Sleep. It was comforting after a long day trekking the Far North. The mountain range was always covered in snow, and the blizzard that had caught up with them today had been a real doozy. How bad was it? Well, Applejack and Rarity had snow even in their inner layers, and Rainbow had a bad frost burn on her left wing. Twilight herself had a real challenge getting the snow out of her bangs, the frost constantly freezing into ice and requiring an hour-long turn under Rarity’s porta-shower.

Now, the little purple unicorn snuggled up in her sleeping bag, the lavender fabric that covered her from head to toe keeping her warm and snug. No snow remained in her messy purple mane, and the soaking wet hair lay in large bunches across her pillow. A fire burned nearby, the cackling flame sending waves of heat towards her bag, cooking her hooves with just a slight heat, keeping them warm as the fearsome blizzard raged outside. The heat helped dry her saturated hair, the green fire, courtesy of Spike, removing the water from her purple mane.

A huge tent was set up in a corner of the cave, the brim of the structure just barely scraping the ceiling of the cave. Loud snoring came from within, the greatest problem of all dragons, especially little ones like Spike. The tent shook with every snore, but no one went to investigate, and no one moved. Three other sleeping bags were set up around the fire pit, the red flame rippling and warming the cave. An orange pony lay snuggled up in one, a wide-brimmed Wild-West style hat covering her messy blond hair. A ribbon lay nearby, as did a tin cup and a toothbrush. A long section of rope lay coiled up at the foot of the sleeping bag. Applejack snoozed peacefully, her chest rising and falling with every snore from the tent in perfect synchronization. Nearby lay another pony, curled up in a yellow sleeping bag. A few pictures lay nearby, one of a fluffy white bunny, another of a big hulking bear, and one that lay away from the others, closer to the sleeping bag. A picture of six ponies, smiling and holding up a golden trophy, each covered in mud and debris but each also beaming with happiness. Fluttershy loved remembering the old days, especially when they had won together, as a team. She lay silent in her bag, and small puffs of air, with the occasional squee, erupted from her nose. The third bag lay closer to the opening, and fidgeting around in a thrashing fit. The occupant still had her eyes closed, but her wings had ripped through the bag, and were spasmodically flapping about as her legs shook wildly and made as if galloping. Yes, Rainbow Dash was having a nightmare, and released quick, violent breaths that sent steam clouds into the surrounding air. The frost burn lay under a mess of white bandages and gauze, and even as she thrashed the bandage would not come off. Exposing the burn to the cold would only worsen it, and Fluttershy had been sure to tie it especially tight. Rainbow wouldn’t be flying with it on, but nopony, no, not even Spitfire could fly in this blizzard. At least Rainbow had the courage to try.

And so they slept...

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Green dragon’s fire. A tent as big as a house. A frost-burn. How ingenious these ponies are. Pity they need to perish. They would have made great partners in crime.

 The ash pile below the six ponies rose from the ground, forming the shape of the Reaper again. Quietly he opened the chest in the corner, taking out the six corrupt Elements of Harmony out. He stared at the silver jewelry for a moment more before reducing them to ash and integrating them into his own swirling body. He floated to a closet on the other side of the room, near the mirror. He opened with his magic, revealing a huge black scythe with black rune carved on the blade, and two smaller sickles with round, crescent-shaped blades. More black letters covered the blades of the sickles. He took everything in the closet, and held them in the ash cloud, turning them to dust and making them a part of himself. The larger ash cloud then floated to the surface of the ceiling, and spread out, each particle finding a tiny hole in the rock where it could squeeze through. The particles slowly began to rise upward through the rock, the form of the Reaper going on a little courtesy call. There were guests at his welcome mat, and he needed to attend to them.

The six ponies slept. Nopony noticed the ash grains coming out of the solid stone floor, nor they they notice the rotten, pungent smell of rotting corpses in the air. Nopony noticed the green fire turn red, or that the shadows began to move of their own accord. The ash particles all moved towards the fire, for at last the Reaper had his quarry in front of him, and he smiled as best he could (For he had no face. Not yet, at least.). The ash piled on top of each other, and formed the ashen body of the Reaper. He waved a hoof at the cave entrance, and a sheet of rock dropped over it, sealing off the entrance with a massive boom. At the same time, he raised another hoof to the ceiling, and the shadows obeyed. Dark tendrils wrapped around the ponies, ripping them out of their sleeping bags and tents. The ponies, suddenly awakened by the boom of the stone, could not react fast enough with their sleepy bodies as they were grasped by the vines of pure shadow. Tendrils held their limbs still, and another vine covered their mouths. The Reaper stood in the center of the room, standing over the fire as it changed again, this time from a red flame to a black one that gave off a heat that felt searing hot, even at his distance. Standing over the fire, the Reaper felt the heat of the black dragonfire of annihilation most of all, but ignored the feeling of darkness as he lowered himself to the rock floor and began to pace around the rocky floor.

