Back home, I would have notes on plenty of different monsters. I was planning to eventually compile them all and write a book about it but it didn’t really turn out that way, did it? But I think things turned out better than they would have back home. I looked behind me and jabbed a thumb in the direction of the castle.

“We should probably get back to Celestia. I need to find out more about what this pony said before we do anything else.” I told Luna before floating back down through the window and almost immediately getting lost. The layout was so different from the castle in the Everfree. How was anyone meant to find their way around without a map? It just seemed too big for the living quarters of two Princesses but I suppose that’s what castles are meant to be. Glorified houses. I flew past a court full of ponies, stopped my gliding and backtracked to find the Day Court.

About time I found it! Snapping my fingers to dematerialise my scythe, I floated above their heads and managed to stick to the shadows high up until the court was over for the day.When the last pony exited the room, I dropped to the floor, and a couple of guard ponies closed the door behind them. I watched Celestia walk off her throne and over to me.

“Greetings, Death. Did my sister tell you about the pony that was talking about the monster?” Celestia asked, sitting down in front of me.

“Yeah, that’s what I was going to-” I was interrupted when I spotted a black portal rimmed with white open up on the floor behind the Princess. I pointed to it just as an orange blur was shot out of it. “I’ll change my question. Did you summon a Displaced?” I asked her, not taking my eyes off of the spot where the portal was.

“No. I didn’t.” Celestia answered and looked to where I was looking just in time to see the orange jumpsuit land safely on both feet as its weird white boots broke the fall. I marched up to it and flipped my hood up, walking around to its front to see who it was. I saw hair that was a mix of brown, green and gray and when he lifted his head to look at me, his eyes were an odd colour of green and yellow.

“Hello?” I asked carefully and his face turned to one of shock and horror, quickly backing up until he hit Celestia. The princess frowned and held him in a levitation field as I slowly walked up to him. “Let me try something else. What’s your name and how did you get here?”

“J-Joseph … and … p-portal,” Joseph replied, obviously scared at seeing me. I gave a sigh and looked him in the eye, wincing as a very vivid memory floated in front of me. There was laughing, some sort of gas and a dead Spike. Wait. What was that? His Spike’s dead!?

“Let me ask you something, Joseph. Did you kill Spike, or was it someone else?” I asked him, not bothering to comfort him or anything.

“Technically, I did kill him but it was an alternate personality that actually did it, Sheila!” I heard him protest and then it hit me. This may have been a random Displaced portalling into my world but the accent and the name I definitely remember. Remember when Draigo talked about my cousin? This appeared to be him except he seemed more crazier than when Draigo had described him.

“Does the name ‘Skye’ mean anything to you?” I asked him.

“Sh-Should it?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, it should,” I answered and did my best to not sigh. Maybe his killing of Spike thing messed up his memories. I don’t see how that was possible because I appear to remember him just fine, even if Draigo had to remind me of him.

“Why?” Joseph questioned.

“Name of your cousin? The one that moved to America?” I pressed, trying to see if I can jog his memory. He looked at me and shook his head. Maybe it’s because I was a skeleton and not a flesh and blood. Yeah, that was most likely something to do with it.

“What kind of crazy skeleton is this!?” I heard him ask and I saw him cover his mouth afterwards. Whatever it was, it seemed like he had a few screws loose so I pointed to the spot where he had come from.

“If you do remember, just remember that your cousin is the Grim Reaper. Now get out,” I said harshly. This probably was my cousin, but I don’t want another Displaced here so soon after one had left. I watched him gulp, nod and when Celestia released him, he placed a portal on the floor and jumped into it. It closed immediately behind him and I sighed. I really hope he gets forgiven for what he did.

“Did you say you were his cousin?” Celestia asked me and I simply nodded before walking up to her. I did say that but, he didn’t really feel like my cousin. At least, not the cousin I knew back home. “Why didn’t you mention him earlier?”

“Because I forgot. Simple as that,” I replied with a shrug and looked at her. “Now, before any more interruptions happen; the pony that told you about Bigfoot? The one with the long fur and all? Do you know where they live?” I asked with a tilt of my head as I tried to get the sudden appearance of Joseph out of my mind.

“I believe they’re from Ponyville. Would you like an escort there?” Celestia questioned while I simply shook my head. I knew where Ponyville was from my various visits to Granny Smith as well as some of the old folks dying off naturally.

“I’ll be fine. If you need me, I’ll either be in Ponyville or the Everfree,” I said with a sigh and quickly flew off towards Ponyville.

My cloak billowed out behind me as the wind raced through my bones. I’ll admit it was a weird feeling when it first started happening but I had to get used to it over time. Now? Now it was fantastic to fly. I saw Ponyville coming up and I slowed down when I realised how bright the day was. I don’t think I ever had to fly out of Tartarus in daylight. Welp, let’s just see how it goes.

