My Little Death
A Dead Like Me and MLP:FIM Crossover
Chapter Introduction: It’s made of Stars
I want to tell you a story. Not my story, I mean I’m going to get to my story, but for right now this is just a story. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a toad. This toad was given the job by the creator to watch over a jar that had death in it. Not realizing that he had just become the cosmic patsy for everything that would ever happen after this event the toad accepted.
He diligently watched over the jar that contained all of the death that would ever be in the world and did so happily. After all, toad was just as much of a suck up as any brown noser would be. As the days went on a friend of toad’s came back. This was Frog. Frog saw the jar and instantly wanted to look at it, play with it, hold it, anything because if toad had it then it had to be good.
“Hey, let me hold the jar of death!” Frog squealed.
Taking a nod from Princess Celestia’s pearl of wisdom about drugs, toad just said no. One would think that this would be enough to stop a polite creature from asking again. The problem is that Frog wasn’t a polite creature. Frog was a dipshit. Frog continued to beg, plead, and carry on about the jar until finally toad’s resolve broke and he finally agreed.
“Okay, okay, but only for a second and you can just hold it. Don’t do anything else, just hold it,” toad said.
Frog was so filled with joy that he jumped around, bouncing the jar from side to side, making it rock back and forth on his feet until finally it fell and broke. Seeing that he was about to be in trouble Frog skipped out on toad. Once again proving that frog was indeed a dipshit, and perhaps a son of a bitch. Since that time everything that lives has to die.
Stallions, mares, fillies, colts, animals, even the vegetables and insects all have to meet their eventual fate. The only ones exempt are the princesses. Through magic they’ve managed to keep the death meant for them away, but it doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t try. Still, this leads into my story, and what all of this death means to me.
My story begins in Las Pegasus. I was working in the Silver Cloud, and if you think that I’m the tall, beautiful, graceful, and perfect looking silver Pegasus showmare standing around with the tons of adoring stallions then that shows what you know. I’m the dirt brown Earth Pony mare behind her, scrubbing off the table. That’s me, Star Shine. Yeah, real funny name. Mom had hoped that I would be like my brother. You know, be another unicorn like him, like her, but instead I took after dad.
Maybe that’s why they fought all of the time. It doesn’t matter. Really, it doesn’t. I mean my life’s not too bad. Sure, I scrub tables in a sleazy casino, and sure I have the pit boss who comes by to make my life a living hell every so often, but I’ve got my apartment, enough food to eat, and I don’t have to share it with anyone. Okay… Okay that’s not true. I still live at home.
I dropped my rag into the bucket I had and grabbed it in my teeth. I started to move out when Dream Chaser, pretty much the only other mare around here that I can stand, walked up to me and tapped me on my shoulder.
“Lunch hour, be back in thirty-five minutes,” she said.
I put my bucket down and deadpanned at her, “Why do we call it a lunch hour if it’s only thirty-five minutes?”
“Because originally it was a lunch hour, but then someone discovered that it only took thirty-five minutes to go somewhere, get something to eat, eat, and then get back. So, see you in thirty-five,” she said.
“Sure,” I replied.
I walked out, and thought about the casino’s restaurant. Deciding that I didn’t want them to deduct it from my paycheck I walked outside, over to a hayfry vendor, and got a small order of hayfries. I began carrying my meager meal back with me when someone bumped me. He looked at me, then at my name tag and smiled.
“Star, that wouldn’t be short for Star Shine would it?” he asked.
“Yeah, so?” I asked the dark blue stallion.
He grinned, placed a hoof on my shoulder and gently stroked it.
“Nothing really, have a nice lunch, and you might want to hurry, I think that you’re going to be late,” he said.
I watched him walk off and shook my head. I don’t know what in the world he meant, but I didn’t care. I started walking back toward the casino when I heard something break.
“Watch out!” someone screamed.
I looked up just in time to see a port-a-toilet that was being lifted by a crane fall down toward me. I’ve heard that most people when they see their death coming at them they see their entire lives flash before their lives. Maybe if they’re dying from a disease or something that would be true, but when it happens suddenly like mine there’s only time to think one thing.
“Well buck m…” I started to say.
Moments later I was relieved to see that I was safely standing away from the blast. Beside me was an older light tan Pegasus smoking a pipe, and wearing a brown stripped vest, white shirt, and a red bowtie. He looked at me and then at the accident.
“Wow, that made such a mess,” he said.
“Sure did! Did you see the way it splattered everywhere! Wow, sanitation is going to be cleaning this up for a while!” a yellow Earth Pony mare, with fiery red hair said.
