Death is forced to take a vacation (Harvest-verse)

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine

Chapter One

Helheim, Lady of Death of this dimension, was perusing her dominion, checking the souls that were set to be tortured when a demon came to her side. She cast her eye down at the beast, and while she could just get what she wanted through touching its mind, Helheim decided to use a voice in this occasion.

“What seems to be the problem?” she asked, using the voice of a former mass murderer instead of her own voice.

“Mistress Hollow Grave is complaining about Master Fall Harvest again,” the demon said in a grating tone that also carried the unease of having to pass this message along, its claws scraping the ground awkwardly.

Helheim let out a sigh in her own voice, shaking her head at her ancient Reaper. At least it was not Nidhogg as those fights were never pretty but then again, Harvest always managed to get under her proverbial skin along with the rest of her Reapers.

“Is he in his dominion?” she asked the demon which it nodded.

“Yes, Mistress Helheim,” it said, bowing to her with Helheim transfering herself to the dominion of the Grim Reaper of Alicorns.

Like most Reapers, there was a throne room of power where the Reaper rested and reviewed their directed charges, going over which of their species was destined to die. For most, it involved a massive centre of operation to keep track of who was to die and almost die, near death experiences and cheat death. It took near endless concentration and utmost focus to keep everything under control and yet still things slipped past them from time to time.

Fall Harvest was the exception; he spent most of his time sprawled out on his single gem studded throne with his hood showing his bare skull as he hummed that insufferable tune that had caused more than one fight with her other Reapers. Fall’s dominion was also the exact opposite of the other Reapers’; instead of wall to wall monitors and careful tracking, there were countless expressions of creativity that Fall had done to amuse himself, which had annoyed the more traditional Reapers, despite Fall being one of the oldest and certainly older than those who had continued to complain instead of ignoring his idiosyncrasies.

Lifting a limb with some resistance that Helheim saw was due to the entire floor being replaced with taffy, the Lady of Death knew that she had let things go too far unsaid.

“Fall Harvest,” she said, causing him to jump up in surprise, his bones hitting the ground before he reformed himself in front of her, with his scythe materializing by his side.

“Helheim, how are you?” he asked, managing a carefree expression despite lacking all the needed components to do so, namely the flesh of a living being.

“Annoyed and concerned,” she spoke freely, banishing the confectionary away and started to examine the dominion more closely. “It is quiet,” she stated as she lifted a guitar, inspecting it as it appeared to be an unique model that was supposedly destroyed upon creation.

“Well, with all the alicorns that have passed away moved along and none of the current batch being anywhere near due to come to this place, there’s not much need to have the pits open right now,” he said, standing just a few paces behind her. “What, exactly, are you concerned about?”

“You,” she pronounced, placing the instrument down and began a circuit of the dominion. “You have been causing more complaints recently; from both Reapers and demons alike.”

He snorted, rolling his nonexistent eyes; the demons and other Reapers had been complaining about him for eons; why did it matter now?

“There is a line that you seem fond of dancing around; no, not dancing.” She paused to find the proper analogy. “You seem to enjoy taunting the line whenever you get chance, pushing the buttons of everyone here to their limits.”

“I like to push the button,” Fall Harvest mimicked pushing a button as he floated past her for a brief moment, only to retreat after she cast a gaze at him. “And it’s good for them, anyways. These little undead shits need to learn to laugh and enjoy themselves or this job will cause you to go nuts.”

“You are correct,” Helheim acknowledged him. “But it is not your place to do so. And you made an error in your assessment; they need to know how to keep themselves acting as my Reapers or they will be replaced.” Fall gave her a look, a hoof raising to ask an obvious question. “No, that does not include you due to your actions in the past. But leaving you by yourself cannot stand.”

“So what, you’re going to be visiting me more often?” Fall Harvest asked her, uncertain to what she had in mind.

“No,” she told him, causing him to pause. “I am sending you out of Tartarus for some time away on a forced vacation.”

“What‽” he shouted, giving her an incredulous look. “I can’t do that!”

“Are you doing anything important at the moment?” she asked him, causing the Grim Reaper to pause.

“Well, ye-”

“Related to business,” she quickly stated, causing him to to scowl.

“No, but-”

“Staying here too long is not good and it is my wish to see you outside to recover.”

“So I will go out to the other dominions or something-”

“You will go to the mortal realm.”

“But Helheim, I can’t-”

“You mistake my words for suggestions and advice,” she said sharply, causing her Reaper to fold inwards. “You will go to the mortal realm and spend significant time there.”

Stewing for a moment, he tilted his head up at her. “Fine, if I am to go on this… vacation, what skin should I wear?” He summoned up a collection of former alicorn bodies. “Hmm, I could go as a mare, to shake things up-”

“You will use this one,” Helheim said as she summoned up a stallion’s body, its coat a light orange, the colour of autumn, with the mane and wing tips each a faded silver.

“That’s my body, my original body,” Fall Harvest said as he moved to inspect it, tilting his head as he inspected himself. “My cutie mark,” he said as he traced a hoof over the image of a scythe above a sheaf of wheat. He then flicked his eye sockets at her. “I cannot use it; what if Celestia learns of me?”

“You are creative; think of a lie to avoid her,” Helheim told him as he slipped into his flesh, blinking his corpse’s eyes before the blue came back into them. “Besides, you are already dead. She cannot kill you.”

“Oh I am sure she will find some way to kill me,” he grumbled. “She’s been planning to get even with me all these years. I have heard the things she wanted to do me; made some of the demons here blush.”

“Best be careful then, Fall,” Helheim summoned matter to form a smirk before creating a limb to shoo him out of his dominion and into the realm of mortals. “Now go and do not come back until I call for you,” she called out to the faceplanted alicorn who was moving to sit up and glare at her. “And be on your best behaviour!” she shouted as she closed the door between the two realms.

“Somehow, I think you’d feel better if I was on your best behaviour,” Fall grumbled as he did his best to adjust to his old form; the sudden return of his flesh and muscle was making it hard for him to balance himself.

I heard that.

The Reaper, had he been able to do so without falling over, would have facehoofed at that. But he was otherwise distracted as he looked around the area, which appeared to be a large orchard, an Apple farm by the looks of it, and noticed he was not alone.

“SIS!” a small yellow filly with a red mane and tail yelled, before running off in the opposite direction.

Fall Harvest sighed as he knew exactly where he was now. “What have I gotten myself into this time?”

Chapter Two

Fall Harvest debated whether or not he should go stop Apple Bloom from getting her sister involved. On one hoof, it might solve a lot of future headaches and issues and problems that would no doubt arise from being in Ponyville.

But on the other hoof, he was on vacation, being visible was not a massive issue. He shouldn’t have to work that hard if he was sent to enjoy himself on his down time, right?

Then again, it wasn’t the smartest ide-

“See sis; he’s an alicorn!” Apple Bloom shouted, causing Harvest to snap his head up as the two ponies came rushing towards him.

“No I’m not,” he said automatically, with enough conviction it was almost believable.

“But,” Applejack blinked, trying to reconcile his claims with what she could see with her own two eyes. “You’ve got wings and a horn; what else could ya be?”

“I, my good mare, am a winged unicorn,” he lied through his teeth and thankful for his connection to the Power of Death that allowed him to override that of Honesty.

The look of somewhat disbelief that Applejack gave him reminded him that he was not the Lord of Death, but merely an adjunct to the Role. He steeled himself, knowing this was going to be trickier than he’d expected.

“A what now?” Apple Bloom asked and if it were not for all the red flags in existence being raised, he would have kissed that little filly for giving him this perfect opening.

“A winged unicorn, my little friend,” he said as he kept eye contact with her while maintaining focus on her older sister. “Is exactly what it sounds like; I was born with wings.”

“So yer an alicorn,” Applejack said with Fall doing his utmost not to roll his eyes at her.

“Nooo, I am a winged unicorn,” he corrected her, flapping his wings in part to prove his point and in part to further confuse her. “I do not have the magic of an Earth pony, nor the unique powers of a pegasus. Just a unicorn’s magic and pegasus wings; I cannot fly with them, just glide, if I can get high up enough to be able to catch the wind under them in the first place.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened, and she looked like she was eager to ask him something more, but the older Apple was still looking skeptical. “Ah haven’t heard anything about unicorns with that sort of condition before, and Ah’m friends with one of the most knowledgeable ponies when it comes to odd stuff,” she said, eyeing him.