I landed in the middle of the town and staying in the shadow cast by a giant tree, looked at the different ponies warily. I then realised I had forgotten to ask what the pony actually looked like. Facepalming with an audible thwack, I groaned at myself. Most likely Joseph’s sudden appearance threw me off guard. Yeah, that’s probably it.

“Now … who would be best at asking about Bigfoot?” I mumbled to myself. The different ponies walking about haven’t taken notice of me, so I assume that’s a plus. I’ll have to face the shadowless marketplace sooner or later though. Just as I took a step, I was stopped by a voice down somewhere near my knees. Looking down slowly, I saw the head of a light gamboge pony with a purple mane. Her big, wide eyes were a grayish purple and it sounded like she was repeating something.

“Who the heck are you?” the filly asked. She didn’t sound aggressive but appearances can be deceiving.

“Death. You?” I asked before crouching and held my chin with a hand as my other rested lazily against my femur. She didn’t seem to be screaming in fright but only time will tell.

“I’m Scootaloo!” Scootaloo chirped and smiled brightly despite me staring at her. This was a weird filly, that’s for sure.

“Scootaloo. Maybe you can help me. Have you seen a large furry creature lumbering towards the Everfree?” I asked casually. Didn’t hurt to ask and I wasn’t really sure where to start anyway.

“You mean a bear?” Scootaloo asked with a head tilt and hmmed in thought. “No … unless you count the one behind Fluttershy’s cottage.”

“Close enough, thanks,” I said with a nod and scratched my skull through my hood. Either I missed something, or the residents of Ponyville don’t seem that rowdy at seeing a filly talk to a living skeleton. Standing up, I then walked towards the cottage but soon heard three sets of hooves running up behind me. I turned and three fillies skidded to a stop. Apple Bloom (thank Hades she was alright) and Scootaloo were there along with a white Unicorn filly. I stared and she seemed to shrink under my sightless gaze. I smirked on the inside. “What do you three want?”

“We wanted to know more about you!” the white Unicorn filly squeaked. If I had eardrums, they would have surely ruptured from the intensity alone.

“So why do you want to know more about a talking skeleton of a creature that you most likely have never seen or heard about before?” I asked them in fake delight. That didn't appear to affect the three one little bit.

“Because we believe you can help us in getting our cutie marks,” the filly squeaked again. I would have asked for her name but it appeared I wouldn't get that chance yet. Hearing quite a few ponies scream, I groaned to myself and turned around. Seeing a closed up hairy fist and red knuckles head straight towards me like it was NASA’S last attempt at launching a rocket was not a good sight to have. As it was, I was sent careening backwards into the giant tree I was standing under mere moments ago. I left a cartoonishly Skye-shaped hole in the trunk and couldn't help but gape at the man stalking towards me.

His face was beetroot red and I couldn't tell if that was blood or just how he naturally looked. His hair turned into vibrant pink flames and then back to normal seemingly of its own accord. He wore animal skins piled on top of one another (wouldn't he get seriously hot under all those furs?) and a giant sword strapped to his back which was buckled over the top of the massive pile of furs. He was broad shouldered, had muscles that seemed to writhe under his skin with every step he took and by the time I saw his bloodshot, furious eyes, he had already punched me again. At close range. With a flat palm.

I grunted and slammed into a bookshelf, my bones losing their connection with each other as the books fell down around me. I groaned as my skull lay on the bookshelf itself like a trophy and watched the big ugly brute walk towards me again. Now that the tree trunk wasn't obscuring his lower half, I could tell that he was wearing some sort of fur breeches and went barefoot but as far as I could tell, none of that mattered as his face was taking up my entire field of view again.

“That's smart,” I muttered.

“What's smart, Death? Me catching you off-guard, or me breaking apart your body?” the large man asked. His voice sounded gravelly and even had a rather strong British accent. That was surprising and there were two more surprising things I figured out. He knew who, or what, I was and he could walk on two legs. The only one that I know who can walk on two legs around here is me.

“I didn't expect you to have brains but you breaking up my body was clever,” I told him casually and he wasn't perturbed by me speaking despite having no tongue to speak of. I willed my bones to try and reform themselves but felt the connection broke again when he stepped on one of my moving toe bones. This guy really knows how to keep me down. Concentrating again, I moved my left hand towards the behemoth. Just when it got to his leg, he turned and kicked my hand, making it sail back out of the hole. That’s great. Hearing a scream, I groaned inwardly. They must have spotted my disembodied hand. “What do you want? You don’t just hit something unless you have a point to prove.”