I started to walk toward it when a paramedic ran through me. I screamed as my entire body became a cloud of smoke and then reformed back together. I looked around trying to figure out what was going on, desperately trying to make sense of what I was seeing. It was then that I saw a brown leg, covered with Celestia knows what, sticking out from under the port-a-toilet. I swallowed and shook my head.
“What is going on here?!” I demanded.
“You’re dead,” the tan Pegasus stallion said.
“No, I can’t be dead! I’m only eighteen for Celestia’s sake!” I shot back.
“Death doesn’t have a bare minimum honey. Everyone goes eventually,” the yellow mare said as she walked toward me.
“No, it’s not right! This was my life!” I exclaimed.
“Well, to be honest it didn’t look like you were really doing anything with it,” she replied.
I’ve heard that when a pony is dying they have five stages they go through. Apparently that is also present in death as well, because I went right back to Denial.
“No, this can’t be real. I mean it can’t be real. I don’t even have a coltfriend yet! I’m asleep and I’m going to wake up in my house hearing my mom yell at my dad. Yeah, that’s right,” I said before I bit my right foreleg.
“Ouch damn it!” I shouted.
“It’s not a dream peanut,” the tan stallion said.
I looked at them, and I felt more angry than I ever had in my entire life.
“Who gave you the right to do this?!” I shouted.
“It’s the same somepony that lets everypony die eventually. I’m sorry peanut, I really am, but this wasn’t personal. It’s just part of what happens,” the tan Pegasus stallion said.
I sat down on my haunches and cried. The tears rolled down my face, until I looked up at them.
“If it’s not personal can’t you just choose someone else? I mean what about that old mare over there?” I asked.
“Sure, we’ll just go ahead and reap her then put you back,” the yellow mare said.
“Really?!” I asked excitedly.
“No, honey, not really. I’m sorry but dead is dead,” she said.
I crumbled all of the way down the ground. I felt my chest heave as I cried. Every emotion poured out of me. All of it leaving me with the depression that was trying to set in.
“I hadn’t even been touched by a colt yet… There was so much I wanted to do… I wanted to get married, have a foal or two one day, and it’s never gonna happen. I’m never gonna *hic* have a foal!” I wailed.
The tan stallion walked up to me and pulled me into an embrace. I felt a sort of relief that somepony cared.
“We can’t always get what we peanut, but sometimes we get exactly what we need. If you want, I think that I know a few things that might help you feel a little better,” he said.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Well, come with me and we’ll talk about it,” he said.
We walked down the street, away from the accident. I’m glad because I don’t think that I could have handled seeming them pull my body out from under that destroyed port-a-toilet. We walked toward a Coffee Mare coffee shop and I watched as he ordered himself and the yellow mare both a cup of coffee. Once that was done we started walking toward a section of town. I followed him into a large silver and brown building and walked until we stood in a room that looked down over an operating theater. Down there, in the room, was my body. I watched as the first stallion to ever touch me roll my body over and inspect everything about it.
“Life is kind of like a peach cobbler you just dropped on the floor Peanut. It doesn’t matter how good it was when you had it, because once you see it lying on the floor, you just don’t want it anymore,” he said.
It made a lot of sense to me. I had fought so hard to find a way out of this, but seeing my body down there, lying so broken, it became perfectly clear that I couldn’t go back. I heard a sound and looked to see a distraught chestnut unicorn mare run into the room. The stallion looking at me turned toward her, and while I couldn’t hear him I could hear her.
“That’s my filly! Star! Star! Oh Celestia no! Nonononononono this isn’t happening!” she cried out.
“I didn’t think that mom cared that much,” I whispered.
“All parents care for their foals Peanut. There isn’t a parent out there that doesn’t care for their foals, and your mom is no different,” the stallion whispered back.
“Do you think that she’ll be alright?” I asked.
He walked toward the glass, and waved for me to come closer. I did and I looked to see my mom breaking down on my body. It was still had some of that stuff from the port-a-toilet on it, but she didn’t seem to care. She was wailing, hugging my body close to her, kissing what used to be my forehead.
“She’s never going to get over it Peanut. Time will dull the pain, but it will never disappear. That’s her little filly lying there. It doesn’t matter what arguments the both of you had, or what you’ve said to each other. All that matters is that to her you’re gone,” the stallion said.
I hate to admit that I liked hearing that. I liked knowing that my mom was going to be a mess because I was gone. That she was going to miss me because I wouldn’t be there anymore. Maybe it was because I knew that deep down someone would be remembering me. I breathed out a bit and looked at them.