“Well excuse me for not hollering from the heavens about my condition, not giving out flyers to everypony passing by so they will know my story,” Fall did his best to act offended but he was enjoying himself far too much at her sudden embarrassment to hide his smile properly, something Apple Bloom caught right away. “Do you wish to know that I once almost took off my head with a scythe bringing in the harvest? Do you want to know how often I took leaps out of a window, only to regret it later on? Do you know-”

Applejack suddenly shook her head and gave him a stern look. “Do you really want to keep talkin’ about that sort of thing in front of an underage impressionable filly?”

Fall raised a hoof, tilting his head to the side as he thought on what she asked him. “The correct answer is… no, right?”

“You bet yer boots that’s the right answer,” Applejack replied. Giving her little sister a gentle nudge with one hoof, she looked down at her. “Go on back to the house now,” she said softly. “Ah’ll take this here fella to see Twilight, she’ll straighten things out.”

“Oh no no no,” he said, shaking his head as he danced in front of her. “I’m just passing through, no need to bother the princess for simple old Fall Harvest.”

“Ah insi-”

“I can tell these trees were grown with just a touch of Earth pony magic to help out; enough to spur some growth from time to time but not enough to make them grow so fast that they drain all the water and nutrients out of the soil like some ponies do if they’re in a hurry to get the product and don’t think about the long-term consequences, both for the land and the plants themselves, since growing them too fast can damage them on a cellular level and affect their ability to reproduce in the future.” He spat out, rambling as he tried to distract the farmer further by relying on a topic they both knew well.

“Er, yes, actually,” Applejack blinked in surprise. “Ah’m surprised that a… winged unicorn, knew all that.”

“Please, I might not look it, but I lovegrowing stuff,” he let out a happy sigh. “That’s my special talent. Give me some good ol’ dirt, some stuff to grow and I’d be happy for days!” he said with a genuine smile gracing his lips, his wings fanning out.

“Heh, Ah’ll be honest, Ah didn’t take you to be a farmer,” Applejack said, looking at him in a new light. “Yall look too fresh and proper to be one; no offense.” She tipped her hat at him in the way that in farmer talk meant she was being completely honest with him.

“None taken,” he said, dipping his head into a small bow, flashing another smile at the two Apple sisters. “I’ve been working indoors for a while and my dragon of a boss decided it was high time I got outside again.”

Watch it, Fall Harvest

“Where did you work, mister Harvest?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Erm…” He winced inwardly; how to tell a little filly you were keeping an eye on ponies and waiting to deliver them to the next realm when their time was due? Then he had it. “Office work, mostly,” he said. “Data analysis, relating to lifespans of certain species… I believe some of my colleagues were trying to determine which ones lasted longest and if they could take some of the less hardier strains and improve them, replicating the longer lifespans to make these others be… not less hardier anymore.” He shrugged. “Really not my preferred thing, since I’d rather have been outside tending actual growths; and it didn’t help that most of my coworkers didn’t like the personal touches in my office, since so many of them had no sense of humor whatsoever.” He snickered, knowing that he was pushing his luck here but didn’t care all that much. “In fact, my former protegé Hollow Grave, hateswhen I stop by her office to offer some… advice. Last time, she threw so much stuff at my head when I just gave her one hour of my time.”

“Sounds like you’re a real laugh riot, Harvest,” Applejack said dryly, no doubt getting a picture of what he was like.

“Do you know any better kind?” he said, rubbing his chest with his hoof before realizing what he had just said and where. His eyes widening, he looked around, extending his view a full three hundred and sixty degrees, and seeing no sign of her, prompting a sigh of relie-

"Hieeeee!"

Fall Harvest almost literally jumped back out of his skin as Pinkie Pie appeared right in front of his face, and it took every bit of self-control to keep from turning around and running back to his office, Helheim’s orders be damned, and yes he could hear her laughing in his head as he thought that. He did not like Lords or Ladies of Laughter as they excelled at unpredictableness to perform their Role which meant it could foul up his own powers despite Laughter being weaker than Death.

“Um, hello,” he managed to say calm like with a replica of his original heart racing in his chest. “Erm, nice to meet you; I’m Fall Harvest.”

“And I’m Pinkie Pie!” she giggled as she bounced on the spot. “So what are you the alicorn of Harvesty? Oh wait, let me guess; farming, agriculture, scythes, changing the colors of the leaves in the fall?”

“None of them, miss Pie as I am not an alicorn but a winged unicorn,” he said, taking steps away from her while having flashbacks to Gelos messing with him and suddenly felt some guilt about his actions towards his fellow Reapers.

Some guilt, not all the way.

It is a start, Fall Harvest.

Pinkie’s eyes lit up, and she looked like she was about to barrage him with questions again, when he heard Applejack clear her throat. “Ah’m sure you’ll hear the full thing sooner or later, Pinkie, but for now, could you quit botherin’ the fellow?”

Her mane deflated at that, and Fall Harvest could literally hear and see the air coming out of it, which bothered him. As much as he did not care for certain aspects of her Role, he had certainly never meant to upset her.

“Miss Pie,” he said slowly and carefully. “I appreciate your interest in my story but I kinda like to keep to myself. I wasn’t even planning to come here, in fact. If you’ll excuse me-”

“Wait, you were just going to pass by Ponyville without coming to the Sugarcube Corner?” she gasped loudly, giving him sad eyes that were tugging at his soul and despite his better judgment that he should avoid Ponyville at all costs due to the off chance that Twilight saw him and brought Celestia in, something he desperately wanted to not happen; it had been ages since he’d last seen her in person and even cessation of existence would be preferable to facing the wrath she would bring down upon him the next time they crossed paths. He was dreading the day he would have to collect her soul; he knew that she couldn’t kill him but she would more than likely try her hardest.

“It is nothing personal, Miss Pie,” he said, trying to think of some way to get himself out of this mess but for once, no good lies came to his mind. “As I said before, I simply like to keep to myself and watch others from a distance.” She started to quiver her lip, and he was done; curse his soft nature.

He flicked an ear as he heard his mistress laugh her nonexistent head off.

“But I suppose I could pick up some eats before I make my way out of here,” he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Even though she was overjoyed by his simple actions, he had a feeling that this was going to bite him in the flanks before the day was through.

Chapter Three

Fall Harvest had a million different thoughts going through his head, mainly how to escape this situation but nothing came up that wouldn’t raise any flags. He knew that he would have to run fast before word got back to Princess Celestia that he had resurfaced and she started to burn down the countryside looking for him. And depending on how enraged she was, he just might have Hollow Grave appear by him and start smacking him upside the head for increasing her workload.

Then again, she might just do it for the fun of it. He knew he would bug himself if he was her; he could be such an asshole at times.

Wait…

“Is everythin’ okay, partner?” Applejack asked, tilting her head up at him.

“Oh yeah, everything is fine, perfectly fine, fine as could be!” he said with the mare giving him a flat look that told him he needed to work on his lies.

“Great!” His vision was suddenly nothing but pink. “Come on, Harvesty, let’s get you to Ponyville!”

Using his hooves to remove her as he wasn’t sure if his magic would be his old reddish orange or the death grey which would raise eyebrows, even with them not being unicorns, and gave Pinkie Pie a somewhat serious look.

“Hey, mind keeping off of me, please?” he then grinned, sharing her smile with his own roguish grin. “I know that I have amazing looks and all but I am somewhat certain that Applejack would object.”

“Ya really are full of yourself, aren’t ya?” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You said it yourself earlier, do you really want this sort of thing going on in front of your impressionable younger sister?” Fall Harvest raised an eyebrow right back at her.

Applejack sighed. “You’ve got a point there. Pinkie, get off, he doesn’t need to be dragged around.”

“Aww…”

“Relax, Ah’m certain he’s used to it by now,” Applejack snorted, rolling her eyes at him.

“Yes, of course I am used to it. Totally used to it, happens all the time in fa-”

“Y’all never been with a mare, have ya?”

“Do kissing and snuggling count?”

“Eenope,” Applejack said with a laugh that caused his ears to go red.

“I, frankly, believe that one should wait until they’re married before they do… that,” he trailed off, feeling himself blush. “That was the plan with my old marefriend before we broke up.”

“Yer hoof don’t count, Harvest,” Applejack quipped with Pinkie Pie and Helheim laughing loudly.

“I was referring to a real pony, thank you very much, and may I remind you that there is still a filly present who is getting far more of an education than you expected from this turn of conversation?”

Applejack turned beet-red. “Erm…”

Beside her, Apple Bloom looked confused. “What’re you talkin’ about, sis?”

“Nothin’! Never you mind!” Applejack blushed even deeper. “You’ll find out when they cover it in health classes in high school, alright?”

Apple Bloom gave her another confused look, then sighed. “All right…”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Fall Harvest grinned. “Enjoy being a little squirt for as long as you can.”

“Okay mister Harvest,” Apple Bloom said with a smile.

