The funeral was private and short. Twilight, Luna, and Celestia each worked to dig out a grave by hoof, then gently lowered the deceased down into it. They then filled in the grave, again, by hoof. Luna made a headstone and Twilight carved a short epitaph into it. They spent quite some time talking before standing. Luna and Celestia both bid Twilight goodbye before teleporting back to Canterlot together.
Once they had left, Twilight sat in the garden behind her castle, staring at the headstone. She had grown accustomed to death, but each one still hit her hard. A small cough brought her out of her memories, looking around. “Oh, hello Death. Here to help her move on?”
With a nod, Death looked down at the grave, seeing through the dirt to the mare below. He reached out a hoof, prepared to pull out the soul, when what was buried finally clicked. “Twilight, what is this?” There was a certain note of confusion and annoyance in his voice.
“Her name is Thaumic Stream.” Twilight replied slightly indignantly.
“I don’t really care about it’s name, Twilight. What is it?” His head had tilted slightly and Death hadn’t taken his bony gaze off the clearly made of metal android buried beneath him.
“SHE is a synthetic intelligence.” A note of annoyance had begun to rise in Twilight’s voice.
Death turned to level his bony glare upon the purple alicorn. “She?”
“Well, she decided she wanted to be a she.” The anger quickly left her voice, Twilight was to full of grief to stay upset. She gave the skelepony a half smile. “So, I did my best to respect that.”
Death turned back to the robot under the ground. He took a moment to consider it. “Alright, I guess I can get that. Not like I have much basis for my gender preferences and all...” He returned his gaze back to Twilight. “So, what exactly is a synthetic intelligence?”
“Well, she’s a non-biological pony.” Death continued to stare. “Basically, instead of being grown in a womb, I built her in a lab. Other than that, she’s a normal pony.”
Returning his gaze to the being buried in front of him, Death took a moment to think. Then he sat. “No organic components?” Twilight shook her head. “Fibers and tubes?” Twilight nodded this time. “Cool. So, why isn’t she...” Death searched for the right, and least offensive, word. “On?”
Twilight’s face fell. “She’s dead... I thought that was obvious.”
Death twitched. “Ya, I got that. I guess my real question is, how?”
Turning to face him, Twilight expression was filled with sorrow. “Last week she started to suffer from memory leaks. A few days ago it got worse, her main files started to suffer serious corruptions, and she began having moments where she went erratic. I tried to help her, but I couldn’t. It was too late for me to do anything. Last night she asked me to turn her off, and leave her off. So, I did.”
Death turned back to the android. “You helped her commit suicide?” Twilight sat next to him and nodded. They sat quietly for a moment, Twilight still mourning her loss, Death mildly interested but somewhat confused. “Okay, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what to do here. Did you have something in mind?” he finally said.
Twilight was visibly taken aback. “Help her move on?” She offered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I know I want her to move on to where everypony else goes.”
Death let out a short laugh. “Twilight, unless you gave her a soul, there’s nothing for me to send over. Only a soul can move on.”
“Well, how do you know she doesn’t have one?” Twilight replied angrily.
That shut him up. “Well, I mean...” Death took a moment to think. “Alright, fine.” He brought his hooves up and ran them down his skull and brought them together beneath his chin. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. But you need to leave. This isn’t something meant for mortal eyes.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. “Alright,” she finally said. “Can you at least tell me if she gets to move on?” Death merely shrugged. Twilight took a moment to whisper a final goodbye before turning and leaving.
Once Twilight was gone, Death quickly put his hood back up, once again shaking his head. “Why is Twilight the source of all my problems?” He mumbled aloud. A grey mist seeped from his horn, drifting into the ground. “I swear, she’s going to be the death of me.” He managed all of two seconds before bursting out laughing at his own joke. While he laughed the mist seeped into the body. “I mean, I’ll try, but it’s not like-”
Death froze. He could feel something caught on his magic. To his utter amazement a soul slowly lifted from the corpse beneath him. The metallic grey soul drifted on the currents of magic until it floated next to him. Death couldn’t help but stare at it. “Well. Shit.”
Rolling his head, Death reached into his cloak and pulled out his soul pouch. He gently folded the soul and placed it in the pouch. “What am I supposed to do with this?” Death hadn’t even been planning to manually pick up a soul. By his will alone, souls passed on easily enough. If Luna hadn’t specifically asked him to show up, Death wouldn’t have even bothered.
The grey mist in front of him swirled for a moment before lancing forward. It shuddered for a moment before stretching, forming a rift in the air in front of Death. He stepped through, back to his office. The rift snapped shut behind him and the mist dispersed. Sitting at his desk, Death pulled out the soul and rested it on his desk before him. He stared at it, confused. A gentle grey glow surrounded a large tome on the shelves behind him and brought it down to rest next to the soul.
He flipped through the pages before coming to a stop on the current week. He scanned down it, looking for Thaumic Stream. Reached the bottom of the page, he shook his head. “She isn’t on the list of the departed... huh... How can she be dead, and have a soul, and not show up on my list?”
Rolling his head again, Death pulled down two stacks of forms. At the same time, the grey mist formed again, this time sinking into the soul. With the papers on his desk, Death turned his attention to the shifting and growing soul before him. It quickly grew to the size of a pony. Death groaned as it was still clearly an android. The soul landed on the ground before him, stumbling as it regained it’s footing.
“Where... Where am I?” it asked, blinking as it looked around.
“Right now, purgatory,” Death replied. “Look, you’ve been-.”
“I’m dead?” The android asked, looking clearly scared.
“Ohh, come on. Why do they never understand?” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “Look, yes, you’re dead. No, this isn’t the afterlife. You, personally, don’t get to move on yet. Don’t ask me why, it’s complicated. To sum it up, you aren’t on my list. That’s a problem. You’re going to stay here until the higher ups decide what to do with you. Purgatory is my realm, it’s the place in between.”
The android took everything in, looking around slowly. “So, what am I going to do while I wait?”
“Well, to put it plainly, you’re going to work for me.” Death levitated the first pile of forms to her. “Fill these out. These just keep a record of all of this.” Lifting the other forms Death continued. “These forms go to the higher ups. Never thought I’d use them. They’re for any unscheduled deaths. Fill them out too, and I’ll send them to the higher ups. Once I hear back from them I’ll be able to process you.”
“Umm, what exactly do I do here?”
Death shrugged. “Head out there,” he said, pointing out his door. “There’s other ponies out there who can help you.”
Thaumic reached out with her magic and took the piles of paper. “Okay...” With a half smile, she left through the offered door.