“There’s at least one more thing that I’m sure that you need to see,” he said.
I followed both of them out of the building, and together we walked down the street. The day began turning into night, and they found a place to stay. I sat up, looking out at the street from a strange room. It’s sad that this was really the first time I had spent a night away from home. I had asked the stallion earlier why he could touch me when other ponies couldn’t, and he explained that it was because of what he was. I wanted to read a book, but my hooves passed through it. I could sit on something, but if I leaned back I would fall through the chair and into the floor.
I wasn’t sure what kept me from falling through the floor, but in the end I decided it was simply better not knowing. The morning came and they got up. The Mare smiled at me, and walked into the bathroom of this rundown hotel. The stallion stretched, pulled on his white shirt, vest, and then his bowtie. To be honest I was surprised that he was able to use it. I knew that Unicorns like my mom and my brother could wear stuff like that, but I had always had trouble wearing bows, or laces of any kind. Still here was this Pegasus stallion wearing it as if it was simply the most natural thing in the world. He yawned and called for the mare and they lead me out of the hotel.
“So, where are we going?” I asked.
“It’s like I said yesterday we’re heading somewhere you need to be. I believe it should be in the paper today,” he said.
I followed him and watched as he picked up an early release paper. He skipped through most of it until he finally came next to classifieds. He read through it and then chuckled.
“There it is. I was thinking that this might take a little longer,” he said.
“It might take a little longer for what?” I asked.
Instead of answering me he decided to lead me off toward the distance. I kept finding myself wanting to turn around and leave, but there really wasn’t anywhere I could go. I was stuck. I was stuck with him, and with this mare until whatever was going to happen happened. We walked until I began to recognize the street. We came near a small two story house. I looked at the fading white wall paint, the chipped fence, and the huge group of mourners. He lead us in and we began to weave through the crowd until we were inside of the house, of my house.
I could see Dad standing up, talking to the other ponies. Some of them were friends, a lot of co-workers, and even the pit boss was there. I was surprised to see him sheading a tear for me, but then maybe he was going to miss having someone to give hell to. I watched as Dad managed to hold it together. It was obvious how hard this was for him, and I could understand. We had always been close. I wouldn’t have ever admitted it, but I was a Daddy’s girl. It’s not that I didn’t want to be close to mom. I did, but we never seemed to get along. I’d figured out a long time ago it was because I was a disappointment to her. She had wanted another Unicorn, but instead she got me. She had gotten a dirt brown Earth Pony mare for a daughter.
I watched the yellow mare that had come with us as she made her rounds, hugging various people, getting some of the food, and giving her condolences. I was surprised at the ease she worked the crowd. The stallion tapped my shoulder.
“She loves a good wake. You’d almost think that she’d never been to one before the way she enjoys it,” he said.
“Can’t I leave them a message or something? I mean can’t I let them know that I’m okay?” I asked.
“You really want to do that to your parents? You want to be the one to drive them insane?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He sighed, motioned toward our old couch, and I followed him over to it. He sat down, and I took a seat next to him.
“For the most part living ponies don’t want to know about what is after life as much as they want to know about it. It frightens them,” he said as he reached over and grabbed a hoofful of hard candies out of a glass candy bowl, “Those that have seen into the other side of things usually lose their minds. Your parents seem like good, normal, balanced ponies. Those are the kind that usually crack.”
“My Dad is one of the strongest stallions I know,” I said.
“Peanut, your dad might be a strong stallion, and he might have to deal with a good deal of stress and problems, but you let him know that his little girl is here, at her wake, and he’s going to break down. Look at him. Look at his face. He misses you something terrible, and right now it is something stronger than grief that is keeping him going. The fact that he still has a child, a wife, and he needs to be here to take care of them is what’s keeping him going. You take that away from him and he’s going to fall to pieces,” he said.
It made sense, and I hated that it did. I hated that I couldn’t touch anything, I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t let them know, or anything. Then I remembered how he and the mare could.
“How is it that you can touch stuff and I can’t? I mean aren’t you dead too?” I asked.
“Bite your tongue Peanut. I have the privilege of being undead. I can touch things, and I can interact with the living if I want to, observe,” he said as he waved at a stallion from across the room.
The other stallion waved back and then walked on.
“See,” he said.
“Then you could do it, or she could. I mean one of you could let them know that I’m going to be okay,” I said.
“Sorry, I won’t be a party to that,” he replied.
