Reaper Chapter one

You may find my main character a bit odd, but I hope you like it.

Reaper

(This story has been translated from the original horse-hybrid language to English for your convenience. And yes, that took a while. You're welcome.)

   Reaper winced as he picked himself off of the dirty cave floor. He cracked each bone along his spine one at a time and his mother, Glim, snorted in disgust from the lip of the cave.  

   "Reaper, you could at least go one day pretending to be normal and make the rest of us feel a little more comfortable." Glim said in exasperation and stamped her hooves. Glim was a solid white pegasus with hooves that looked like they were carved from pearls. Sometimes mortals mistook Glim for an angel flying across the sky because of her pure white wings that reflected sunlight, but nowadays she was anything but an angel.    

   After she gave birth to her only son, Reaper, she thought she had been cursed, for he looked like something that came straight from the worst, horrific pits of hell and was born only half alive. Reaper was still, technically, considered a pegasus, but he had no flesh, only bones and was a skeleton of what a pegasus should look like.

   Reaper is only half alive because he had the mentality, but not the correct pegasus body, to support all of his life energy. The only body parts Reaper has that aren't bone is a beating horse heart attached to the very back of his rib cage that doesn't appear to have any particular function, but beats exactly once every twenty minutes. He also has a horse brain in his skull that wasn't connected to any nerve endings except for his eye balls that filled his entire eye sockets and were pitch black.    

    When Reaper was born, his father, Storm (who was a very strong, mottled brown and grey pegasus), had tried to kill Reaper by stomping on the horse heart in the back of his rib cage, but the heart continues to beat, no matter how much damage is done to it and that is why when Storm abandoned Reaper and Glim. His mate had given birth to a monstrosity and he wanted no part in raising the half-living pegasus of bone. 

   Glim named her son Reaper, because no matter what is done to this skeleton pegasus he will not die.  And now, fifty years later (in pegasus years, converted to human years, this would make Reaper about seventeen), Glim had still not forgiven Reaper for "driving off" her mate and it didn't seem to Reaper like she ever would.   

   Some would say it is a good thing for Reaper that he can only half-feel emotions, otherwise he might be crushed beyond repair that Storm had abandoned him and Glim had never wanted anything to do with him, much less talk to him about his father. Otherwise Reaper would feel more strongly that he would never be regarded as a normal pegasus and would be more upset that he is mocked and scorned by most of the other pegasi and unicorns in the valley.

   But sometimes that he could only half-feel emotions got in his way, especially when it came to Suntear...

   Reaper shook his head (or in his case, his skull) and brought himself back to the present, in his cave. Since he had no tongue to talk with, he used his telepathy voice to talk to his mother, I am behaving, I'm just not normal, and I find that to be your fault and not mine if you are the one who is cursed. But of course, who listens to the abnormality that was caught in the crossfire? Reaper said pointedly and stretched his wings, which were skeletal bat wings that spanned sixteen feet across and could almost touch the sides of the cave when he had them outstretched. He didn't need his wings to fly like other pegasi did, so when he did fly, his wings hung suspended in the air. Crooked.

   In fact, when he did fly it was more of an action of floating at high distances off the ground than flying.

   Glim glared at her son before launching herself off of the edge of the cave into the morning sky that was dense with early precipitation. Reaper sighed in his telepathy voice, though no unicorns or pegasi were in the required twenty yard range to hear him.

   He was currently torn between the sun and the moon.   

   Going out to the rose garden during the day time would guarantee Reaper that he could see Suntear, a beautiful, golden furred unicorn that seemed like the only one in the entire valley that wasn't going to mock, tease, or just avoid Reaper altogether. Consequently, Suntear had many friends and they were just like everyone else, which is why Reaper preferred the night time when everyone else was asleep and he could fly over the valley by himself.  

   But he knew Suntear was unmistakably a creature of light and he was, well, not. Not by nature and not by preference. And that is why he tried to ignore the dread/excitement that stirred within him going out to the valley during the day brought him and he trotted over to the edge of his cave on the side of the valley mountain. Other pegasi flew over the clear skies of Italy and some were socializing down in the valley with the unicorns, this was the valley of horse hybrid creatures that were thought to either be extinct or nonexistent throughout history.

