My job never really left me with much choice. You go find a departed soul, or one about to depart, and sent them to the afterlife. There was no bargaining, no favors, no letting them escape their fate. And once it’s done, you wait until you have to do it all over again. I had always believed we were doing Equestria a service in ferrying the dead away.

And then there are the rogue Reapers like Prism Limit, who believe that our job doesn’t really matter—that we are all slaves to it. And with everything that’s happened lately, I can’t say I completely disagree with him.

As for his idea that we could live normal lives like everypony else, I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. How different would things be for me, really? And would I be any...good at it? I felt my attention being pulled in the direction of the book in Prism’s hooves.

“If I don’t return that book to the Boss—”

“She’s not our ‘boss,’ Psyche.”

“Y-You know what I mean...”

“I’m sorry, Psyche. But we can’t let her get her hooves on this book. If you choose to help us, you can stay here. We’ll keep you safe until we make our move. But once you join us, you’ll have to see it through to the end, understood?”

“But...I-I need some time to think. This isn’t some small thing you’re asking of me, Prism! Maybe things do need to change, but is taking...Her down and abandoning our life’s work really the best way of going about it?”

“There’s no other way, Psyche! You’re either with us...or you’re against us!”

I had no idea what to do. What was the right thing to do here!?!?

The book… The book might have answers! I mean, if it held the means to both turn the entire world into Reaper territory and take down the head Reaper herself, maybe it held a third option amongst its pages! One that could benefit everypony!

“I’m sorry, Prism…”

I reached out with my magic, encircling the book in a bluish glow before pulling it forcibly from his grasp. Shock covered his face and before I knew it I was surrounded by Reapers.

“Nocturne! Now!” Prism shouted.

A song escaped the reaper mare’s lips, and I felt my limbs grow heavy—my vision blurring.

“Segue, the book!” I heard Prism’s voice echo in the distance.

N-No! My magic latched onto the book with greater force and the book started emitting a glow of its own. A deep green light weaved its way around my magic. A voiceless whisper filled my head with the words:

You feel so lost and confused, don’t you little one? Here. Let Us show you truth you may not even know you seek...

And with that, the book’s magic eclipsed my own. It found its way around my horn and filling my vision with its light. Everything fell away and when the light faded, I saw I was in the foyer of the Reaper’s domain. But something about it was off.

And by that I mean I was looking at myself just a few feet away, speaking with a tall white unicorn stallion with teal streaks in his mane and tail.

“You don’t have to do this, Eros,” the other me pleaded. “Let’s just...leave Equestria! Just the two of us! Our powers down extend beyond the borders! She’ll never find us!”

“Psyche, my love...I can’t do that. You know I can’t. The Boss is right. We have an obligation as Reapers of Equestria. Just not in the way she sees it. I have to convince her. And I have to do it on my own.”

I approached the two slowly. They didn’t seem to notice me at all. Looking myself over, I noticed the white and teal streaks in my mane were gone. Was there a time when I didn’t have them?

And then I turned my attention to the stallion. I had called him Eros, the pony the Boss had erased. But I thought she said she had erased all trace of him but her memories.

And...And did he just call me “my love”...?

“But why?” my reflection asked. “Let me come with you! We can convince her together!”

“She told me to come alone. I’m going to respect her wishes and do just that. If we both go, it’ll only give a bad impression before I say what I have to say. And if things go poorly…” He looked away for a moment. “I don’t want you to be caught in the middle of it. Understood?”

“No.”

Eros smiled a little. “That’s fine. Just...stay here for me, okay? I should be back before too long.”

I sighed. “Alright.”

“Hey...I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

And with that, he gave me a small peck on the cheek before proceeding further into the confines of the palace.

Everything changed once more. And now I was at the center of the domain, where I had spoken to the Boss earlier. Only now here she was, speaking with Eros.

“Do you even begin to understand what it is you’ve done?” she asked, her voice cold and biting.

“I do. I’ve allowed the deceased to stay with their loved ones, if they so wish it. And many of them do. Is that wrong?”