I groaned, got up, and walked into the house. I walked up to my old room and found my brother in my room. I wondered what he was doing until I watched him lay down on the bed and breathe in my pillows.
“I’m sorry sis. I didn’t mean to be such a mule to you,” he whimpered.
It broke my heart hearing him. I couldn’t believe how much he cared, how much he actually seemed to care and love me. This was the same young stallion that had switched my shampoo with cake glaze. I walked out and found mom in her room, lying on her bed, crying her eyes out. I bumped the night stand, and while I passed through it I noticed that her glass moved a little. It brought back a memory of when I was little, and I tried to sneak into their bedroom. I had woken up, and I was scared because I thought that Nightmare Moon was in the room with me. I had tried to crawl into bed with them, and I ended up knocking mom’s water glass off of the night stand. She had gotten mad, but she let me into the bed anyway.
I looked at the glass, put my hoof on one side of it, and began pushing softly. I kept trying to go through it, but eventually the glass tipped over and rolled off into the floor with a solid thud. She turned around and looked at the glass rolling on the floor. She sniffed for a moment before she bent down to pick it up.
“Come on Mom remember. Think about it,” I whispered.
She touched the glass, pulled her hoof back for a moment, and then she lifted the glass up. I watched as she looked at it and then pulled it to her barrel. She held it close, closed her eyes, and laid back.
“Star,” she whispered.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the last thing I ever said to you was that I didn’t want to be anything like you. I’m sorry that I dropped out of college when you wanted me to get an education, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t everything that you wanted me to be all of the time. I wish that I could have been better. I really do, but that wasn’t going to happen. If I knew that yesterday was my last day on Equestria I would have hugged you and Daddy before I left,” I said.
She turned toward me, and I hoped that she heard it. Somewhere deep inside I believed that she did, and I walked down stairs. I found the stallion and mare I had come over with sitting on the couch, eating what looked like Dad’s cheese cake. I walked toward them and cleared my throat. Once I cleared my throat the stallion and mare both got up, told my Dad how sorry they were again, walked out of the house and I followed them.
“I’m ready,” I said.
“Ready for what Peanut?” he asked.
“I’m ready to go to paradise,” I answered.
“Oh, sorry Peanut, no pearly gates, choirs of Pegasi, or rolling green fields for you,” he replied.
“You dick! You mean to tell me that you’re sending me to Tartarus?!” I exclaimed.
He laughed and shook his head.
“You’re not that interesting. You little filly have honor and privilege of being a grim reaper,” he said.
“Wait… I’m a what?” I asked.
I felt something pass over me. It felt as if someone had laid a blanket over my body and then a warm feeling filled me. They began to walk again, and I followed, only I was hearing my own hoofsteps. I hadn't realize how much I had missed hearing them, and now, here they were. Once we were away from the house he turned toward me and smiled.
He indicated toward my flank and I saw a wheat scythe there instead of frying pan that had been there. I looked at him strangely and noticed that he had the same cutie mark, and so did the yellow mare. The both of them smiled and nodded. I shook my head and looked at the cutie mark on my flank. There it was, looking back at me.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s our mark. We’re grim reapers, and our special talent is pretty obvious Peanut,” he replied.
I shook my head again. I couldn’t believe this. I was one of them, I was a grim reaper. I breathed out a sigh and looked at the floor.
“So what do I do now?” I asked.
“Well, you’re assigned to my team, and we’re not based here in Las Pegasus. I was actually here helping out another team leader with an overflow problem. It seems that one of the crime bosses here went a little wild and decided to start a gang war, and it was more than he and his four grim reapers could handle. Since one of my team happened to get your name assigned it means you fall in with my group,” he answered.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means he hopes that you like the country, and enjoy small towns,” the yellow mare said.
“Small… What in Tartarus are you talking about?” I asked.
He smiled, a smile that was a bit too friendly, and motioned for me to follow him. Seeing that I didn’t have a lot of options I did. We made our way to the train station and he paid for our tickets to somewhere called Trotter Dale. The train arrived, and a moment later we were onboard riding the rails toward a small town I had never heard of before. As we rode together I watched as the yellow mare studied the country side.
“You know, I wouldn’t have minded being stationed in Manehattan. I wouldn’t even have minded staying in Las Pegasus,” she said.
“Dusty Rose, you’re going to have to get used to the idea that you’re a small town mare,” the stallion said.
“Storm Cloud am not a small town Mare! I was on my way to Manehattan…” she said before she stopped.
“I know, and you never made it Dusty,” he said.
