I've been around for many, many years. I have seen the first Hearth's Warming Eve. I have seen Discord's first rise to power. I have seen the banishment of Nightmare Moon. And I have seen the founding of Ponyville, the town in which I currently reside.

However, although I've seen ponies come and go, from generation to generation, I've mostly kept to myself all of this time. The closest I ever get to actually knowing them personally is when I'm reaping their immortal souls from their fragile. Perhaps it because all memory and record of me is wiped clean every few years, to keep them from finding out what I am or why I never seem to get older. Or perhaps it's simply because I have poor social skills.

“Hey, Lady! Your mane is reeaaally pretty!” a young colt in a propeller beanie exclaimed as he gleefully trotted up to me, with whom I assumed to be his mother in tow.

“Aww, thank you little one!”

“Uhh...You got a little bit of frosting on your face though...”

“Hmm?” I wiped my muzzle with my hoof. “Is that better?”

The young colt nodded. “Yep! What were eating anyway? Cupcakes? Pinkie Pie makes the best cupcakes!”

“Nope. It was a house. A gingerbread house. A life-sized gingerbread house,” I said, clarifying myself with every sentence.

The colt gasped. “A life-sized gingerbread house!? You live in a gingerbread house!?”

“Nope. Just a friend of mine. Well, technically she doesn't live there anymore. She's dead now.”

The colt's smile dropped. “...Dead?” he whimpered.

“Yep. Flattened like a pancake.”

The colt stared at me for a moment, his lower lip trembling before he finally burst into tears. Wailing quite horrendously, in fact.

The colt's mother shot me a venomous look before dragging her child away from me as quickly as possible, his cries gradually fading away until they were both out of sight.

Hmm... Perhaps I really do have poor social skills.

The point of the matter was that even though I mostly kept to myself, I could still remember pony's faces well enough to tell when somepony was new in town. And the one I saw just inside Ponyville Theater was no exception.

He was a unicorn—san marino blue with a long brown mane draped around his face and a matching brown tail. His bright green eyes were full of life as he beamed at me from behind the ticket booth.

“Hello and welcome to Ponyville Theater! How may I help you this fine day?”

“Err yes, um... One ticket to see Hocus Ponyocus, please?”

“Ahh excellent choice! That'll be 3 bits, miss!”

I gave him the money and in turn he gave me my ticket. His smile dropped a little as he looked at me. “You...seeing it alone?”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! It's just...more fun to see movies with your friends, you know? Experience the good and the bad together—laugh at the silly parts together—”

Friends, huh? I suppose the closest thing I had to one of those was Respite, the Reaper of Cloudsdale. Reapers mostly stayed within the confines of wherever they're assigned to though, in case they're needed for something.

“Is that what you do?” I asked.

“Well...yeah! All the time!”

“Must be nice.”

"Aptal, aptal Ölüm oynamak için geliyor?"

“I'm sorry...what?”

“I didn't say anything.”

"Buraya, Ölüm! Buraya!"

It was true. His muzzle wasn't moving at all.

“But you do hear that, don't you?”

“Uhhhh, no?”

"Hahahahaha!"

I turned my attention toward the entrance of one of the screening rooms to see an amorphous white entity just floating there, smiling at me.

"Gel ve oyna, Ölüm!" the spirit chimed merrily before dissolving into the nearest door.

“Uhh...you okay, miss? You look like you've just seen a—”

“Thanks for the ticket! Gotta go!” I quickly interjected before galloping after the wayward ghost at top speed.

“Enjoy the movie!” the theater attendant called after me as I slammed through the doors into the screening room.

“Alright. Where are ya?” I grumbled, conjuring my cloak and my scythe.

While it's a Reaper's prime directive to ferry souls to the afterlife, sometimes we are...less than successful. Sometimes spirits manage to give us the slip or leave the afterlife through some back door or summoning ritual.

"Buraya, Ölüm!"

It never looks good to the Boss when souls go astray...

“Where are you!?” I hollered, my voice filling the confines of the screening room.

Everything went black as the lights dimmed, and the movie began to play. Almost as soon as silver screen illuminated the room, I spotted the ghost moving across the screen, laughing at me.

I grimaced at that and lit up the room with my magic. I was shocked by the sight of the ghost swooping down towards me, his arms outstretched with a big grin on his face.

"Benimle oyna! Benimle oynaaa!"

I rolled out of the way and swiped at the ghost with my scythe, but instead of hitting home, it merely grazed along his smoky form. The ghost shrieked in response nevertheless and dissolved into the nearest wall. I could hear it sobbing as it drifted further and further away.