“Ah, so nice of you to visit.” he said in his gravelly voice. “But, I wasn’t expecting guests.”

Twilight managed to spit out the tendril covering her mouth.

“-We... We aren’t visiting! We’ll be--” was all she was able to splutter before the tendril covered her mouth again.

“What’s that? You aren’t visiting? So you’re all trespassing, then. What’s that old saying... ah, yes. Get offa mah lawn, or something like that. No matter. It’s still a pleasure to see you all here. In fact, I won’t even accuse you of trespassing. So nice to see you all. Anyway, it’s time for the party. Wouldn’t want you all to miss that, would I?”

At the mention of the world “party”, Pinkie’s Pie’s eyes grew to three times their normal size.

“Oh, no. Not a fun party.” said the Reaper. He turned his obsidian eyes to look at the pink pony who was practically jumping out of the tendrils with excitement. “Not fun at all. At least not for you. People say that feeling the soul-burning heat of the Black Dragonfire of Annihilation is as fun as a party... with death. Well, we have our partygoers, and our dragon’s fire. All that’s left to make a great party is death.” Upon saying “death”, the Reaper held out his ashen hoof, and materialized his scythe in it. Ash from his body formed the wooden handle, stretching past the Reaper’s height. Dust condensed to form the blade, all eighteen inches of it, made from black metal and attached to the handle by several iron bands and strips of fabric, as well as a pony skull. The blade blade of the scythe glowed in the dragon flame’s light, reflecting the black glow into the ponies’ eyes.

“Now, that’s better. A proper Grim Reaper with a proper scythe. Skull included. Now, we need to make the party more like a party.” He clapped his hooves together, and the shadows listened, forming tendrils of pure darkness that hung from the ceiling like streamers. Dark globules rose from the ground, forming black balloons. Vines of shadow burst out of the ground, pulling the six ponies closer to the rock until they were standing, and more vines held them in place, only their heads exposed. Pools of shadow appeared below them, taking away their footing and removing the solid feel of the stone from their hooves, replacing it with the slippery consistency of a puddle of water.

“Oh, yes, I do recommend the shadow bath. So... killing! But, you all are missing something, aren’t you? You aren’t wearing any jewelry. Proper mares have to wear jewelry to every social occasion. As you don’t seem to have any of your own, I’ll let you borrow mine for the time being.

The Reaper held out his hooves again. Ash flowed from his body into his hooves, forming a ball of swirling dust. He shaped the ash until it became a cube, and it materialized into a chest. Twilight widened her eyes as she saw the chest. It was the chest that contained the Elements, the very chest that Celestia had told her was stolen.

“Oh. What’s the matter? Is this yours?” The Reaper waved the corrupt Element of Magic in front of Twilight. “Well, I rightfully stole it. It’s mine. You should consider yourself lucky I’m letting you borrow this.” The Reaper tossed the Element to Twilight, who tried to duck. She ducked for nothing, for just as it was about to hit her head a dark tendril caught it and held it next to her head. The tendrils did the same for the other ponies, who, despite their best efforts, could not break the crushing grip the vines held them in.

“Now, I’ll be needing a pair of hands. Let’s see, hmmm... Ah! Right. Stand back, I’ll be going full Reaper now. At least my Pure Form has hands. I’ll need those...”

The Reaper raised both his front hooves to the ceiling. He reared, standing on his hind legs, but instead of falling forward again, he remained static, unmoving, as the ash began to condense.

“I remember this was much easier with an actual body.” he said.

The ash stopped moving as it began to pack on itself, forming a solid sphere of ash that rose into the air. It slowly turned black, the grey of the ash slowly being covered in a shadow devoid of all light. The opaque black ball soared through the air until it stopped right on top of the black fire, and slowly the ball itself absorbed the black flame, putting out the fire in the pit and lighting itself with the black fire.

When the flame covered every inch of the sphere, it burst outwards, sending hot ash all over the six ponies. What stepped out was nothing like the ash cloud that had made it.

A huge biped, it stood on two legs, and towered over the ponies. Tattered black robes hung over it, and golden embossment embellished the fabric. Black armor covered his top half, with glowing runes covering it*. A black hood covered it’s head, or where its head would logically be, and huge skeletal wings jutted out of it’s back. Two thick, muscular arms jutted out of the sides of his armor, and they bent twice, once about halfway and another near the end, where the arm ended in two hands, with five skeletal fingers each. One hand grasped the huge scythe the Reaper had been holding, expect now at least three times as big, and the other held a black fireball in its open palm, the flame as dark and foreboding as it was when it burned in the fire pit. The hooded biped walked over to Twilight, stared at her for a while, the darkness behind the hood penetrating into Twilight’s very soul, before moving to her left and staring at Applejack.