He wasn’t indifferent about it. I could tell that he was honestly sorry that she never made it to Manehattan like she wanted.
“What did you plan on doing when you got to Manehattan?” I asked.
She smiled at me and reached into her saddle bags. She pulled out an old yellowing brochure. I looked at it to see an old advertisement for a Diamond Mare’s store.
“I was a jewelry maker, and I wanted to make jewelry for Diamond Mare. It’s only the biggest jewelry company that every existed. I had made thirteen necklaces, two dozen rings, and at least two onyx broaches just for the display that I wanted to show them. I got out on the road and then,” she stopped.
Storm looked at me and shook his head.
“Dusty, it happened a long time ago, and they were caught and found guilty for it,” he said.
“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” she whispered.
I put a hoof on her shoulder, and she turned toward me. Before I knew what was happening this other mare was hugging me tightly and softly crying into my shoulder. I could only guess what she had gone through, and I didn’t want to even try to envision it. She finally sat up and dried her eyes.
“Thanks honey, I’m glad to know that there are still mares out there that are willing to give a little kindness to strangers,” she said.
The desert gave way to rolling green hills, and finally we found ourselves arriving at a station well after nightfall. We stepped off of the train and there was another pony ahead of us with a scythe for a cutie mark.
“Storm, do you know what it’s like to handle all of this on my own?! I don’t trust me with handling my bills, and you left me to handle all of this on my own!” an off yellow Unicorn said.
“Smoke Ring, you’re fine. The town is still standing, and from what I can see we didn’t have a hiccup, so we’re good here,” Storm said.
“Still standing yeah, yeah it’s still standing! It was hard though! I had three different post-its that I had to do on my own Storm, three! All in the same day!” he complained.
“Ha, I’d given my left hoof for three! I had two dozen Smoke, two dozen post-its that I had do!” Dusty exclaimed.
“Oh… well I still had to keep everything up by myself!” he exclaimed.
“Really? What did you have to do? Go to the café and eat pancakes all by yourself?” Dusty asked.
“Well… yeah, I mean they look at me like I’m a weirdo or something,” he said.
“Smoke, you are a weirdo,” Storm said.
“Hey! That’s not nice,” he said.
“Says the stallion who doesn’t even wait for a body to cool before he goes through their belongings,” Storm said.
“They’re dead, and it’s not like they’re going to miss any of it,” Smoke replied.
I watched wide eyed as they went on for several moments before finally Smoke turned to me.
“Say, who’s the cutie?” he asked.
“Someone that’s going to get go on a reap with you, and then you’ll come back meet me at the Lost Pine,” Storm said.
“Wait… I have to go with him? Didn’t you just call him weird?” I asked.
“It’s fine, Smoke is weird, but he’s mostly harmless, besides Peanut I’ve got some business to attend to, and you’ve got to get some training in. I’ll see the both of you in an hour,” he said.
He put a post-it note on Smoke’s hoof and then trotted off. Dusty yawned and then smiled at me.
“Star, it was very nice meeting you, and I’ll see you both at the Lost Pine, but I’m gonna go and see about grabbing a small bite to eat,” she said.
Smoke looked at the post-it note and shook his head.
“Come on,” he replied.
We began walking just outside of town and I listened to the sounds of someone trotting along. The road looked clear, well almost clear. There on a rock was a banana peel. I heard a sound and saw a little gray monkey looking thing run up to the peel, sniff it, and grind it back into the rock. Smoke looked around and shook his head.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This. Look, I’m sure you’re a nice kid, but I’m not a bloody babysitter,” he said.
I deadpanned at him and shook my head.
“Uhhuh, tell you what. I bet that I can guess what’s going to happen, or at least what’s going to cause it to happen,” I said.
“Okay, guess,” he said.
“Sure, and when I do you stop moaning about having to do this,” I replied.
He nodded.
“It’s the banana peel. Somepony is going to slip on the banana peel and it’s going to kill them,” I said.
“That’s not going to happen,” Smoke said.
I shrugged and looked at him.
“Okay Mr Reaper, what do you think is going to happen?” I asked.
He looked down the road and then grinned.
“It’s a dark road, the pony in question is going to go down it, get robbed, beaten, and killed,” he said.
“Uh huh, you do know this is a small town right?” I asked.
“It’s a lot more likely than your banana peel,” he replied.
“Okay, then let me move the peel,” I said.
I started to get up when I felt his hoof touch my shoulder.
“I’m willing to give your banana peel a little benefit of the doubt, but sit down now!” he hissed.