“Please, don’t call me mister; makes me feel old,” he chuckled before looking at the mares and smacking the top of his head. “I just realized I have no money on me; I guess I can’t buy anything from your shop so I guess I should just go on my wa-”

“Don’t worry, Harvesty,” Pinkie Pie waved him off. “I don’t mind letting new friends try something for free.”

“Right, right,” Fall Harvest muttered, having that escape line dashed. “Well, lead the way, Miss Pie.”

He was still trying to think of an escape route several minutes later as Pinkie guided him into Ponyville, chattering all the way as he did his best to tune her out without making it obvious that he was doing so; Applejack and her sister had remained at the farm, Applejack saying something about still having a little more work to do before she could join them in town.

He got a few looks, which he did his best to dispel with his lies that he was a winged unicorn which was a thing as well as a horned pegasus as well as a winged horned Earth pony. They were extremely rare, but they did exist and it wasn’t that big of a lie. If he wanted to, he could turn himself into one to make the lie the truth, but he wasn’t that desperate or bored.

“So where are you heading, Harvesty?” Pinkie Pie asked him, causing him to snap his head around.

“Oh, I… was just planning on rambling and wandering,” he said. “Letting my feet carry me to and fro, with no particular place to go.” Inwardly, he winced at the unexpected rhyme; he never did that on his own!

Pinkie giggled. “You’re funny!”

“Thank you,” he brightened at that; it had been too long since someone had meant that genuinely and it felt go-

“Hey Pinks, who’s the new alicorn?”

Turning his head, he saw the latest Loyalty fly down to them with a tilt of her one colour short of a proper rainbow head.

“I’m not an alicorn,” he said without even batting an eye to his lies anymore. “I’m a-”

“Horned pegasus?” she asked, causing him to blink in surprise. “I have a cousin who’s like that; my aunt has tried to get her to have her horn removed but she likes it.”

“Other way around, actually,” Fall Harvest said, still surprised. “I’m a winged unicorn.”

“Cool.” Rainbow Dash rolled her shoulders. “Stinks that you don’t have cloudwalking and full flight, but hey, gliding’s better than nothing.”

“Yes… quite.” He said, scratching his chin. “It is reallyfun to just jump off tall things and glide all the way down, ain’t it?”

“You got it,” Rainbow Dash laughed before looking around and coughing as she spotted an orange filly watching them from a distance. “I mean, you really should make sure it’s safe and junk first; bad enough that I broke my wing once, but at least it got better, don’t want to mess up and break something that can’t be fixed, like your neck, right?”

“Absolutely,” Fall Harvest replied, seeing where she was going with this. “We ponies may be hardier than some species, but you’re still only mortal, after all.”

“That’s a weird way of saying it, Harvesty,” Pinkie Pie frowned, staring intently at him before shrugging her shoulders.

“Eh, I am not the most usual of sorts,” Fall Harvest shrugged back.

“So who are you?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing in front of him.

“I’m no one that import-”

“He’s Fall Harvest, Dashie, and everypony is important, Harvesty,” Pinkie Pie said in a lecturing tone that was so cheerful he couldn’t help himself from snorting playfully and rolling his eyes.

“Yes, miss Pie, I know that,” he said, knowing as a Reaper that every soul was important and special. Even with so many people having identical versions of themselves in the multiverse, they were never the same. Take a thousand Twilight Sparkles with a low divergent range from the Prime dimension, grind them up and put them through the finest sieve and the differences between their individual souls would be staggering. It was one of the more beautiful things that he was privileged to know of the true nature of their existence. “But I also know I am a wanderer, just somepony trying to get by.”

“And before he goes; he’s going to go to Sugarcube Corner for some treats before he goes,” Pinkie Pie chirped happily. “Want to come with us?”

“Eh, why not?” Rainbow Dash gave a careless shrug. “I could go for something sweet.”

“Then lead on ladies; you know your way around Ponyville far better than I do,” Fall Harvest said.

Pinkie beamed, and immediately began pronking off, Rainbow Dash hovering just behind him to make sure he followed her.

It didn’t take too much longer for them to reach Sugarcube Corner, and Fall Harvest took a moment to marvel over the gingerbread-styled building. Just as Pinkie was about to open the door, it opened in front of her, and a tall figure stepped out, accompanied by a willowy, butter-yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. “-telling you, Fluttershy,” he was saying, “You just need to sprinkle some paprika -” Then he caught sight of Fall Harvest and stopped dead. “Oh… this is unexpected.”

“Quite.” Fall Harvest gave him a look. “Long time no see, Discord…”

“You know this guy?” Rainbow Dash glanced between he and the draconequus. “Since when?”

“We had a run-in the first time he escaped his prison, before he got turned back into stone by you girls,” Fall Harvest said dryly, keeping quiet on the earlier times as it would stick out like a red and black alicorn. “Fortunately, there wasn’t any lasting damage after what you did in that town…”

“Well you know me Fall,” Discord harrumphed. “No fun in breaking stuff; there is an old saying that if you break all your toys, then you’ll have nothing to play with. Calamity never learned that.” He muttered that last part softly, to where only Fall could hear it and he had to agree with Discord on that one.

“And one I’ve heard is that Causality waits for us all and sometimes she gets a bit impatient,” Fall tossed back with Discord paling as he mentioned the name of the Reaper of Draconequui and reminded the Lord of Disharmony that Disharmony was still beneath an Adjunct of Death and an act against him would be an act against Lady Helheim. No one could ever win against Death itself; there were several souls across the multiverse who had tried at different times, and even those who had avoided that Power the longest had, in time, either been caught or willingly given in in the end.

He could also remember periodic instances of souls who had died and just not realized it at the time, including a story told by one adjunct of a Death from another dimension who had recounted being sent to retrieve a young adult female, one so in denial about her own death that she had kept traveling along the road she was on, despite seeing the adjunct by its side repeatedly, until finally she had been forced to confront the truth and had come back to let him take her on to the next plane of existence. The adjunct had always ended the story with the same line he had given the female: "I believe you're going… my way?"

“Well, um,” Discord stammered before creating a watch on his wrist. “Well look at the time, I think I’ll take this stuff home Fluttershy, and I’ll see you this time next week, if you don’t mind?”

“Of course not,” Fluttershy told him, smiling up at the draconequus. “I’ll see you then.”

“Right then. Tally-ho!” Snapping his fingers, Discord and the things he’d been carrying vanished.

Rainbow Dash let out a long, low whistle. “Dang. I’ve never seen him react that way to anypony; what’d you do?”

“Even a draconequus knows not to mess with someone who works for my employer,” Fall Harvest replied with a sly smirk. “She has a certain… way about her that makes anypony feel like a little foal in front of their parents, and even Discord himself knows better than to upset somepony like that.”

Even someone like you, Fall Harvest, who never knew their parents.

“Thank you,” he muttered. Helheim was wrong, despite her perfect memory as he was certain he could recall having a mother when he was a colt.

“For what, Fall?” Rainbow Dash asked him; he looked up, startled.

“Just talking to myself,” he said nonchalantly. “Nothing that needs to be repeated.”

Rainbow Dash eyed him suspiciously, but shrugged it off. “Okay. Hey, Fluttershy, want to come on in with us?”

“Oh, I just finished, but…” Fluttershy ducked her head. “I do need to take care of a few things. I’ll meet up with you later, okay?”

Pinkie looked disappointed, but nodded, and stepped aside so Fluttershy could trot off.

“Interesting mare,” Fall Harvest said in a curious tone. “Not the sort I’d have expected to be friends with a spirit of chaos and disharmony.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t easy at first,” Rainbow Dash told him. “But somehow, they pulled it off.”

“Indeed.” Fall Harvest watched Fluttershy disappear into the distance, then looked at his two companions. “Well. Let’s go in, shall we?”

Pinkie beamed. “Mm-hmm!”

Chapter Four

Following Pinkie into Sugarcube Corner, Fall looked at the menu and began to see what he could get to eat quickly and be out of Ponyville before word about him got out. It would be a terrible vacation if he had to look over his shoulders the entire time for the sun about to set his flesh on fire.

“Hey Harvest, is the trip you’re going on long?” Rainbow Dash asked him, causing him to refocus on the world around him.

“Oh yeah, pretty long, very far away,” he muttered still distracted before he realized what he had said.

“Oooo, we need to get you something big then, Harversty,” Pinkie Pie said, causing him to sigh internally at his slip.

“There’s no ne-” Fall began only for Pinkie Pie to disappear on him with Rainbow Dash dragging him off to a booth that was thankfully not in view of the street.

Settling down into his booth, he noticed it was really out of the way and the mare was giving him a glare.