   Reaper looked down to the rose garden that was in the very center of the huge valley and spotted Suntear right away with her golden pelt. She was with one of her close friends, Tulip, and they appeared to be grazing on the grass for their morning meal (Reaper had never understood eating, as he'd never had to do it himself, but the entire concept of relying on a constant food source for survival seemed incredibly tiresome and rather unsettling to him).  

   A few more of Suntear's friends (how many did she have? Reaper no longer kept track, but knew she had many), a black pegasus male, Neptune, and a light brown and white pegasus female, Daffy, along with a couple other unicorns Reaper didn't know the names of came to join Suntear and Tulip in the rose garden. Reaper hoped he was making the right decision when he squared his shoulder bones and launched off of the cave lip to fly down to where Suntear was grazing. He never made a sound as he walked or flew, so the name "Reaper" was ominously fitting to him.   

   The valley in which all of the horse hybrids lived was seven miles wide from valley tip to valley tip. There were caves all over the valley walls, and pegasi took residence in the high ones (as they could fly to get to them), and the unicorns of the valley lived in the caves located at the valley base on the ground (as they could not fly). The place where many unicorns and pegasi went to socialize throughout the day and into the late evening was the rose garden, which was a very large circle of rose bushes with a strange pattern inside of the circle with enough room inbetween the bushes to graze and hold at least one hundred unicorns and pegasi.  

   When he approached the center of the valley, several other pegasi scattered in different directions as if Reaper had an incurable disease from him and a mother unicorn guided her calf away from the skeletal being. Reaper regarded them impassively. When he made a right arc to land, Neptune looked up and sneered, "Hey bone freak, what's cracking?"  

   Reaper was going to snap back in some way, but realized his effort would not be heard over Daffy laughing like a drunken moron and a couple of the other unicorns joined her. Tulip started to giggle, but stopped when she saw Suntear's expression.

   Suntear then rolled her eyes at Neptune before looking kindly up at Reaper, "Hi, Reaper, and what brings you down here this morning? You usually don't come out until late afternoon when I'm about to leave."

   Reaper's brain picks up sound waves different than other live creatures, which is why he can hear sounds without eardrums.

   Sorry, I'm not trying to avoid you, but...would you like to go to the stream with me? Reaper asked in telepathy.

   She's busy Neptune said and trotted over to sit beside a chocolate colored unicorn.   

   Ignore Neptune, he's just, well, you know. A few petals short of a rose. Suntear told Reaper with a slight smile.

   Hey, I'm still in range! Neptune thought indignantly, but Suntear ignored him to stand beside Reaper. 

   "And yes, I would like to go to the stream, thank you." She said out loud to Reaper and then gave a pointed look to Neptune, who snorted in disgust.

   "Suntear, be careful." Tulip warned, not attempting to hide her distrust of the skeletal pegasus. 

   All of their remarks should have bothered Reaper, at least a little, but all he could think was that Suntear had chosen to go with him instead of staying with her other friends in the garden. If only a skull could smile.     

     

    It would have been much faster for Reaper to have flown the distance from his cave to the stream, instead of having to walk it on land with Suntear, but he was in no hurry. Besides, the sun warmed him to the marrow... and if he was to be completely honest with himself, Suntear did too.  

   "Reaper...?" Suntear asked hesitantly.

   Yes? Reaper asked, keeping up a steady canter.

   "I'm sorry about Neptune, I really am, it's just that he, Daffy, Tulip and I have been friends for so long... Neptune didn't used to be like this, so, so" Suntear shook her golden head, at a loss for words.

   So rude and what you might call immature? Reaper asked, trying for humorous tone, however slight, but this just made Suntear seem distressed. 

   "Yes, exactly those things. And also so arrogant. I don't understand how he could have turned out this way when he used to be so kind and helpful, it's like I don't know him anymore." Suntear explained.

