The Wrath of the Red Baroness

The next morning, Applejack found herself in Skye's bed alone. She got up and went to see what he was doing in the hangar. She found him looking at a picture of him holding his deceased daughter, Emily, standing next to the biplane, with smiles on their faces.

She put her hooves around him and asked, "Are ya okay, Skye?"

"Yeah.", he sniffed, nuzzling her, "I'm just fine."

"Are you sure? Yesterday, I saw a side of you I've never seen before. What was that all about?", Applejack inquired, deeply concerned.

"Well, it's just that after Emily died, and I broke up with Mandy, I was very depressed. So instead of hitting the liquor constantly, I found an addiction to blowing things up. It was something that satisfied me, yet I didn't need constantly.", Skye explained.

"More satisfying than last night?", she grinned, kissing his nose.

"No, not as satisfying, My Sweet Applejack.", he smiled, kissing her back.

"Hey! Whatcha guys doing?", Applebloom asked, walking into the barn with her friends the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Skye and Applejack quickly pulled away from each other as Skye said, "Nothing much, do you girls need something?"

"Yeah, we were wondering if we could borrow Emily for a while. Can we?", Sweetie explained.

"Ya wanna borrow Emily for what now?", Applejack asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"To wash! We're supposed to do 1 nice thing for someone, then write about it for a school project!", Scootoloo replied.

"That's probably a good idea, Emily could use a bath.", Skye smiled, pulling Applejack to his side and nuzzling her.

"Yeah, Daddy! I've been getting dusty!", said a small voice, making everyone jump.

Then, a transparent filly, who looked like an older version of Emily like Applejack saw in the photo jumped out of the plane.

"Daddy?", the filly asked, floating to Skye, a ghostly tear falling as she did.

"Em...Em...Emily? But...5 years ago...you...you..."

"I drowned. I know, I've been hiding in your plane since. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier...", the filly, dubbed as Emily sighed.

Skye just reached out and tapped her, to make sure his hoof wouldn't go through her, and then he squeezed her tightly.

"Come on, girls. Let's give them some privacy.", Applejack smiled, leading the Crusaders out of the hangar, while Skye and his ghostly daughter had a tearful reunion.

Until a tall, dark, cloaked figure stood in front of them with a scythe.

"I'm here for the filly. I've been looking for you, for 5 years, child! And yet, somehow, you have managed to elude me! Until now!", the cloaked figure snarled, making his way towards Skye and his ghostly daughter, before Applejack jumped in front of him.

"Now hold on a minute! Who do you think you are?", she growled.

"Some ponies call me THE GRIM REAPER, others say THE DARK ONE. I prefer...DEATH. And I'm here for that spirit!", he hissed, pointing a bony hoof at Emily.

"And what makes you think you can just up and take her away from her pa just like that?", Applejack retorted.

"Because she's dead! And when ponies die, it's my job to take their souls to Tartarus! Because I am Death!", he roared.

"Well...what if you lost your daughter, and then 5 years later you get to see her again, only for some black cloaked jerk to come and take her away forever? How would you feel?", Applejack glared, as she stood her ground. The Crusaders were now hiding behind Skye.

Death stood there for a minute, as if in thought, the only things visible through his hood were his red eyes.

His blood red eyes then turned baby blue, "I've never thought of that...if anyone tried to take my sweet little baby girl, Pain, I'd...I'd...", he sighed, "Okay. I'll leave her. But on one condition!"

He then turned to Emily.

"You must only use your ghostly powers for good, never for evil. If you so much as scare anyone on purpose, I'll come and get you. It's okay if you scare someone accidentally, with no intent to do so. Do you understand?", Death sighed, bending over, to be at eye level with Emily.

"I promise, Mr. Death!", Emily nodded, crossing her heart.

Death smiled as he used his scythe to cut a rift through the ground before smiling,

"Please, call me Dale. It's my actual name. I don't know how the whole 'Death' thing got started, but you know, I just rolled with it."

After Death left, Granny Smith made him some soup, and Big Mac sat him in the rocker, while Applebloom fetched a blanket. He was pale for hours, deathly cold, and went berserk if anyone besides Applejack took a step towards Emily.

Applejack went and kissed Skye's cheek and said, "Skye. It's okay. Emily's going to stay here with you. Mr. Dale won't be coming back anytime soon. Unless you don't eat something!"

Skye shivered, looking over at Emily to see if she was still there.

His darling mist floated over to him and nuzzled him saying, "It's okay Daddy! I'm never going to leave you again!"

And by bedtime, Skye had calmed down, and held Emily close as he slept in his bed, never letting go.

Letting go was a mistake he had made 5 years ago.

And he wasn't going to let it happen again.