Before he could even try to defuse the situation, the pegasus launched her assault.

“So who are you really?” she said sharply.

“What do you me-”

“I don’t buy the whole going off on vacation,” she snorted. “If you were really going on some trip, you’d have bags and stuff and an actual plan or stuff.”

“Rainbow Dash, I assure you,” he said in a tired voice, not really feeling the energy to lie. “I’m just a guy on vacation. A vacation I was forced to take after my boss literally shooed me out the door without any time to plan or pack; she didn’t even give me the chance to stop by my personal rooms to pick up anything besides my good looks.”

She rolled her eyes at him, clearly not convinced or impressed. “So you say,” she said, causing him to frown. These ponies today, they simply had no taste… “In any case, I don’t trust you.” She jabbed a hoof into his chest, making him snort.

“And is your trust something I should care about?” he brushed her hoof away. “As I’ve said multiple times, I don’t plan to stay here any longer than I need to.”

“And why is that, mister?” Rainbow Dash continued to glare at him. “Why are you so eager to leave? Why don’t you want to stay here?”

“Again, I don’t see how that is any of your business,” he shot back, eyes narrowed as he was tempted to lean on some of his power to cow her. Lords and Ladies of Loyalty were always a pain in the ass if they thought you were a threat; they would hound the perceived danger until either the danger went away, the danger was proven not to be a threat or their trusted friends convinced them to stand down. “So if you don’t mind…”

She continued to stare at him and seemed about to lecture him again when Pinkie Pie made her return with plates of what was clearly chocolate cake; oddly though, the insides seemed to be pink.

“Here you go Harvesty, and you Dashie,” she said as she put down the two plates in front of them.

“Thanks Pinkie,” Dash said, her concerns about him distracted by free goodies.

“Thanks,” he said as he began to put the food in his mouth, only to cough loudly.

“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked him as he thumped his own chest.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just went down the wrong pipe,” he lied as he spat out the food and quickly put it in a napkin, annoyed at himself for forgetting to fix his own taste buds so what he tasted wasn’t ash and gravel. One of the few downsides of being a Reaper was the inability to enjoy anything they ate.

Are you complaining about your lot, Fall Harvest?

Coughing again as he shook his head in the negative, he took the glass of water and washed his mouth out, then focused his magic inwardly, adjusting his taste buds to make sure this wouldn’t happen again.

Once he was certain he could taste normally, he took another bite, and his eyes lit up. “This is good,” he said. “Thank you very much, miss Pie.”

Pinkie beamed happily, and he sighed silently; hopefully now she would be satisfied once he finished his food.

An ear twitching as he spread his situational awareness out, hoping not to get caught off guard again like he had before, he spent the next several minutes quietly eating, enjoying the treats Pinkie had brought him. Finally, as he finished, he looked up at her. “Thank you again, miss Pie,” he said as he stood up. “I appreciate everything, but now I must be off. It’s a magical world, and I intend to go exploring.”

You got that from another, non-pony dimension, didn’t you?

Like I’m the only one who gets inspiration from things my fellow Reapers see in their off-time, he mentally shot back. Then he looked up, as he felt the presence of another Power approaching. There was also a smaller presence near it, not a Power but a mortal soul.

Turning his head to the door as it opened, he saw the two ponies enter, and let out a small smile; this explained what he had felt. As the small white filly rushed ahead to the counter, he let his eyes drift over the Lady of Generosity coming up behind her, appearing as her usual elegant self despite the look of resigned exasperation on her face, a look which shifted somewhat as Pinkie rushed up to happily greet her. He was about to make his escape when Dash called out, “Hey Rares, over here. Come join me and the new guy.” She then gave him a mischievous grin as Rarity turned to notice him. “What, I’m sure you can spend some more time here,” she said to him as the fashionista’s eyes went wide and all but darted straight to him.

“You just made a dangerous pranking foe,” he hissed at her as he wondered how quickly Rarity’s words would reach Canterlot.

“Bring it,” Rainbow Dash hissed back, then looked up with a smile as Rarity approached. “So, what’ve you been up to today?”

“Oh, just a few orders, watching over Sweetie Belle when she got home from school, and of course, laying eyes on this handsome young stallion here,” she said, the last in a rather seductive tone as she batted her eyelashes at him.

Fall’s eyes widened as it suddenly hit him. Oh buck.

Just one look, and she’s crushing on you. Helheim’s snickering was not helpful or appreciated.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure if Celestia’s rage would have been more terrifying than this or not. Either way, he needed to get out of here, now!

Just then, he felt a hoof on his wing, and he looked to see Rainbow Dash giving him a very serious look.

“Even think of trying to run or teleport away from my friend, and I’ll make sure you regret it,” she said in a quiet but very dangerous tone.

Reluctantly, Fall nodded, then turned back to Rarity. “So, miss…”

“Rarity Belle, darling,” she replied. “And you are?”

“Fall Harvest, miss Belle,” he said. “Just a normal working-class winged unicorn passing through town on vacation, nopony important.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re anything but normal,” she said, still looking at him in that- gah! Mentally, he shook his head; she was way too young for him, and he desperately began to think in the hopes of coming up with some way of dissuading her from pursuing him. While he knew she was a good mare, he was not interested in somepony so much younger than him - say, there was an idea.

“Believe me, I am,” he said. “Not to mention the fact that, despite outward appearances, I’m old enough to be your father.”

That got Rainbow Dash’s attention, and she eyed him suspiciously. Rarity, on the other hoof, looked to be swooning even more.

“A mysterious older stallion that looks so young?” she flashed her eyelashes at him. “You must share your secrets with me; perhaps at dinner?”

“I am flattered, but I am afraid I must decline,” he said. “While I am certain you are a wonderful pony, I am not looking for companionship of the sort you desire to be; you deserve somepony who is… well, I don’t know quite how to describe them, but I assure you, whomever you find, they will be far more worthy of you than I am.”

Rarity looked somewhat taken aback by this, but before she could respond, he was already rising out of his seat, driven by a sudden urgency. “Miss Belle, miss Dash, Miss Pie, I bid you and your friends goodbye, I must be on my way now.”

With that, he hurried across the room, opened the door, and was just a few feet down the road when a loud voice sounded across from him, and he froze.

Turning his head to the side, he saw Twilight Sparkle staring straight at him before teleporting away and his senses told him that the other five Ladies that lived in Ponyville were in the vicinity. Knowing that things could get very unpleasant in the next few minutes, Fall Harvest shook his head and said,

“Shit.”

Chapter Five

With a sigh, Fall began to make his way towards Twilight’s castle, ignoring the cries of the Ladies of Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty and Laughter behind him. He only had a short amount of time before Twilight did something he would regret like calling her former mentor and kicking that hornet’s nest wide open.

“Ah said stopthere partner!” Applejack hollered at him as she tried to keep up with his pace; he was impressed by her determination, but knew she was doomed to failure: only another Death, or perhaps a Space, could keep up with a Death; he had heard of one time that some speedster had run to the end of their universe; the Reaper in charge of speedsters had followed him, only to run into the edge of time and, due to the lack of a universe after that point, had ceased to be, thus freeing their Power to pass on to another while the speedster they’d followed had run safely back to their own time period.

Pushing her words out of his mind and pushed the lasso that had wrapped around his barrel off of him with a trick he’d learned in the past, he made his way straight into the Lady of Magic’s front door only for him to be swept off of his hooves and bundled up.

Shaking his head in this momentary dislocation, he heard some mare shout at him, “I got you, you unholy dark magic creature. Just wait-”

“Oh for the love of the Creators,” he grumbled as he slipped the bounds of the net, landing on his hooves. “Just relax Twi-”

Before he could finish his attempt to calm her down, the door slammed open with the rest of the sub-Powers of Harmony storming into the room, causing him to make himself intangible by instinct to avoid being hit by the door.

All of their attempts to warn Twilight dropped as they saw him solidify himself. Groaning internally at this headache, he put them as a secondary concern as calming Twilight down was more impor-

“H-how did you escape?” she stammered, backing up in fear. “That spell was designed to hold even an Umbrum like Sombra!”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I am not particularly normal,” he snapped back before he forced himself to sooth his tone. “I know you can see my real self,” he paused to flash his normal form to everypony in the room so her friends could see what Twilight saw and he wouldn’t need to explain himself twice. “I am Fall Harvest, the Reaper of Alicorns but no, I am not here for your soul, Twilight Sparkle. I was just passing through Ponyville and I was trying,” he turned his attention to the quivering mares behind him. “To leave your town without scaring you.” He then lowered himself down to face Twilight in the eye and gave her a comforting smile, using a bit of his own powers along with his long history at calming down scared ponies that were facing the end of lives. “You’ve got a long life to live before we meet again professionally, Twilight Sparkle.”