Strangely enough, I felt a twinge of guilt just then. I mean, I was just doing my job—sending the lost spirit to the afterlife, but something about how the it was behaving felt very...off to me.

I had to track it down before it got too far.

I burst through the door back to the lobby to see that the blue unicorn stallion from before was no longer behind the ticket booth, but was instead levitating a bouquet of flowers to mare I did recognize—by name as well as appearance.

Her name was Cathode, and she a unicorn with a yellow coat, red-blue-green eyes, TV color bars for a mane, and TV static for a tail. A TV antennae also protruded from her head where her horn would be. I supposed the reason I remembered her so well was because of how distinguishable she was from everypony else. Despite my curiosity, I never asked about it. Or anything for that matter.

I returned my attention back to the bouquet of flowers Higgins was giving her, then to the looks they both had. Bright eyes tender yet so full of life, a gentle rosy red blushing through their respective coats.

Love.

I could feel a fluttering sensation deep within my chest. Was I ever in love...? I thought back on the centuries, the millennia—but not once could I find a time where I was. A cold emptiness replaced the fluttering in my chest. My job and, well, aversion to other ponies made it difficult to connect with anypony well enough to develop such an attachment.

Still—

“Oh! Didn't like the movie?”

I snapped out of my reverie to find Higgins and Cathode staring at me.

“Or are you looking for the restroom?” Higgins asked me.

“Uh...n-no, I...”

Cathode approached me, giving me a concerned look. “Um, are you okay? You're looking a little...flustered.”

“Cool costume, by the way!” Higgins added. “Where you wearing that when you got here?”

“And that scythe...” Cathode noted. “It isn't real, is it?”

Flustered? Costume? Scythe...? That's right! I'm on a job right now! I can't let that bothersome spirit get away!

I immediately pushed the strange, confusing thoughts I was having away and focused on the task at hand. “Uh, yes. It is real. You two wouldn't have, by chance, seen any ghostly apparitions wandering around, have you?”

There was a moment of silence as the two of them just stared at me, muzzles slightly agape.

“Just wondering,” I quickly added, remembering I should try to make things at least somewhat subtle. Looking down at myself, I had a feeling I had already failed in that regard...

“Ohhhh, you mean Turkish Casper?” Higgins asked gleefully.

“Who...?” Cathode and I asked in response.

“Turkish Casper!” He turned to Cathode. “You know! The ghost that's been haunting the theater since forever?”

Cathode raised an eyebrow in response. “Higgy...I think I would have known if there's a ghost that's been around here forever.”

“Yeah, me too!” I replied sharply. “Uh...I mean...wouldn't it be obvious?”

Higgins shrugged. “If you really wanna know, he went that way,” he said, pointing toward the other end of the lobby—to a hallway that abruptly turned right after a certain point. “That's also where the restrooms are, in case ya have to...you know.”

“Right. Thanks.” I started making my way to the lobby.

“Wait!”

“What?” I asked, turning back to look at them.

“There's an arcade down there, too. We were planning on hanging out there later. You're more than welcome to stop by and play some games with us, if you want.”

It took me a moment to process his request. “...Play?”

Cathode nodded in agreement. “Yeah! Come on, it'd be fun!”

I felt genuinely taken aback by their offer. “Fun...”

Then I remembered what I was really there for and any thoughts I had about having fun quickly left the forefront of my mind. “Sorry. I'm busy.” Before I entered the hallway, I hesitated and said, “...Maybe I'll...stop by some other time.”

Higgins and Cathode smiled and response. “We'll be here,” she said.

With that, I nodded to them curtly and made my way down the hall. How peculiar, I thought to myself as I turned the corner. First I find a lost soul that's apparently been here forever.

One that acts rather odd, no less.

Then I see Cathode and Higgins and get these strange feelings in my chest... Then they offer to hang out with me and I find myself unable to completely shut them down.

Was the theater messing with my mind somehow? ...Or was something else going on with me?

I put such ponderings aside and noticed what looked like a scythe receding into the stallions' restroom.

WHAT!? Reapers weren't supposed to be working outside of their jurisdiction! Did they know I've been having trouble lately and sent somepony to replace me!?

In a panic, I rushed into the restroom after them. “YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO—...That's not a... Uhh... You're not a...”

Words failed me. Before my eyes was not a reaper, but an unfamiliar white unicorn in a black cap that possessed...a scythe for tail. A scythe for a tail!

“Um, w-what? How...?” I stammered, unable to take my eyes off of it.

