As much as the children of Ponyville loved their town, they always enjoyed having a few times where they could get away from it all. To just head on out and get a little peace and quiet with each other. For Spike, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, today was just such a day. Together, the three youngsters had retreated from the busy streets of the town, and had instead chosen to go to a secluded spot in Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom led the way, smiling to herself as Spike and Scootaloo followed. On and on they went, until at last, they found their destination. A new clubhouse, built within a tall tree. It was a nice and fun-looking place to be, and the children eagerly giggled at the sight of it, rushing forward, with even Scootaloo showing a great deal of enthusiasm over being here. They looked around the place, both inside and out, and Spike, who had been trained for many years by his adopted Mother to study things carefully, gave an approving nod, turning to his earth pony companion.

"This is a pretty nice construction, Apple Bloom!"

The filly giggled.

"Yep! Applejack used ta play here when she was mah age! An' now, we get ta be here!"

It was an exciting prospect, and one that Spike continued to smile to. But, as he dwelt further on all of this, he paused, looking over his shoulder. Apple Bloom, seeing him, walked over, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, she'll be here."

Spike nodded to that, appreciating his friend's words, and together, the two again looked to their new clubhouse. Scootaloo was already on her way in, and as such, the other two soon joined her. Once inside, they looked around, continuing to be impressed with their new place of play. It was largely empty, but that did not deter any of them.

"Got any ideas of what we could bring?" Apple Bloom asked.

Spike smirked a little.

"Sure! We could start with..."

But, before he had the chance to finish, he was halted by the sound of somebody approaching from outside. Though at first wary of this, the youths soon regained their smiles after they looked out of the door and saw who it was. It was Sweetie Belle, who herself was smiling up to them. But, naturally, she was not simply arriving alone here, as a member of the Lunar Guard was with her, no doubt acting as a bodyguard for her. But, the older stallion at least had the courtesy to wait at the foot of the ramp that led to the tree-house, allowing Sweetie to walk up and join her friends.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, apologetically.

But Spike shook his head.

"No problem. We hadn't really started anything anyway."

Apple Bloom nodded in agreement to that.

"Yep! We were jus' thinkin' on what ta do now what we've finally got the place ta ourselves!"

Sweetie considered that, glancing around the place she and her friends now had for their time together. She certainly seemed happy, but before she was able to say anything, Apple Bloom suddenly gained an idea, as evidenced by the excited tone in which she now spoke.

"Oh! How about we tell stories?"

It was a decent idea, and all of the other youngsters seemed in favour of it. So, getting together in a rudimentary circle, the quartet sat down. But, as soon as they'd done so, they soon realised that they now struggled to think of exactly what stories to tell. A silence passed, which while fine for the likes of the ever-quiet Scootaloo, proved a little bit more troublesome for the other three. After a while though, Spike snapped his claws, resuming his prior smile.

"How about...the story of Hearth's Warming Eve? Where the three tribes of ponies first came together?"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.

"A little out-of-season for that, ain't it?"

Then, her eyes widened.

"Oh! How about the story of the love poison that nearly wiped out a whole kingdom?"

Sweetie Belle grimaced to that.

"Er...I don't really like romance stories that have bad endings like that."

Apple Bloom, upon hearing that, sighed.

"Yeah...maybe yer right."

She then smiled again as she looked to her Lunar friend.

"What about y'all, Sweetie? Ah'm bettin' Lunars have a bunch o' stories, right?"

Sweetie Belle placed a hoof to her chin, pondering that.

"I could give you the story of the founding of our kingdom? Or maybe the story of Discord?"

Spike shook his head.

"Nah. I already told those stories to them a little while ago."

The group was at a loss, that much was certain, and in a brief moment of boredom, Spike glanced out of the still-open door, to the ever-stoic Lunar Guard that continued to wait outside.

"I don't suppose you have a story in mind for us?" he called out.

Then, to their surprise, the older stallion looked over his shoulder to them, chuckling slightly.

"Hey, Miss Belle? Why don't you tell these kids the story of the World-Ender? That should be entertaining at least."