She stared into his eyes, and using his powers that allowed him to stretch out a moment when a soul needed some time to compose themselves before moving on, Twilight was able to see he was telling the truth.

“Good,” he said, a smile already growing on his face. “Now ladies, if you will give me the chance, I can explain all-”

“I’ll save you Twilight!” a young squeaky voice called out as a purple and green blur raced towards him.

Reacting faster than he could, Twilight had picked up Spike and held him in place, removing the makeshift helmet made of a pot and the sword he’d been holding in one claw.

“Spike, there is no need to panic; Fall Harvest is not here to hurt m- wait, where did you get this sword‽” The alicorn held the blade high in the air with clear shock and horror on her face.

“The Crystal Empire,” Spike said, sounding completely nonchalant about it. “But if he isn’t really a threat, I guess I shouldn’t have sent off that letter to Celestia then.”

“You did what‽” Fall shouted as he extended his senses outwards and felt around the sun. Sure enough, there was sudden stillness in the firey body of deadly plasma before it exploded with metaphorical rage; moments later the true source of it left Canterlot and began to make its way to Ponyville. With only seconds to prepare himself for what was about to happen, Fall Harvest just muttered one word to himself as he pushed the Powers behind him and away from the door...

“Shit.”

In a few seconds that only a Power or an adjunct to a Power like him could be aware of, the immediate area outside of Twilight’s house became incredulously hot before the teleportation spell was finished with the door slamming open then. Standing fornt of them was a furious looking Celestia with fire flowing off and around her body, the golden royal vestments that had numerous protection spells built inside of them melting as she trotted straight into his face with a hoof pointed directly at his chin.

“YOU!” she growled at him, her pink eyes barely visible in the narrow slits she had forced them into.

“Me,” he quipped without thinking, taking a few steps backwards as she continued to move forwards.

“YOU!” she repeated herself even louder, grinding her teeth as she was no doubt trying to decide what to do with him.

“Still me,” he chirped without thinking again, which only enraged her further.

“YOU!” she spat at him, with the liquid fire singing his chest before he put it out.

“Yes, we’ve established it’s me Celestia, now let’s-”

“How dare you show your face to me after what you did!” she snapped, shoving her hoof into his chest, causing him to grunt.

“I didn’t, you came to me, Celest-”

“Shut it!” she barked at him, jabbing again with enough force that if he was a mortal, he would have a deep muscle bruise right now. “I don’t know what your plans are for Twilight but I refuse to let you have her!”

“I’m not here for her soul, Celestia, I-”

“Shut it; I don’t care for whatever lie you are going to make up right now Fall!” she spat at him, straining her neck to stare at him directly in the eyes.

“That hurts Celestia,” he said with a frown. “You know me-”

CRACK

“I said shut your Creators-blasted mouth, Fall!” she screamed at him while Fall was working with a nearly completely caved in skull after she slapped him.

“Okay, I was wrong; that hurts, Celestia,” he said as he reformed the bones in his skull and fixed the flesh on his face. “And as I was saying, I was sent here on vacation by Helheim; I was trying to get out of-”

“I said I don’t care about your damn lies, Fall, so you better get out of my kingdom before I-”

“Before you what, little pony?” a voice asked darkly, causing everypony in the room to gasp as a towering figure appeared. “Fall Harvest is one of a coloured past to which I accept draws criticism, but what I do not accept is those who dare to claim to know Death’s motives.”

Nine pairs of eyes were immediately drawn to the figure standing in their midst with Celestia immediately stepping backwards, to the shock of six ponies and one dragon. “Lady Helheim.” she said through clenched teeth, showing deference to the other being.

“Celestia.” Helheim continued to hold her glare at the alicorn. “Am I to take your attack against my adjunct as an attack against myself?”

Celestia’s nostrils flared, despite her shaking her head in negative. “No, Lady Helhei-”

“For I am curious to if you believe that the Day can defeat Death,” Helheim moved to push her head into Celestia’s with the alicorn shaking her head as she stepped backwards even more.

“No my Lady, I do not,” Celestia said, though clearly having to say it was a bitter pill for her to swallow.

“Good,” Helheim said before disappearing as quickly as she came, although Fall Harvest, and no doubt Celestia, could tell she was still present.

Fall let out a sigh; this was not how he wanted this meeting to go. Nothing is more embarrassing than to have what equates to your mom stepping in to save your ass.

I am not sure how I feel about your analogy, Fall Harvest

Ignoring Helheim’s humming and harring over his words, he took tentative steps towards Celestia. “Celestia, I-”

“Be quiet, Fall Harvest,” she hissed. “After everything that you’ve done against me, my family and those I love, after everything you’ve done, give me that, at the very least.” Biting his lip with his ears falling against his head, his silence was enough to appease her with the alicorn turning her head and beginning to make her way out of the castle. “I am going to talk to the mayor and explain…” Celestia turned her attention to the smouldering entranceway before snapping her eyes back at him. She then looked at Twilight and her friends. “I will see you later,” she told them, flashing them a smile before leaving the castle.

“Uh…”

At that, Fall turned to see Applejack holding up a hoof. “Can we get an explanation here?” she asked. “What the hay was Celestia and that weird smoke lady talkin’ about? Who was she? And what in tarnation did you do to make the Princess so angry?”

“That’s perso-”

Helheim placed a limb on his shoulder, a hoof by the feel of it, and smiled softly. “That, young Applejack, is a very, very long story,” she said, causing the mortals to jump at her sudden reappearance. “And it is one I believe Fall should tell.”

Fall Harvest winced. “Do I have to?” he asked. “You’ve told me that someone’s story is a story that should be kept personal until it needs to be shared.”

“Would you rather leave young Twilight and her friends to figure it out on their own?” Helheim replied, gesturing to them. “I expect anything they can imagine would undoubtedly be far worse than the truth and who is to say that their musings would remain in this building.”

Fall remembered the look on Celestia’s face and winced again at the thought of having rumours of their past spreading out across the country and how angered Celestia would be by them. “Point taken.”

“And you will tell them the honest truth,” Helheim said sharply, suddenly in his face. “No… embellishments to make yourself look better.”

“Of course, my Lady,” Fall Harvest said, bowing to his mistress before looking at the mortals still staring at them with Twilight stepping forwards.

After a moment, Twilight coughed into her hoof. “Um… how long is this going to be?”

“Long,” Fall replied. “Very, very long. As in, it goes well back over a thousand years, to before Equestria was even founded.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up; no doubt she was intrigued by the idea of learning about history from that far back. “In that case, why don’t you all go to the library and get comfortable? Spike and I’ll get some snacks! And… put these away.” With that, she trotted off, still carrying the sword and pot she had taken from Spike, who hurried along after her.

Applejack looked at the others. “You heard the mare, let’s go.” Shutting the castle’s door, she watched as Rainbow Dash led Fall toward the library, the others right behind them, then looked at the floor. “I’ve a feeling this is going to be one humdinger of a story,” she said quietly.

“It certainly will be,” Helheim said from beside her. “You and the others are about to learn far more about the inner workings of the universe, and your princess’s history, than you ever expected.”

Applejack stared at the being next to her, wide-eyed, before she shook her head and followed her friends to the library.

It took about ten minutes for everypony to set up the food and get settled in, and all eyes were on Fall Harvest as he sat at the head of the group, looking as if he wished to be anywhere else.

“What I am about to tell you,” he began distractedly, tapping his hoof against the floor; “Is extremely personal to me and more importantly, to Celestia. I might not care how ponies think about me, but even think to use this against her and we will have a long talk.” For a moment, his smile fell to show his anger which caused the mortals, including a recently arrived Starlight Glimmer, to flinch. The weight of Helheim’s look made him lick his lips and go back to the topic at hoof. Sighing, he brushed his mane and looked at the group. “It will also change the way you think about the universe and its nature. It will certainly change the way you see me, Celestia and yourselves.”

Twilight leaned forward, looking excited.

“My story begins when I was born close to about two thousand years ago, in the kingdom of the alicorns.”

Rarity sat back, eyes wide. “My word,” she said faintly. “When you said you were old enough to be my father… you weren’t joking.”

“If anything, that was an understatement,” Fall replied. “Of course, I was trying to keep my true nature a secret before; why do you think I was in such a hurry to get out of Ponyville before Princess Twilight, the one pony who both lives in this town and could recognize me for what I am, saw me and blew my cover? And for good reason,” he added. “I knew how Celestia would react if she found out I was here, I really wanted to avoid that and any collateral damage that might result.”