A moment later we watched as a pretty mare was trotting up from the dark road toward the town. She looked back behind her.
“Sunny you are such a doll! Thanks for the wonderful evening!” she shouted.
We watched as she stepped on the banana peel, her foot slipped forward, she lost balance, and fell down on front forelegs. When she did it forced the rock the banana peel was on to flip up and a sharp edge of it went into her chest. I watched as Smoke walked toward her and gently petted her mane. A moment later she was completely still and I looked over to see the same pretty mare with a bloody stain on her chest.
“Am… Am I dead?” she asked.
“Sorry love, but you are,” Smoke said.
“No, this isn’t fair! Sunny just asked me to marry him!” she cried out.
He hugged her and she returned it.
“I know, but if he’s serious about you, and you are about him then wait for him on the other side. Let him live his life, and then meet up with him then,” Smoke said as he led her a little ways from her body.
“Do you think that he’ll still want to be with me?” she asked.
“Sure I do,” Smoke said.
She turned around and a bright white light shined down. It turned into a wonderful beauty pallor and she walked toward it.
“Oh, it’s so nice, Maybe I can get everything done up right for when he comes to find me,” she whispered as she stepped through.
I watched as she turned into a ball of white light and floated up into the white light. Soon she was gone and so was the light itself.
“What was that?” I asked.
Smoke looked where she was and smiled.
“It was her lights. Everypony but us gets them. They get to move on, and we’re stuck here,” he said.
I frowned as he said that, but followed him back toward town and toward the Lost Pine. I soon discovered that Lost Pine was the café that they ate at, and apparently it was one of the few places that stayed open twenty-four hours a day. We walked inside to find Storm, Dusty, and another mare I didn’t know sitting at a table. We took a seat near them and soon a chocolate colored Earth Pony mare walked out with a note pad.
“What can I get for you guys?” she asked.
“Ms Crème I’d like a…” Smoke started before Storm raised a hoof.
“They’ll both have the banana bonanza,” he said.
I looked at him and wondered if he knew about what happened with Smoke’s reap. I sat and watched as the crème orange mare sitting next to them looked at me, and then rolled her eyes. She touched her curly white mane for a moment before she looked at Storm.
“So, what’s the plan Storm?” she asked.
“The plan is we find Peanut a place to rest her head. Do we have any takers for a roommate, or do we have knowledge of a house or room that’s empty?” Storm asked.
“You mean like renting a room? Because I’ve never really lived alone before,” I said.
“Well, it’s not renting per say,” Smoke said.
“What?” I asked.
“Well being a grim reaper doesn’t pay very well. Actually, it doesn’t pay anything. Sure we still have all of this extra work, but there’s no gold at the end of the rainbow. So, normally when someone bites it we take their home, or apartment, and live in it for a while,” Dusty said.
“Or you can get your broke flank a job,” the crème orange mare said.
“I had a job before,” I said.
“Then you know what to do little girl. Get a job, get an apartment. Storm, I don’t have time to babysit anyone, and I’m not taking in the new reaper. Sorry little girl, but the last guy was creepy enough,” she said.
“Yeah, Midnight was a major stick in the mud,” Dusty said.
“He had a stick up his plot was his problem,” the other mare said.
“Sweet Dream that’s awful!” Dusty said.
“And it’s not necessary. Okay, Sweet, you don’t want to volunteer to help find Peanut a place that’s fine. That means you don’t mind taking an extra post-it tonight,” Storm said.
“Hey, that’s not fair! I stayed behind like you asked to make sure that Smoke didn’t screw things up!” Sweet exclaimed angrily.
“And I thank you for it; however, you could have shown our newest reaper a little compassion and helped her find a place, but you didn’t want to mess with it,” Storm said.
“One of these days Storm I’m going to kick you so hard that your old life is going to feel it!” Sweet exclaimed before she got up and got her post-it note.
She stomped out and I watched as the angry pony disappeared.
“Okay… What kind of job can we get if our cutie marks are all scythes? I mean doesn’t that look a little suspicious, and wasn’t she kind of being just a little not friendly,” I said.
“That’s just Sweet, and trust me that’s not her in a bad mood. As for the cutie marks, well look at your reflection in the napkin dispenser,” Storm said.