Instantly, the three Equestrians gained some confusion, while Sweetie, by contrast, lit up, and so began to nod enthusiastically.

"Oh! I'd completely forgotten that one!"

Hearing that, the soldier sighed, shaking his head and returning to his previous position.

"Kids these days, always forgetting the old stuff."

Then he halted, looking back to his charge with some nervousness.

"Er...please don't tell your Mother I said that about you!"

But Sweetie simply giggled to that, much to the guard's relief. As for her friends, they continued to look to her expectantly.

"So...what's the story?" Spike asked.

Sweetie deliberately cleared her throat, gaining a confident look and tone of voice as she started her tale.

"It's a story from before the start of the Lunar Kingdom, from back when ponykind was still young. The great mages of our people, seeing far through the powers of the world, could see and learn of things no mortal could ever hope to know about!"

As expected, a story that began like that drew their interest, and the other three scooted closer to listen in better as Sweetie continued.

The greatest of these mages saw through the barriers between worlds, the walls that separated us from all the places and peoples that lived beyond. And there...they learned of something terrible!"

She frowned.

"Far in the distant corners of all of reality...on a dark and barren rock where no life could ever hope to grow...something came into being!"

The others gulped simultaneously, starting to become unnerved.

"This being...this force...it was the only thing in it's world... the only thing that would ever exist in that version of the universe. Not alive...not dead...not a breathing, thinking creature. It simply...was."

Sweetie paused, clearly for dramatic effect, but also to give herself a chance to remember this story that had been lost to her mind for so long.

"But through the great walls between worlds...it could feel life in other places. Ponies and plants and animals, wherever life could be found, it felt them."

Sadness came to her.

"But this did not make it happy. For that feeling of life beyond its universe was...terrible for it. It was like a great pain, a gnawing, screeching, scraping that tormented it for every moment of its existence. For life itself was its opposite, and so it could not bear to sense it, even though it was separated from it."

Here, Spike finally asked a question.

"So...it was tortured? Just because other life was...there? In some other universe?"

Sweetie nodded.

"And over time, this agony became so great, it drove this being mad. And that madness...it tore at the very fabric of the world, ripping apart the walls."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Through those cracks, it escaped its universe, and slipped into others. Wherever it found living worlds...it would go to them...and when it was done...those worlds lived no longer."

The other children listened on, enraptured and disturbed in equal measure.

"This carried on, for day after day, century after century. World after world it went to...and world after world died. No power could stop it, and nobody could reason with it."

Slowly, Sweetie hung her head.

"All it ever wanted, all it was ever driven to do...was to find life...and stop it. No mind...no thoughts that made it choose...just an instinct to kill."

She opened her eyes again, sighing and looking up to her friends.

"...And on it went, never stopping, going from world to world...forever."

A pause followed, and while the others looked to her like they were eager to hear more, the fact that Sweetie wasn't saying anything led to one very obvious conclusion for them.

"Wait...that's it?!" Spike asked.

Sweetie nodded.

"Not the happiest story, I know, but it's a story that's been with us for a long time now."

Spike blinked slowly.

"Is...is that story true?"

Sweetie sighed.

"Hard to say. It's such an old tale, there's always been confusion over whether it was real or not, or whether some old pony just made it up thousands of years ago. But, it stuck with us all the same."

Apple Bloom shivered.

"Ah hate ta think o' somethin' like that just wanderin' around out there. Doin' all that bad stuff, never bein' stopped, just...ugh!"

Sweetie nodded again.

"I know the feeling. I had nightmares for weeks when I first heard that story."

From the way Scootaloo was looking to her fearfully, it would have been no surprise if that young pegasus had a similar experience in the days to come. But, as another silence passed over them all, Spike took on a more curious look, and glanced over to his unicorn friend.

"Sweetie...this creature, or being, or whatever it is. Did...did it have a name?"

Sweetie, after thinking on that, nodded, albeit briefly.

"It met many, but only one people knew it was coming long enough to give it a name. According to legend, in our language, the name meant a Bringer of Death."

Slowly, she shivered slightly, before finally answering in earnest.

"In their language though...it was called Grogar."