Twilight looked rather abashed at his words.

“You are stalling,” Helheim said from beside him.

“I was answering her comment,” Fall shot back. “But my history with Celestia begins a while after that, the day I died in fact.”

Chapter Six

It all began on a muggy fall morning, with me doing what I always did back then: working on the harvest. I woke up with the rest of the workers, did my usual morning routine, then headed out to see where we’d be assigned by the day manager, old Green Lake, to bring the crops-

“Wait, you were with normal ponies?” Twilight interrupted.

Fall Harvest let out a sort of barking laugh. “This was the kingdom of the alicorns, remember? It’s not like Equestria today; there were no pegasi, earth ponies or unicorns in that area, just alicorns. The other tribes all lived off in their own kingdoms apart from us for reasons I can’t remember now, but it probably seemed like a good idea to all sides at the time. I was just a normal alicorn citizen and back then, that meant I had to find work even if I was sick.”

“Hold on partner, you were sick and they let y’all work?” Applejack asked incredulously.

“They needed ponies to work the field and they were not all that choosy who came around that time,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Back then, I was still mortal like most alicorns were and we still needed to eat and stuff.”

“You mean, alicorns weren’t always immortal?” one of the others asked.

“Nope. We were longer-lived, sure, but we could die like any other pony. Your princesses have all become immortal in the no dying of old age sense because of special circumstances, but that was not always the case for alicorns as a whole.”

“What kind of special circumstance?” Starlight asked, already having her own notebook out.

“Well, you see, there are-”

“You are stalling again,” Helheim interrupted him before casting her gaze to the others. “If it were not for his harvesting abilities, I would say diverging unwanted conversations was his true special talent.” She then flashed her attention to the mortals in the room. “He will get to the topic of what separates the average alicorn from Celestia, Luna, Cadence and you Twilight soon enough. For now, continue.”

Yes my Lady.

As I was saying, we stood in a line in front of the day manager to see where we would be assigned in the farm. We all hoped for areas close to the worker’s lodge as we could get to the mess hall quicker and have some of the better grub before it was all gone. If you were midway out, then you would have to deal with the somewhat okay stuff. And if you were all the way out, you best hope that you could scavenge something to eat.

So I was standing there, a head shorter and scrawnier than the rest. I was younger than most of them, I haven’t been eating more than enough to keep me going, and I’ve been sick for a while. But I was a good worker so…

“Redbird; zone one, Blackwing; zone one,” Green Lake said with more of the ponies leaving as he continued to call out names with zones getting further and further away. I was getting worried as I hadn’t heard my name called yet and I was doing my best to hold back my coughs at the time.

Finally, he had called the last other pony present and sent them to one of the furthest places on the entire farm, just leaving me alone in front of the stallion.

Green Lake was staring at me with an uncomfortable look on his face, shuffling on the spot. He finally spoke to me, saying.

“Fall, son,” he said to me while shaking his head. “I can't use you.”

“Sir,” I begged coughing, with my sides burning. “I need this job. Please, give me something, sir. You know I am good at this; this is my special talent.” I would have added more if I had not tried to cough out my lung just then.

Green Lake shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t have you out there with as sick as you are. You could infect the rest of the workforce, and then where would I be? How would I explain that to my superiors?”

“Sir, if that was the case, everypony would have been sick long ago,” I pleaded, biting my lip as I held back a cough, feeling woozy. “And who is to say that being out there is not what I need? What good am I getting underhoof here, lying about when I could be doing what I signed up for and fight off this seasonal illness at the same time; do you really want me to be getting in trouble with the cooks again or the packers or the-”

“Alright, alright,” he held out a hoof, sighing. Placing a wing over his clipboard to prevent me being officially registered, he said, “Fall Harvest; zone four.”

“Thank you sir,” I said with a smile on my face. “Thank you very much.”

Green Lake waved me off, but he was also smiling. “Go on, kid.”

I threw him a friendly wave, then went off to the zone which was on the further end of the entire farm. I grabbed a scythe as well as a wheelbarrow and got to work.

I should have realized that I was being a complete idiot back then, taken the chance to rest and get well but again, I was a complete nobody with no education and owned nothing but my name and the fur on my back. I had been from place to place, dong whatever I could for a job and I wasn't about to let a cough stop me..

Word of advice, don’t be a stubborn idiot and think you can handle something on your own, especially when you are sick.

To my credit, I managed to haul myself all the way there and started to bring in the harvest without too much effort. I was midway through my work when I was overcome by a coughing fit. I was hunched over with the pain getting worse and worse and then suddenly I felt fine.

I was confused by this but I wasn’t going to question a sudden recovery, so I went to pick up my scythe so I could get back to work when I heard somepony chuckling.

“Well now, that’s dedication,” a stallion said behind me, causing me to spin around to see an older looking stallion with a dark blue coat and a graying salt-and-pepper mane; I could see a few traces of brown still in it. “That will be good for you.”

“Who are you,” I asked him, taking a step backwards.

“I’m Light Peanut, Fall Harvest,” he said, walking towards me. “Look down.”

“Stay back,” I said, holding my scythe up to defend myself.

“Relax Fall, and you need to look down.” Light Peanut said, his tone soothing.

“No, tell me what you want and why you are here,” I shouted back, fear creeping into my voice.

“I want you to look down,” he repeated calmly and patiently. “When you do, you’ll see why I am here.”

A shiver ran down my spine, and I looked down, keeping one eye on him.

That’s when I saw the familiar body on the ground below me.

My own body.

“Ho-how?” I stammered, trying to comprehend what I saw.

“My best guess is that cough of yours,” Light Peanut said with a dry chuckle, shaking his head. “They usually tell mortals that they’re sick and need rest at the least, and medical attention at the most. Yours, in this case, was ignored long enough that whatever caused it proved fatal. Then again, you were not in the peak of health either, so that probably played a factor too.”

“I-I-I can’t be dead; I’m too young! I’ve barely done anything yet; you must have-” I began to stammer when he stopped me with his eyes.

“Son, I, and soon you, will have to take souls of infants so donot complain about being too young to die or suggest I made a mistake or you didn’t do anything wrong and don’t deserve it.” His eyes then softened as he placed a hoof on my shoulders. “Sad to be the one to tell you but the universe isn’t run by fate or destiny; all our actions, great and small, our own and others, affect each other. Sadder to say that sometimes, even the smallest of things, things that are impossible to see or change can bring this about.” He breathed heavily here, shaking his head. “It’s a hard lesson but one that gets easier to carry the sooner you learn about it.”

I was left speechless at this, my mind still trying to make sense of all this when all of a sudden my body began to vanish. “Hey,” I shouted, shaking his hoof off of me. “What’s going on?”

“Ah,” he said, turning around and slapping me on the back. “Your body is being moved to Tartarus for safe keeping.”

“Wha?”

“A bit of a see-”

Fall paused, looking at Helheim for permission. She turned to face the mortals in the room, and began to extrude her presence to impress how serious this moment was.

“If any of you speak of this without my direct approval, I will come for you personally then and there,” she threatened with the mortals trembling in fear.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie Pie said, with the others quickly copying her which seemed to mollify Helheim.

“Continue, Fall Harvest.”

“A bit of a secret is that bones have special powers over the dead and Reapers are no different,” Light Peanut said. “The last thing Helheim wants to happen is for one of her Reapers to be under someone else’s control.”

“Who?” I asked in confusion.

“My boss, and soon to be your boss.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yes, son,” he tapped my shoulder again, a scythe appearing by his side. “I’ve done my time and I’m retiring. Her Lady has chosen you to take up my Role."

"What role?" I asked numbly.

“Not a role, a Role,” he said, and somehow I could feel the capital letter this time. “It’s my position in the universe, so to speak, and now yours.” He passed the scythe to me, with me somehow catching it, although at the time I didn't know it was already bonded to me. “You are now the Reaper of all ponies’ souls.”

“But I thought you said you were the Reaper of Alicorns, not ponies,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, shooting a look at him.

Fall flinched, looking off to the side. “Back then, I was the Reaper of all ponies… I,” he paused, biting his lip.

“When he finishes his story, you will understand why the alicorns stand apart from the other pony tribes in my purview,” Helheim said which seemed to calm Fall down.

“What‽” I asked, dumbfounded. “Are you saying I have to go around and kill-”

“Not kill,” Light Peanut interrupted me. “Reapers are charged with collecting the souls of those who die and help them move on, but we never take them before their time. That’s one of the biggest rules governing our Role; breaking it will result in serious punishment.”

“So by ‘move on’, you mean we send them to Tartarus or the Elysium Fields?”