I picked it up and was met with a pair of green eyes instead of gold. I blinked. It looked like my face, and sure enough when I turned from side to side my reflection followed suit, yet my fur was a much lighter brown and my mane was now a sandy blond. I grabbed a strand of my mane and pulled it down to see that it was still black, but in the reflection it was different. It was a bizarre feeling to say the least. I moved it around and grabbed different strands, watching my reflection do the same with her blonde hair. Several minutes and funny faces passed before I was convinced that it was indeed my reflection. I held the napkin dispenser toward my cutie mark and there on my flank was my old frying pan, now accented with a new spatula. “Wait, that’s kind of like my old cutie mark,” I said.
“More or less. We get to keep our old special talents. Be it cooking, building houses, fixing machines or whatever, but this is added to it. We can see our scythes, and we can see the scythes of other grim reapers, but to everypony else it’s those cutie marks you see in the reflection. The same with reflection you saw,” Storm said.
I looked at him and then at Smoke and Dusty.
“My friend in long term terminal illnesses said that there may be a house ready at the edge of town. I was looking for a new place, and if it’s open I’ll let you have my garage apartment,” Dusty said.
“Thanks,” I said.
A feeling of relief washed over me. We got our meals, and it turned out that banana bonanzas is pretty much what it sounds like. It was pancakes, topped with sliced bananas, served with eggs, and drenched in syrup. It was the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.
I finished my plate right after Dusty finished hers. We headed out, with Smoke following us, and Storm stayed behind to pay the bill. Once we were out of the restaurant Dusty pointed toward the east end of town.
“She said it was down that way,” Dusty said.
As we walked I took notice of this small town in the dead of night. It was actually quite pretty. It sort of looked like a picture on a postcard. I followed her toward the very edge of town, and there we found a small blue house with a straw roof. Dusty walked up toward it and tried the door. It didn’t open, so she knocked once and a moment later the door opened. A bleary eyed stallion opened the door.
“Who in the buck are you?” he asked.
“Ummm, we’re here to see about the house at 1428 Elm,” Dusty said.
“That’s this house,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be empty. I mean the renter is supposed to be dead,” Smoke said.
“I’m alive and kicking your flank if you don’t trot off mule,” he said.
He slammed the door on Smoke’s face.
“He called you a mule,” I said.
Smoke banged on the door again.
“Show you a thing or two about calling me a mule, you mule,” he said.
The stallion opened the door again and looked at him.
“Look, if you don’t step off I’m going to call the guard, and I hope that they beat the living Tartarus out of you,” he said.
“We’re with the local housing authority, and any rights that cover renters only cover traditional renters,” Smoke said.
“What the hay are you talking about?” he asked.
“It doesn’t cover squatters!” Dusty exclaimed.
“My name is on the Celestia damned lease and I want to see some bucking ID,” he said coldly.
“You’re name is S. Drop?” Dusty.
“That’s right tail lifter, my name is S. Drop, now get off of my stoop!” she said.
We stepped back and Dusty blushed a little.
“I’m so sorry Star. I thought that this said the first, but it’s the seventh,” she said.
“That’s your handwriting,” Smoke said.
“I know, and I feel terrible about it,” Dusty said.
“Enjoy your week,” Dusty said coldly back to the stallion.
We walked back toward town in time to see Sweet standing near the corner. Dusty walked toward her and smiled.
“Sweet, how was the reap?” she asked.
“Same old, same old, but I found the kid a place to stay. The stallion had an apartment near the Lost Pine. It’s not bad, small, one bedroom, but I think that it will work,” Sweet said.
“Thank you,” I said.
I walked toward her and she shook her head.
“I figured that Smoke was going to screw something up, and besides, we can’t have you sleeping on the street. That’s Smoke’s job most of the time,” she said.
“Hey, it was just that once!” he shouted.
“Hey stupid, ponies are trying to sleep, and trust me you don’t want to wake them up. I’m going to show the kid her new digs, and you two take off. Early morning tomorrow,” she said.
We walked back toward the Lost Pine and stopped at an old looking building. The both of us walked up the stairs to the third and top floor before Sweet lead me to a door and opened it. I stepped inside and I could see how messy the last occupant was. Tons of magazines littered the floor, empty cups and soda bottles were scattered everywhere. I sighed and walked toward what I hoped was a bed.
“It might not seem like much, but at least it’s a place to sleep. Tomorrow, the Lost Pine, and be ready. I’m sure that he’s going to assign you something,” Sweet said.
I found the bed, fell down, and soon let darkness cover me. The night was different than I had remembered. Before my dreams had always been pleasant, but now they seemed wild, strange, filled with memories and old thoughts.
“Star get up!” a voice said.
For a moment I thought it was my mom until I opened my eyes and saw Smoke. He smiled and extended a hoof.
