"You insufferable little. . . niece of mine!" Dèshū glared her pink eyes at Shade, who was currently chained up and laid on her side on the floor, "I love you, Shade, but I owe my life to Grey. He has been nothing but a great brudder to me, and a great father to you and you do nothing but give him Hell. Well, I have had enough out of you, young lady!"

Shade rolled her eyes, long since stopped listening to that gothic lolita, pink pigtailed, aunt of hers. She was in no mood to hear her fawn about how "great of a father" that man was. If she were to be in any mood it would be happy: she had finally killed that man.

Dèshū saw Shade's smug little grin, "Oh? You think Grey dead, do you? I have news for you!" She levitated a crystal ball in front of Shade's face. She saw Grey, her uncles, and women walking through the ruins of Heaven. Her eyes flared. Now it was Dèshū's turn to grin smugly, "He is alive and kicking. To be perfectly honest, I do not know how he resurrected. All I know is I had no hand in it."

Shade struggled to break free of the chains, and she bit at the gag in her mouth.

She suddenly found herself levitated in the air, hovering in front of her smiling aunt, "I have a fantastic idea! Instead of locking you up in the Void," she grinned devilishly, "I will send you to a place much, much more Hellish."

With a flash of white light her aunt, the throne, and the whole room disappeared, and darkness greeted her.

"Rise and shine!" a familiar female voice singsonged.

A groan left Shade when she tried to move her stiff body. Blinding light pierced her eyes and made her snap her eyes close. She didn't feel the cold hard floor nor the biting chains around her body. She laid on something comfortable and a warm blanket covered her.

"Wake up, you siwwy seepy head," the woman cooed again in Shade's ear.

Shade rolled over and opened her eyes. "Ahh!" she screamed and punched the horse in front of her. She paid no attention to the horse and instead focused on her ivory hoof. She flung the covers off herself and gasped in horror. She had become a horse. A horse!

"You are a pony, dear, sweet niece of mine," the horse she punched answered.

"You," Shade sneered venomously. She glared daggers at the. . . unicorn?

"Me!" the cerise unicorn beamed.

"What did you do to me?!"

"Divine. Punishment." Death smirked.

"Why am I smaller than you?"

"Because you are a cute, adorable, little filly!" Death gushed as she rustled Shade's short red and black mane.

Shade took this as a chance to bite Death's fetlock.

Death pulled her hoof out of the jaws of Shade. She slammed her uninjured hoof atop Shade's head. "Bad!"

Shade groaned in pain as stars danced around her head. She rubbed the impact and came across a new feature protruding from her head: a horn.

Death saw Shade's eyes flash. She levitated the ivory filly up in the air with pink magic, "Nuh-uh-uh! Don't you even think about it, little miss."

"Put me down!" Shade protested as her limbs flailed wildly in the pink bubble.

"Shade," Death said in a serious tone and levitated her niece to face her, "I am giving you a second chance at life. Please, do not squander it."

"You could have at least fixed my color blindness," Shade growled. Shade was taken aback when Death pulled her in for a warm hug.

"There are a lot of things I could have done differently, Shade," Death replied solemnly, with a softened face.

When the shock wore off, Shade squirmed and pushed herself out of Death's embrace. She stared up at Death with annoyed eyes and saw her sincerity. She rolled her eyes and snorted, "Why the fuck am I a pony?" The mere utterance of that last word sent revulsion down Shade's spine.

Death shrugged and answered nonchalantly, "Something different."

Shade plopped her bottom on the wooden floor. "Care to explain. . . everything?"

This is the land of Equestria, ruled by Princess Celestia, the alicorn princess, of the Sun. Her younger sister, Princess Luna, used to rule alongside her as the alicorn princess of the Moon. About a thousand years ago, Princess Luna grew jealous of the fact that ponies slept during her beautiful nights and celebrated in her sister's bright days. She tried to overthrow Princess Celestia. With a heavy heart, Princess Celestia banished her sister to the Moon, with the hopes that she would change her ways.

This world has five types of ponies: earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, alicorns, and vamponies. Earth ponies are the strongest of the ponies; they are closely attuned to nature and other ponies and grow most of the agriculture. Pegasus ponies can fly; they control the weather and live in a mobile, floating city. Unicorn ponies can use magic; they used to manage the Sun and Moon, and are the most scholarly of the ponies. Alicorns are rare and have the aspects of earth, pegasi, and unicorn ponies; right now there are two known alicorns: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Lastly, the vamponies, they used to be one of the apex predators that would prey on the other ponies, but their numbers have since reached endangered status. Two hundred years ago, the ponies tried to eradicate them; fortunately, Princess Celestia stepped in and brokered a treaty with them. They live on a reservation and have regular shipments supply their required sustenance. Most vamponies serve as Night Guards; very few still venerate Nightmare Moon, the corrupted Princess Luna.

Ponies do not only inhabit this world; other sapient species share the world known as Gaia. There are the Griffons of Griffonstone to the far northwest; Dragons mainly occupy the Dragonlands south of Griffonstone; Yaks call the frozen north home; Diamond Dogs prowl the southern border of Equestria; and Zebra's, a sub-species of earth pony, live in a hostile land on the other side of the world. Numerous ancient civilizations and creatures roam the remote, unexplored regions of Gaia.

"Anything else you want to know you can pick up a book and read about it," Death concluded.

Shade sat on the floor deep in thought. After a long moment of silence, she asked, "Can you teach me how to use magic?"