Shadows

Time went on and Death found himself missing Dash. She had been a bright spark in his overall boring life. The dull black and white of his personal chamber didn’t seem quite as inviting as it once was. He did his job though, day in and day out. He was waiting for the day when that Pegasus came through that door again.

5 years passed by so quickly.

Time called him down from his place and asked if he would be there when he died. Time was currently living in Ponyville , a place where the only remarkable thing about it was the lack of deaths. He had invited Death to witness well, his death. And subsequent rebirth. Time is weird like that. [There was this one dimension where Time went backwards in time as he aged. And Death got killed and actually was replaced!]

He went out of phase and was in ponyville . Time was in the house with the giant clock on it. Smooth. And here he thought he was supposed to be hidden. He walked inside and phased in with the rest of the world. It was a quaint place, everything in nice tones of brown. There was a dresser here and there were clocks. There was at least 150 clocks all ticking at the same speed.

“Oh hello there Death.” Time, or as many ponies called him Cog, was a yellow earth pony with an hour glass cutie mark.

“I need a few things before I depart.” He handed Death a list and a bag of bits.

“I want you to get these in phase if you would. It will help you later.”

There were a few things on the list;
An apple from the apple orchard,
A cupcake from sugar cube corner
A sapphire from the local boutique
A message delivered

That was it.

Everything about this town was beautiful. There was no fear in this place. There were vibrant colors everywhere he looked. Beautiful masses of pinks and reds and blues. There were flowers at every street corner and everywhere in between. This place was a virtual paradise.

He got started on his job.

It was a bit of a walk to get to the apple stand and he got plenty of stares along the way. Apparently a mono-colored pony was really rare.

The stand was operated by a stubborn looking orange pony. She took one look at him and said

“A stranger? We don’t get many of those around here. Will you tell me your name? Mines Applejack.” She held out a hoof like she was expecting him to do something with it. He guessed and shook it. She smiled at him. He spoke.

“My name is Death, pleased to meet you.” He said simply. She opened her mouth as if to say something but he cut her off.

“I would like one apple.”

“That would be one bit.”

The bakery was up next. He walked inside, and to his surprise the pink pony behind the counter let out a high pitch squeal and handed him a cupcake and dashed out the door.

The boutique looked out of place amongst all the other simpler buildings. It had a weird style and grace that the other brightly covered buildings seemed to lack. He opened the door and it ringed, signaling a unicorn to appear before him.

“I would like a sapphire.” She seemed disappointed that he wanted something so simple, but handed him a small sapphire about an inch square. She looked at him and he said.

“My name is Death.” She looked away and he left.

Flagging down the mail mare was the hardest part of the whole list. No matter what he did they seemed to ignore him. While he was standing there waiting for a mail mare to notice him, he failed to notice a Pegasus approaching him rapidly. It knocked him over as it tried to get to a stop before him.

“Sorry!!!” She yelled at him snatched his letter and dropped a muffin in front of him.

He walked back to Cog’s shop and gave him the things he had requested. Cog looked a little shocked at how fast he had gotten the things he wanted.

“You are going to need to back away for this.” Cog warned. Then a very indescribable thing happened. All the clocks ticked as one then stopped. Then a tessaract opened up and Time was gone. It was if a very loud thing had happened yet at the same time, it was as if nothing had happened. In a blink where there was a yellow earth pony there was now a brown earth pony.

“Call me Whooves.” The new Time said.

Rainbow Dash was crying. Tears built up in her eyes and they rolled down her face. When she had returned to the flight camp, she was shunned. Nopony wanted to be around her. Fluttershy had fractured her leg when she had fallen, and when she had woken up had blamed the whole thing on her. She was disgusted at Dash, and Dash's chances at making a new friend were slim to none. They all whispered about her now. "Get away from her, she's dangerous." The boys that had raced with her claimed that it was all her idea and that they had been pressured into it. It had gotten worse when she had refused to describe what the Rainboom was like. They didn't trust her at all.

Her parents had disappeared about a month after it happened. She could hear them whispering about how she had driven them away. The whispering never stopped.

She missed Death. Death had been nice when by all rights he should have been furious.

After a few years of putting up with the whispers and the students, she left cloudsdale. She didn't know where to go, and it seemed like fate when a mailmare stopped her and gave her a letter. It was an invitation to join the weather squad in Ponyville.

The years passed so quickly, she made friends and lost friends and soon found herself promoted to captain of the weather team. It was an honor, but she wanted something more. She wanted to move onto to somewhere new.