   And Daffy? Reaper asked. Reaper wondered how a unicorn as smart as Suntear could still be friends with a pegasus as obnoxious and dimwitted as Daffy, no matter how far back they went.

   But Suntear smiled, "No, Daffy was always the way she is now. Did you know she got stuck in a cloud one time?"

   Suntear went to retell the story of how Daffy was taking a midnight flight out with Neptune and one of Neptune's brothers, Cliff, and she tried to fly through a large raincloud. Daffy being Daffy, of course she got stuck in the cloud and didn't know which way to fly and was yelling "Neptune! Neptune! Cliff!" At the top of her lungs.

   Suntear laughed, "She woke up the entire north side of the valley until Neptune could stop shaking with laughter and go in to get her. When he went in and started to tell Daffy to calm down, she screamed again, thinking a ghost was out to get her, and fell! Can you believe it? She fell twenty feet and almost crashed into Cliff, who was out of control with laughter. Of course, she was unstuck, but by now the entire valley knew about it. She was so embarrassed; she wouldn't come out her cave for two straight days, and then wouldn't talk to Neptune or Cliff for a week." By the end of the story, even Reaper, who could only half-feel emotions, was having a laughing fit, and it seemed contagious, because Suntear was, too.    

   I can't believe no had told me that before now, I'd had no idea! Reaper said, and was once again amazed that Suntear had been able to get a laugh out of him, even though it was very difficult and sounded strangled when Reaper laughed anyway.

   But then he realized what he'd just said and quickly sobered. Of course no one would have told him, no one but Suntear would talk to him to begin with and nine out of ten times, she was otherwise occupied, either by planning events for the valley, or doing something or another with Neptune, Daffy, or Tulip, or sometimes all three. It was no understatement to say the four of them were everyone's heroes and most well-known young pegasi and unicorns of the valley. Reaper couldn't count how many times Suntear had made an impossible event happen, and pull everyone (or almost everyone) together and happy. Tulip was the valley's best gardener, though she had a rather cautious and mistrustful nature about her and tended to stay with her closest friends only. And despite Daffy not knowing right from left, she was by far the best pegasi songstress of the time, could hit notes not many others would dare try, with whistles and finishing with her signature high-trilling neigh. Neptune had grown arrogant, but that was almost definitely from his incredible record in Hoof-Claw and jousting, other unicorns and pegasi envied his sleek, black form prancing around the valley after he's won some other event.

   Where did that leave Reaper? Trailing behind Suntear's light, of course. In the shadows. 

   So for the rest of the way through the willow garden (the valley was seven miles wide, after all, and the sides were very high, almost touching some of the lower clouds), Reaper cantered with Suntear at his side in silence, unsure of what to say until they got to the stream, and that's when they saw it for the first time up close.

   A human.

Author's Note

Ignore grammar and spelling for now, but tel me what you think of it.

Reviews

[Xerclipse]

This is a gritty version of unicorns. Reaper isnt just a bit odd, he is abnormal. He barely has real friends except for Suntear. This was a great chapter to read. I hope you can add more.

And cool, my character is also named Reaper (as you know) but evem though they are odd, they are two different characters !

[Kato Uchiha]

a great read. not the best thing i've read in my life but this is one of the best things i've read in a while.

[murrill]

Amazing great start on a well written chapter.

[Talismanic]

Quirky and random :)) This is so out-of-the-ordinary, it had me grinning ridiculously from the start. Your writing is clear and shows a lot of flare. To be blunt, it's just seriously a fun read. I'm hoping you'll go on to expose the absurdity of the human race through a half-emotional pegasi. Bravo. I'll admit I do keep expecting Charlie the Unicorn to make an appearance, but I'm sure I'll get over that...

[Samantha Lynn]

this is defnitely different than any other story i have read before but that is what makes it good. :D Keep going

[V]

I enjoyed this very much. I really like this line, "into the morning sky that was dense with early precipitation" It really stood out to me. An original piece and very interesting:3