“Not exactly,” Light Peanut said. “We help them go to meet with the Judge; that is who decides on a soul’s final destination. But,” he told me with a smile on his face. “For those like us, that chose or are chosen to do what we do or become Powers, as long as we keep true to our Purpose, we are promised paradise when our time is up, no matter what our Purposes are.”

I bit my lip and asked him.” What is it like, the Fields?”

“Don’t know; never been there myself, but it is a paradise suited for you,” Light Peanut told me with a happy sigh. “I, for one, am looking forwards to a very long rest on a beach, sleeping for a few hundred years before I find something else to keep me happy.”

“He is happy, by the way,” Helheim said, causing Fall to snap his head around. “And for the most part, he is proud of you.”

“Th-thank you, my lady,” Fall said, with tears forming in his eyes.

I was still trying to take all this in when he reached out and took my hoof, and together, we vanished from the field where I had died.

We rematerialized in… someplace. I don’t know quite how to describe it; it’s been so long, and I’ve completely remodeled the place in the years since then. Light Peanut explained to me that this was his personal dominion, his ‘office’ in the afterlife. And now it was mine.

“But first,” he said, “I need to take you to my boss - our boss.”

We dematerialized again and reappeared in yet a different part of the afterlife, and the first thing I saw was a tall, strange-looking figure standing in front of a second figure on a throne, talking to them about something. Both looked up as we appeared, and the one standing had an… well, I don’t know how they managed it, having no flesh and all, but somehow I could tell they looked intrigued by me.

“So this is the new guy?” they asked. “Looks kind of scrawny, if you ask me.”

Something about the way this being talked gave me my first hint that it was a female.

Light Peanut gave her a look, and then bowed to the being on the throne. “Lady Helheim,” he said. “I have returned.”

“And this is the one?” she asked, indicating me.

“He is, my Lady.”

While I couldn’t make out a face on them, I had the impression that the Lady was smiling. “You have done well, Light Peanut,” she said. “I will miss your help here, but I will not force you to stay beyond your time. Go, be at peace.”

Light Peanut bowed to her one more time, then turned to me and smiled. “Take care of yourself, son. See you on the other side.”

With that, he began to disappear.

“Sir-”

His voice came out of thin air. “So long, Fall. Have a nice afterlife.”

For a while, nobody said anything. Then, I turned to the two figures in front of me, and bowed to the one on the throne. “My Lady.”

The figure who was still standing threw up her hands. “Oh for crying out loud; don’t tell me you picked up his habits already!”

“Causality,” the figure on the throne spoke. “Be respectful. Light Peanut has been one of my best Reapers for years; while I do understand the need to enjoy yourself, his behavior was exemplary, and you would do well to take a few cues from it.”

Causality snorted. “Right.”

“At any rate, if you will excuse us for now.” She spoke firmly.

Causality nodded, summed her own scythe, tapped it on the ground twice and disappeared.

“Um, if you don’t mind…” Fluttershy let out a squeak as Fall turned to gaze at her. “This… Causality… is she the one you said… gets a little impatient?”

Fall nodded. “Causality, like me, is an Adjunct for Death - whereas I am the Reaper for Alicorns, she is the Reaper for Draconequui, and someday she will come for your friend Discord. Mind, I have no idea when as I am not in charge of his kind’s souls nor do we have an actual set time of death for souls in the first place, but I can hazard a guess that it won’t be for a very, very long time. Especially with his status as a Power himself, the Lord of Disharmony and champion of Chaos.”

“Yeah; being the rough sum of six sub-Powers at once makes one have a very long lifespan,” a new voice chimed in from above, causing everyone to snap their heads up to see a draconequus hovering above them. “Don’t mind me, go on, I love a trip down memory lane.”

Fall Harvest facehoofed. “Hello, Causality,” he said with a sigh. “Kindly behave yourself while you’re here; your boss is watching.”

Causality snickered. “Who do you think called me in?”

Fall Harvest looked over at Helheim and could feel the amusement pouring off of her. “Of course,” he said. “Now, getting back to things…”

When the thing that was called Causality had left, I turned back to-

“Hey, thing‽” Causality looked incredulously at Fall.

“What do you want; you were the first Draconequus I had ever seen, and I didn’t know what your species was called then.” Fall gave her a look of irritation over being interrupted.

She snorted, landing next to Fluttershy, materialized a pair of eyes and rolled them across the floor, causing several squeals of fear and disgust from at least some of the mortals, Rarity most prominently among them. “What a jerk, am I right ladies?”

“Hey, wait a second, these are fakes!” Rainbow Dash said while poking one of the eyeballs.

“Well, yeah,” Causality shrugged her bony shoulders. “Do you know how unhygienic and wasteful it would be to use actual eyes? Besides, I would never put those in my skull after they’ve been on the floor, no matter how clean you keep it!” She shuddered, making some noise as her bones clattered together. “I don’t know how some of those other guys back in Tartarus can stand to do that sort of thing.”

“Demons have weird hobbies,” Fall replied dryly. “But while we can spend days speaking about their oddness, I am sure that our Lady would wish I got back to my story.”

“Be my guest,” Causality replied, making a set of movements that seemed vaguely familiar as she did so, but Fall let it slide.

Ahem. I turned back to Lady Helheim, and she gestured. “Walk with me.”

I did so, wondering what was going to happen now.

Lady Helheim led me some distance, through halls that seemed to go on for miles and at the same time took only an instant to end, and others where I could have sworn we’d only gone a few steps and yet it felt as if eons had passed as we went on. I would later be told that all new Reapers felt that sort of sensation in this realm at first, but we’d get used to it quickly enough; after a few real-time years of experience, I stopped noticing it altogether.

When she felt we had gone far enough, she stopped, and gazed at me. I still couldn’t make out a solid form for her, but she had a distinct presence about her, and I felt it with every fiber of my being.

“You have been chosen for a very important purpose, Fall Harvest,” she said. “I know that Light Peanut has already given you the basic information regarding your Role. But there is still much more you need to learn.”

I stayed quiet, listening intently to her.

“Even I do not know how long it has been since I took up the Role of Death,” she said. “I have the faintest memories of being mortal; then, one day, I was chosen to succeed the original Death of this dimension, a being made directly by the Creators to oversee the passage of souls from one state of being to another. I have carried out my Purpose and Duties in the Role of Death ever since. But as time has passed, as the number of souls in this dimension has grown, I have found that one being could no longer fulfil these Duties alone. I needed special assistants, souls who would put off moving on to serve me as my Adjuncts, collecting the souls of the newly dead in my place and bringing them to the Judge for their final transition, either into the Elysium Fields if they were good, or into Tartarus if they had committed acts of great wickedness. Light Peanut has served me as an Adjunct for years, helping deliver the souls of ponies like yourself. But he knew he would eventually pass on, and has kept an eye out for one whose Role was to be the next Reaper in his place. He found you.”

I swallowed nervously, but otherwise did not interrupt.

“I am far from the only Power, of course,” she said. “There are dozens more. The ruler of your former homeland, for instance, is the Lord of Day; his Purpose is to raise and lower the sun at its appointed time. Normally he would then make way for his Opposite, a Lord or Lady of Night, to carry out their Duties of raising and lowering their moon, but for now he actually holds both Powers of Night and Day and so tends both bodies. The Judge of the dead is also a Power; Light Peanut has already told you of he and his Purpose.”

She gazed at me. “You will learn about others of my fellow Powers in time, Fall Harvest. And, of course, you will receive advice and lessons about your Duties and other, related things from your fellow Reapers. I have many Adjuncts; among them, there is one who collects the Draconequui, and one each for the dragons, the minotaurs, the centaurs, the harpies, the griffons, the diamond dogs and any other sapient species you can imagine. There are also a few who are specifically tasked with collecting the souls of the non-sapients of this dimension. But as… unusual as she is, and as different as she and Light Peanut were, I believe Causality will be a good teacher for you.”

I nodded. “As you command, my Lady.”

“Your respect is appreciated, but you don’t have to be so stiff all the time,” she said.

“I can’t help being stiff; I’m dead!” I threw out my hooves. Then I realized what I’d said and looked aghast.

Somehow, a smile emanated out of that form. “There is a time and place for such remarks, Fall Harvest. That was exactly the right thing to say then. It shows that you are accepting your new status with more ease than most do.”

“Uh… good?”

“Very good,” she said. “Now, come along. I will show you to Causality’s personal dominion; she knows we’re coming.”

I nodded, and we vanished again.

“Wow,” Twilight breathed as she finished scribbling. “That was…”

“That was the beginning of my new life,” Fall said. “So to speak. I learned a lot from Causality… though I suspect some of the temperment I got from her is part of the reason why a lot of my fellow Adjuncts aren’t too happy with me most of the time.”