“Time to go,” he said.
I didn’t want to get out of bed. I had already seen death, experienced death, and I certainly didn’t want to deliver any of it. Smoke however grabbed my back leg, pulled me off of the pile that made up the bed, or I hoped was the bed, and I landed in the floor with a thump. We made our way down the stairs, after I tried to crawl back into the bed and was forced back up.
We walked into Lost Pine and I saw Storm sitting there.
“So Star, do you feel like taking a soul today?” he asked.
“Not really,” I said.
“Too bad,” he said.
“Time to bust that cherry kid,” Sweet said.
I took the post-it note and looked at it.
“S. Heart 201 Oakland view, 5:01 pm, there’s nothing else than this?” I asked.
“What did you expect?” Smoke asked.
I looked at him confused.
“Maybe their age, their gender, something,” I said.
“No, it complicates things,” Storm said.
“What?” I asked.
“It complicates things if we know too much. It needs to be professional, caring, but professional. We can’t afford to get too connected to any of them,” Storm said.
“What about me?” I asked.
“Like it or not Peanut I didn’t know much about you before you were reaped. It’s just the way it is,” he said.
I looked at him, and then I looked at my post-it. It wasn’t until 5:01pm. That meant I had most of the day. Maybe something would happen and they wouldn’t be at 201 Oakview at that time. I walked out and began to walk off when I heard a sound behind me.
“I’m chaperoning on this one,” Storm said.
“Why?” I asked.
I walked forward and soon the two of us found ourselves at a small shop. We walked around and Storm pointed toward a box of brownies.
“I’ve always found it easier to show up at a home with food,” he said.
“How do you know it’s a home?” I asked.
“This is a small town, and most of the businesses are along this street. Every other street is residential. So, this means that this place is a home. That means get the brownies, bring them up to the counter, and we’ll take them along,” he said.
I did like he suggested and soon we were on our way. As we walked he told me about the small town of Trotter Dale. From what I could tell Storm had been here for a long, long time. He had been here when Trotter Dale was little more than a general store and a post office. It made me wonder exactly how old he really was. When we finally reached 201 Oakview I could see that it was almost five.
“Go ahead Peanut,” he said.
I walked up to the house and knocked on the door. A white pony with crème colored hair opened the door. She sniffed silently as she stood there. I looked at her and could see the sadness rolling off of her.
“Ummm…” I said before I heard hoofsteps behind me.
“We heard, and everyone felt that bringing over something for the family would be the right thing to do,” Storm said.
“Oh, thank you,” she said.
We walked inside and I set the brownies down.
“We’re so sorry to hear,” Storm said.
“My little filly… She’s… Celestia help me she’s not getting any better,” she whimpered.
I looked at Storm who studied her and nodded.
“May we see her?” he asked.
“Her friend is in there with her right now,” she said.
“Please, maybe it would make her feel better,” I said.
I actually hoped it would. I hoped that having someone there who didn’t want to see her die would be enough. I didn’t care how bad it was, knowing someone cared usually helped.
We walked back toward the back room and saw a little Pink filly with a red mane. She looked so pale and the colt beside her was crying.
“I won’t do it,” I said.
“You what?” Storm asked from behind me.
“She’s a little filly, it’s cruel!” I exclaimed.
“It is cruel. It's cruel she won't know what life's really like. It's cruel that she'll miss out on so much love and pain and beauty, and that's sad for everyone in the world except for her. She won't give a rat's flank, she'll be doing something different. That's just the way it is Peanut,” he said.
“Look, if you don’t do it then her soul is going to be trapped in there, and whatever changeling, and believe me it’s a changeling that’s done this, because I’ve seen it before, will continue to feed off of the love in her soul until it withers and dies. Do you really want to condemn her to that?” he asked.
I cried as I walked forward and touched her hind leg. When I did there was a small cloud of smoke as she sat up. She walked over to us and looked up at me.
“Hey there little filly, how about we go and see some pretty lights?” Storm asked.
She nodded and turned around to look at the little colt.
“Is Chestnut going to be okay?” she asked.
“He’s going to be fine,” I said.
I knew I was wrong. He wasn’t going to be fine at all. He was going to miss her, and it was going to tear him up. Knowing that had made me feel better, but I didn’t think that she really needed to know that. She didn’t seem like someone who had a seriously hard headed mother with emotional issues. I walked outside with them and watched as an amusement part formed. Moments later she took off toward the park and I watched as she turned into an orb of light and disappeared. This was it. This was what I had to look forward to for the rest of my undead life.