“So it begins. You all will fall, and you will carry me on my journey. Nidhogg, First Dragon of Chaos, hear my plea. Turn these ponies to the opposite of who they are, and destroy who they will be.”

As if in response, a roar echoed through the cavern.

The Reaper stepped closer to Applejack. The orange earth pony started shaking, struggling against the restraints that held her back.

The tendril holding the Element of Honesty released its burden. Instead of clattering to the floor, however, the necklace stayed hovering in the air. The Reaper placed his scythe on his back, the huge blade scraping the stone floor. He then took the Element in his free hand, and began to rub the black flame over it. The Element caught fire, the black gem on a silver clasp burning with the black flame. He looked at Applejack for a minute longer before he forcefully placed the necklace around her neck.

Applejack screamed as the flame crept up her skin.

“Your honesty will be a lie, without a sliver of truth.”

The Reaper turned his head, ignoring the burning pony and turning to Fluttershy. He snapped his fingers in front of her, and her eyes rolled up to the back of her head. He took her Element, and lit it with the black flame, the fire scalding the silver metal. He clasped it around her neck.

“ Your kindness will flee, and you anger will be unleashed.”

Applejack began to sink into the ground, her hooves disappearing into the black pool below her. She struggled violently, but the tendrils gripped her tightly, refusing to allow her to escape.

The Reaper ignored her cries as he moved on to Pinkie Pie. He did the same to her, forcing her to wear the burning and corrupt necklace that bore her cutie mark on its gem. He clasped the silver necklace around her pink neck, the Element burning into her skin.

Pinkie screamed as the flame crept up her skin.

“Your laughter will be silenced, to be replaced with roars of pain.”

He left Pinkie to struggle against the fire. Fluttershy’s limp body began to descend into the black pool, the tendrils slowly pulling the unconscious pegasus into the black void. The Reaper walked away from the pink earth pony and turned to Rainbow Dash next to her.

He grabbed her rainbow-colored hair, and placed his face extremely close to her’s. He breathed cold air onto her, the freezing cold breath blowing back Rainbow’s head. She held her breath as the putrid scent of death washed over her. For the first time in many seasons, Rainbow held fear in her heart.

The Reaper sealed the clasp of her Element over her neck.

Rainbow screamed as the black fire engulfed her.

“Your loyalty is a ruse, with betrayal at every turn.”

As he walked towards Rarity, Pinkie began to sink into the black pool.

Twilight was powerless to stop the Reaper from breathing on Rarity. The dressmaker shook her head violently, trying to get the freezing cold breath somewhere else. The Reaper burned her element as she struggled to cope with the putrid stink.

He fastened the necklace around her neck.

Rarity screamed.

“Your generosity will be stolen, and avarice will rise to take its power.”

Rainbow began to sink.

Twilight gulped as the Reaper walked in front of her. Wordlessly he began to burn her Element, but as she watched, instead of placing it on her head, he held out his palms, and the black flame extinguished from his hands. He summoned his sickles, and Twilight watched as the two wickedly curved blades materialized in his hands, the ash used to make them turning seamlessly into black metal. He laid the sharp blade of one sickle on her right cheek, and scraped downwards, leaving a long, bleeding red line down her face. He did the same to her left one as Twilight whimpered in pain. Finally, he snapped his fingers at Rarity, causing her to start sinking. He grabbed the tiara that was the Element of Magic: the dragonfire that burned on it blacker than any other. He reached to place it on her head...

And Twilight reacted. She fired a magic bolt at the crown as it landed on her forehead, and the black dragonfire split into two parts, one black, one blue. The Reaper stood back as the blue flame spread over Twilight’s left side.

Twilight screamed, although only her right side was burning. Her left felt calm and serene, but just as she was about to fire another magic blast to end the Reaper, he brought his scythe down on her head.

Twilight saw nothing.

“Your magic is darkness, built to feast on the living.” said the Reaper.

The purple unicorn’s head lolled to the side, the cut on her forehead as black as night. A Shadow Wound graced her head, and as she sunk into the ground it began to expand. The Reaper ignored her as she sank into the pool, and soon enough he was surrounded by six pools of pure darkness. He clenched his fists, and then spread them out. Energy flowed from the pools, in streams of orange, yellow, pink, blue, white, and purple. The Reaper felt their power enter him, before falling to his knees as he began to transform. His bipedal Death Form began solid black before a red tint surrounded the edges of his vision and he reverted into the shape of a pony.

He stood. The ground felt strangely solid. He stared at his hoof. It was... solid. A solid black hoof met him face-to-face. He turned his head, feeling the muscles and bones that, just a second ago, did not exist. He opened his wings, feeling the skeletal appendages spread for the first time in millennia. The Reaper summoned his mirror, his solid horn glowing as the mirror rose from the ground.

He stared at himself in the glass.

He was no longer an ash cloud.

He was... a pony.

“It is time. Time... for my revenge.”