“Yes! It is! All departed souls are to be ferried to the afterlife! All of them! If we start letting some ponies slip through the cracks, word will get out and eventually every pony will think they can get away with staying! Not to mention the threat to our own safety, if the wrong people learned of our existence! We cannot allow that!”

“What is it about the afterlife that makes it so important anyway? Why does everypony have to face it someday?”

“Because that’s what the First Alicorns wanted when they made Death! If you allow there to be no consequences, Death becomes meaningless! And before you know it, ponykind goes right back to being the dark, diseased monster of a thing it once was! The First Ones’ sacrifice would have been all for nothing!”

“Perhaps that would be somewhat true, but not all ponies would turn into monsters in those circumstances. We didn’t. It was why we were chosen in the first place, remember?”

The Boss closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry, Eros… But that is not a risk I’m willing to take.”

A blinding light erupted from her horn and Eros’s body started flaking away into nothingness.

“N-NO!” he cried out. “PLEASE!”

“EROS!”

The other me crashed through the door and froze at what she saw. The Boss’s gaze slowly turned to her as she continued to attack Eros.

“NO!” Eros pleaded. “DON’T YOU HURT HER!”

The other me seemed to snap back to reality at the sound of Eros’s voice and charged forth, pushing him out of the way of the Boss’s spell with one of her own.

The Boss dismissed her spell and just sat there, looking down at them both, her face devoid of expression.

The other Psyche clamored over to Eros, who had collapsed onto the floor, still slowly turning into dust. I could hear myself weeping as she lightly nudged him with her muzzle. “E-Eros…”

“I’m sorry, my love… But I tried my best…” I heard him whisper to her. “It looks like I have to go now. I’m sorry…”

“P-Please don’t go… We can fix this… I know we can!”

“No, Psyche… I’m afraid in this case, we can’t. Trust me, I don’t want to go. I really don’t… But... Psyche, listen to me. Don’t let this end you. You have so much to live for. You can still make a difference. I know you can… Just—”

And before he could even finish what he was saying, he was gone. Just like that. For what seemed like forever, there was only silence. And then...slowly...the other me got to her hooves and turned to face the Boss, a murderous glint in her eyes as she stared her down.

“I...I’m going to kill you…”

A few speckles of dust, all that remained of Eros, floated down atop her mane, causing it to change colors, bringing about the white and teal streaks I’ve had for as long as I could remember.

“N-No,” the Boss replied, her voice shaking a little. “I’m afraid you won’t. We’ve already lost one of our own today… I don’t intend for us to lose another one. I’m sorry, Psyche. I know you loved him. But this was for the greater good. I know one day, you’ll understand. But for now—”

The other Psyche shot a ray of energy at the Boss, who deflected it easily and returned the favor with one of her own. The other Psyche was flung into the air and hit the floor hard, the force of the blow knocking her unconscious.

“From this day forward,” the Boss continued, “No one shall remember the Reaper Eros, but me. And as for all of the souls he’s let wander free, those will be ferried away immediately. We will leave this little mess behind us and continue to carry out the will of the First Ones. Forever...and always.”

And with that, the vision faded into nothingness and I was no longer in the Reaper’s domain or the Castle of Two Sisters, but in Ponyville, the book resting at my hooves. As I looked down at it, I reflected on what it had just shown me.

Eros...was a real pony. He was erased by the Boss. And...I knew him. I loved him.

But... that was a long time ago. As I witnessed the events that transpired, I realized that the Psyche I saw felt like a stranger to me. Somepony other than who I was now. Whether that was because of the memory wipe or something more, I couldn’t quite say. But one thing was for certain. I had found my third option.

Eros believed we could allow some souls to stay while still reaping others. If such a thing was allowed to happen, the Reapers would be allowed greater freedom while still being Reapers.

I had to confront the Boss about this. If I could succeed where Eros failed, I could stop this civil war amongst our kind before it ever truly began.

And I failed, well…

I’m pretty much just a ghost anyway, aren’t I?

Author's Note

It took me FOREVER to update this story but here it is! The next chapter will mark the conclusion of this story arc! Afterwards, this story will take off in a new direction! Hope you enjoyed!