“I want you to pay for what you’ve done,” the man told me with a pointed finger to my skull. I saw a clenched fist sailing towards me but at that moment, I felt my hand smack into the back of his head, throwing off his aim. His hairy fist splintered the bookshelf next to me instead of my skull. Who threw my hand back through the hole?

“Who was it that wrecked my library?” I heard a familiar female voice say in a low voice. The brute laughed at her tone and turned to face the speaker.

“What are you going to do, puny pony?” the man asked, his hands on his hips as the muscles on his back quivered with laughter, his voice booming around the room. It stopped suddenly and his hands flew up to his throat. Whatever the mare did, at least he stopped talking for now.

"That's not all I'm going to do if you don't get out now," the mare continued in a snarl.

“Um, excuse me?” I called out. An angry mare walked into view from in front of hulk humongous and stopped suddenly at seeing me. I stared at the pony and couldn’t quite place her until I spotted her cutie mark. “Twilight Sparkle? This is your library?”

“Yes, and I would appreciate it, if there weren’t any battles within,” Twilight said haughtily. Her tail flicked in annoyance before she rubbed the base of her horn. Right, it was fractured. She must have been used to it though as she kept walking and wincing whenever she used magic to pick up the fallen books. My gaze shot back to the monster as he turned back to me and picked up my skull with a hand. My guess? He's taking Twilight seriously.

“What are you going to do now? Boot me like a football between two goal posts?” I asked him, my attention on what he’s going to do rather than Twilight. He didn’t answer. One of his meaty hands was rubbing his throat as he walked outside the tree-library. I willed my body to follow him before he stopped suddenly. My bones barraged into his back but he barely felt it. I hit the ground when he let go and quickly let my body form around me. When I was standing up within my tattered cloak, I walked around him to have a look at what had made him stop. It was a pony. Seriously? The apparently immortal Twilight didn’t stop him, but this one does!? I looked between the both of them before settling on the giant. “Who are you?”

“My name is Rig, Death,” Rig told me in a clipped tone, even though I directed my question to the behemoth. Rig was a rust coloured pony with a steel-grey mane and tail and oddly enough, he didn’t have a cutie mark. Interesting. A full grown stallion without a cutie mark doesn’t appear every day.

“Not you, him,” I said, pointing a finger to the behemoth.

“You’ll find out,” Rig replied evenly as he walked up to the animal-skin-wearing man. When he nudged the man’s leg, they both vanished on the spot. I was left dumbfounded but quickly scanned for their life signatures, or souls if you want to get technical. I couldn’t really sense them but that didn’t necessarily mean they weren’t still around. I still have a lot of questions for them but it looked like they would have to wait. With my mind made up, I spun on the spot and disappeared into my shadow. Now everything was in monochrome with all the ponies looking around in confusion. I rarely had to use this power but that brawler made me more cautious than before.

Sometime later, I found myself on the outskirts of the Everfree. Was this where Bigfoot was last seen? I stepped forward and was suddenly in bright daylight again. I would be squinting and blinking if I still had my eyes. Crouching on the dusty ground, I looked for any tracks but they seem to have disappeared.

“What are you looking for?” Twilight asked. I stood up straight and stared at her. “What?”

“I thought you were fixing up your library?” I asked her, scratching my skull with a finger.

“That was a few hours ago and Spike helped heaps, so I’ll ask again. What are you looking for,” Twilight reiterated with a snort. This mare was really impatient for some reason.

“I’m looking for tracks but they must have disappeared,” I said and scanned the ground carefully. A purple flash interrupted my inspection and I whirled back around to Twilight. She was sitting on her hind legs and rubbing her horn furiously.

“That’s gonna hurt for a while,” she groaned. “I did a spell that would unveil tracks and the last unknown ones, beside yours, were from a couple of days ago.”

“Come again?” I asked. It can’t have been two days. There was no way I was talking for that long but then again, I didn’t need to breathe so maybe it did take that long.

“A couple of days. That was the last time I was in Ponyville as well after I took Cerberus back. I performed a time travel later that night and I ended up knocked out for a couple of days,” Twilight explained with a gesture and sweeped her hoof over a section of the outskirts of the Everfree. I pointed to where she gestured.

“Is that where you ‘saw’ the tracks?” I questioned. She nodded and sweeped her tail behind her. I looked at the area and could see the barest imprint of a giant foot. “Well, there’s something here.”

“Can I come with?” Twilight asked suddenly.

“No,” I replied just as quickly but before I could go any further, I felt something tug at my core and a few seconds later, was pulled from my reality into an entirely different one. Namely, a moving train.

Author's Notes:

Minor crossover with one of my other stories, Portals, Portals Everywhere!

I actually have an idea on a plot for this other than nabbing/killing/befriending various cryptids. That will be more of a side plot with this idea as the main one. The next two chapters take place in a couple different worlds but after that, it'll be back to this.