercy? I am a monster! The worst kind there is! Even most demons are not as evil as I am! I do not deserve your kindness. I do not deserve your generosity. What I deserve is eternal suffering and to be hated by all of you forever! And yet... you are standing there... saying you forgive me?” Obsidian asked weakly while still crying.

“Obsidian...” Twilight spoke.

“You ponies are such wonderful creatures... You are so pure... So innocent... so beautifully naive. Just look at me, Twilight! Look what I am! I am a creature of death, disaster and impurity! My body is filled with so much corruption that just absorbing any of it it, even the smallest bit, would put a pony in the risk to grow mad! My mere presence defiles you! I am the very definition of a monster! How can you hold any sympathy for a beast like me? After all I have done to you and your friends!” the reaper asked.

“I don’t care what you are. You are, and always will be, a friend to me. You too have been through hell, but in contrast to most of us not just once, but countless times and that for hundreds of years. You deserve better as well,” Twilight explained.

“No... I do not deserve any better. I truly deserve to go through the tenfold. A traitor and pony-eater like me does not deserve friendship, love, care or tolerance. There is not supposed to be a happy ending for me! I feel so guilty... Please, Twilight. Just punish me! Kill me!” Obsidian begged.

“I can’t... I just can’t do this to you. You may feel guilty over what you have done, but to me, it is understandable. I can only repeat myself: you deserve better in my eyes, not worse,” Twilight spoke.

The black stallion suddenly became mute, letting his scythe disappear again. He slowly lifted his head, focusing Twilight with his eyes full of black reaper tears on the one side and blood on the other. Then, he turned his head away again, his expression changing back into one of huge regret and suffering. While still turning, the reaper dissolved into a black cloud, which then quickly flew back upstairs and away.