How was this even possible!? Was he born with it!? Was one of his parents a Reaper!? I couldn't recall a situation in which a Reaper had a child! Did it just grow out of him one day!? Did he hook it onto his plot somehow!? How was this possible!? How!? How!? How!?—

The stallion cleared his throat, drawing my attention to the wildly confused and slightly agitated look on his face. “Can I help you?”

I gave his scythe tail a suspicious and distrustful glance before returning my gaze back to him. “Nnnnnno.”

“Okayyy then? In that case, would you mind leaving the room? Stallions only. And unless I'm mistaken, you're no stallion.”

“Right... I'm not. Sorry...” I slowly backed out of the room, my eyes never leaving his tail until the restroom door swung shut in front of me.

For a few seconds I just stood there, staring at the door, reflecting on what I just saw. A scythe...for a tail... I wonder if the Boss knows anything about that.

The Boss... I sighed. Once again, I got distracted from my prime objective. The ghost. Hopefully, it's still around somewhere.

I had only made it a few steps further down the hall when a butterfly fluttered across my field of vision. Now, normally, butterflies are just butterflies. But for Reapers, sometimes they acted as a means of receiving messages from the Boss—usually those being the names of the next souls we're supposed to reap.

“Hello?” I asked hesitantly.

“Hello, darlin',” a voice befitting a classy southern belle drawled softly from the butterfly. “How are you doin'?”

“...Fine, I guess.”

“Fine? Oh, sugar—How I beg to differ! From what I can tell, you've been slippin' up lately. More than usual, anyhow. Havin' a ghost floatin' around right under yer very nose without so much as realizin' it! My, my! How embarrassin' fer you!”

“Isn't it your job to make sure I do know about this sort of thing?” I asked, feeling a bit irritated despite my standing.

“Well—”

“No, you know what? I don't care!” I said, feeling the irritation boil over into full-on anger. “Now, if you don't mind, I've got a job to do! You do want the job done, don't you?”

“But, of course, darlin'! I'm just worried, is all! You've been actin' a bit...different lately, and I'm afraid it's gettin' in the way of yer work.”

Different...? I thought to myself. So it isn't just the theater? I've been acting like this?

“I've gotta go,” I said, passing the butterfly in the direction of the arcade.

“Good luuuck,” the Boss called after me in a sing-song tone.

As I approached the arcade, I could see the flashing multicolored lights and hear the beeps, chimes, boops of the machines inside. When I poked my head inside, I became aware of another sound—the laughter of Turkish Casper. He just jumping from machine to machine—fiddling with the controls and popping through the screens. He looked more alive than... well... most alive people I knew.

I looked at my scythe and back at the ghost before taking a step into the room. Immediately, the ghost noticed me and shrunk back in fear.

“Turkish Casper?”

The ghost shrunk back even more at the sound of its name, trembling with fear.

“I'm not gonna hurt you,” I said, cautiously taking another step closer. “I just wanna send you to—or back to—the afterlife. That's all.”

The ghost shook his head vigorously, wisps of himself flying off his head in vapors as he does so.

“Oh, come on! It can't be that bad!” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Hiçbir fikrin yok!”

“Well then...”

“Ben sadece oynamak ve eğlenmek istiyorum ! Bu kadar!”

He looked even more sad now than before...

“You know, I can just make you go,” I said, half-heartedly brandishing my scythe at him. “But... I honestly have no information as to who you really are or where you came from. So technically... Unless the Boss finds something on you, I really don't have to bother with you if I don't want to. I guess... I don't know. I've never really had this sort of thing happen before...”

The ghost's face seemed to lighten up a little. “E-Eğer doğruyu söylüyor musunuz?”

I blinked. “Uh... Sure. Whatever.”

Turkish Casper cried out in glee and made what I assumed was an attempt to give me a hug. Unfortunately, all he could do is pass right through me and give me a slight chill.

“Alright, alright,” I sighed, smiling a little despite myself. “You can go around haunting this place for now. But if you start causing too much trouble, or if either the Boss or I track down who you really are, you're out of here. Understood?”

He nodded, grinning happily. “Benimle oyna?” He asked, pointing to a game of Pac-Mare.

“Ehh... Why not? I've got some time to kill. Can't stay long though. Need to have a talk with my Boss after this.”

Turkish Casper nodded as I approached the machine.

“Uhh... You wouldn't happen to have any bits aren't that mist, would you?” I asked sheepishly.

Author's Note

Thanks to the cool dudes at Mystery Brony Theater 4000 (aka MBT4K) for giving me permission to use their OCs in this story! If you have a second, go check 'em out! Pretty please? Thanks, you're so sweet! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsjB8ea3AjEZB94OWzWXTRw