“Only part?” Starlight raised an eyebrow.

“The other part ties in with why I’m just Reaper of Alicorns now and not Reaper for all ponies,” Fall said. “I’ll get to that eventually.”

Seeing the eight mortals looking at him rather intently, he leaned back, and continued.

Chapter Seven

We rematerialized in a place that, like the homes of the majority of Draconequui throughout the multiverse, is hard for somepony without their point of view to describe. But it was Causality’s dominion, the place from which she kept an eye on all their kind. In some cases literally. Don’t give me that look, Causality. My memory may not be perfect, but I will never forget how you were using a plush draconequus as a cushion for a giant fake eyeball back then. Partly because it was still there the last time I visited you!

Anyway, Causality was lounging on a couch attached to the ceiling when we arrived. She drifted down to greet us, with her grinning somehow. I would later learn that I was not really seeing her skull grin but more of a grin on her soul.

“What?” Twilight asked, tilting her head upwards. “A grin on her soul?”

“Yeah,” Causality said as she scooped up some popcorn into her mouth. “What you see isn’t actually my real skeleton but more of a projection of what I would be doing if I still had any kind of body. This,” she waved her velociraptor claw to herself. “Is partly my magic, partly Lady Helheim’s magic making an impression of that’s projected outwards to all the senses.”

“Yes,” Fall said, eyes darting to the mist person. “We might be able to change what we look like but our power comes from Helheim.”

“So, I could change myself into anything I want to and Fall here too if he wasn’t wearing his original bones,” Causality said as she tossed some popcorn towards Fall who managed to snatch it before it fell onto the ground, showing the two had done this in the past many times. “Moo-yah!” She laughed, holding out her left cow’s hoof to Rainbow Dash, who high hoofed it back. “And before you ask, Twilight, Fall using his bones, or any others, gives him the power that creature had.”

There was a loud whack and the two Reapers were suddenly holding their heads. “And before these two Reapers of mine speak any further, let me remind them of whatwas supposed to the actual conversation.”

“Sorry my Lady,” they both mumbled, looking sheepish.

“Hey again, new guy,” she said to me before turning to look at Lady Helheim. “Let me guess, you want me to show him the ropes?”

“That is what we talked about, Causality,” Lady Helheim said, causing the thing - oh, alright, if it would stopit with the glares - causing the draconequusto fold and nod her head. “Fall Harvest, I leave you in her most capable of hands.”

And with that, she was gone, leaving me alone with Causality.

“Okay new guy, first things first,” she said, clapping her claw and hoof together. “Might not have heard of what I am or seen my kind as there are very few left and can be extremely territorial of what they consider to be theirs. You more than likely will see some ponies that died due to them trying to get in between a draconequus and their ponies.” She giggled as she directed me to someplace where I could sit down even though it was on the wall.

“So your kind is called draconequus?” I asked her, causing Causality to jolt and then faceclaw.

“Yeah; that’s what mine are called,” she said, shaking her head. “Now to the other stuff; you.”

“Me?”

“Yes,” she said in the same calm tone that Light Peanut had. “You saw him send your body here, right?”

“Yes…” I was confused.

“Well, how do you think you are still appearing as this?” she asked me gently, causing my eyes to widen.

“I -I- I don’t know,” I stammered in greater confusion, looking at myself.

“Hey, relax there, new guy,” she hushed me, placing her claw and hoof on me. “It’s one of the better ways to break the news to new guys like yourself. This here is just a projection of what you should look like if you still had flesh. Come, look at yourself.”

She directed me to a mirror where I could see my reflection and I frowned at what I saw. “That’s not me,” I said, tilting my head to the side.

“Yes it is, Fall,” she told me, clapping me on the back. “You were pretty sick and malnourished when you died. This is what you should have looked like if you were healthy.”

I looked back in the mirror and placed my hoof on it. I was a head taller, and my entire body had become more fully built - I wasn’t muscle-bound by any means, but I was no longer thin enough that I could count my ribs at a glance. My wings were covered with healthy and clean feathers. Even my mane was better; it looked like it had been washed and grown out.

“Whoa,” I said.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” she laughed, patting me on the back. “This is what I looked like back when I was alive.”

Turning to look at her, I saw she had shifted forms. She now had the head of a futabasaurus (though not its neck) on the hunched body of a smilodon, while her right arm appeared to be that of a velociraptor and her left arm was that of a cow. Her legs were from a mastodon, and her tail was that of a spiked stegosaurus. I saw that she also had wings, one of an ostrich and the other a pterodactyl.

“That’s pretty interesting,” I said with a smile on my face before I realized that I knew what her body parts were even though I’d never seen or heard of these reptiles or animals before when I was alive. “Wait, how do I-”

“Know all of my parts?” she asked me before tapping my head with a claw. “That’s Lady Helheim for you; she wouldn’t want one of her Reapers to be uneducated so she placed all kinds of basic and background knowledge in your noggin. Though it would be a good idea to learn how to do it yourself in case you’re ever cut off from our Lady for some reason; don’t worry, I’ll show you how to turn off the smarts later on and help you out.”

When I had been conventionally alive, I knew that while it would have been nice to know my letters proper, I could have never done it. Now, however, I was realizing certain advantages to my new state of being, and having the opportunity to actuallylearn how to read and write, along with whatever Helheim put in my head, was definitely one of them.

“Thank you very much, Causality,” I told her, tilting my head. “And I have to say that your kind is very interesting; I wish I had had the chance to meet more draconequus.”

“Thanks Fall, but there’s not much of my kind left,” she said as she changed back to her hooded cloak and bones appearance, although her smile was still clear on her face. She squeezed my shoulder, turning me to the mirror again. “Also, the plural for my species is draconequui.”

I nodded. “Right.”

“And now that you know that, this is what you look like now.”

Before I realized what had happened, I saw that I was wearing the same black cloak as she was and I was looking through my empty skull. Instead of being scared out of my mind, I was strangely okay with all of this. I pushed back my hood and ran a bony hoof over my skull and horn and it felt completely normal to me. I was about to push the cloak off of me but something stopped me and told me it wasn't good idea.

You don't need to do that, Causality. Seeing my bare bones won’t cause you to puke.

“You doing good there, kid?” she asked me, concern on her skull.

“Yes, I am,” I said before turning to look at her. “Did you do this so I wouldn’t be freaked out?”

“Of course,” she said, pride in her voice. “No point in springing the whole deal at once if you were not ready for it.”

“Speaking of,” I said, looking at my scythe. “How does this work exactly?”

“Like you, it is an extension of Helheim’s will so she, and we, can do our Role. With a lot of time and practice, you will not really need it to send your assigned lot to the Judge but for the moment, it will act as your crutch.” My eyes went wide as I remembered I was the Reaper of Ponies and I didn’t even know the first thing about the whole alicorn kingdom, let alone anything of the other pony kingdoms. “And before you ask, you don’t need to worry about the pegasus, unicorn or any other kingdoms or outlying villages or what have you; I will take care of them while I help you learn how to do your job by practicing with the alicorns.”

“Alright,” I replied, feeling at ease. “As you are my instructor, what will you be teaching me first?”

“A number of basic things; how to split yourself up, how to change your appearance so you can blend in better in the mortal realm, basic magic, and other odds and ends.”

After that, she began to train me in the basics of everything. I’m not sure how much time passed or if any did pass but by the time she said we were done, I knew a lot more than what I had started with. Some things were a bit difficult for me at the start, like changing my appearance, splitting myself up and a few more things that are a bit more suited to draconequui than ponies.

Still, Causality told me that there was no better way of getting used to my job than to go out into the field. So that’s what we did, leaving Tartarus for the first time since I’d died.
We appeared in an old manor, both of us intangible and invisible. I looked at Causality for guidance but she simply shrugged her shoulders and waved me along. Rolling my nonexistent eyes at her, I moved along the rooms. I knew someone was due to die today but I wasn’t advanced enough in my training to really tell who it was by my Power alone yet.

I floated up through the ceilings until I saw a stallion dead on his side and thought I’d found my appointment.

“Hello,” I said, fumbling with the scroll that held the name of the pony I had to bring to the Judge. “I-”

“Who are you,” the pony asked me, causing me to stumble in surprise.

“I am Fall Harvest,” I said, trying to get everything under control but failing to do that. “I am Death- I mean, I am your Reaper. Wait, not your Reaper; I mean I am a Reaper-” I couldn’t even close my eyes or take panicked breaths of air. “I’m so sorry; this is my first day…” I looked at the list that gave me the name. “Mister Clean...”

“That… that’s not my name, sir,” the stallion said. “That’s my maid’s. My name is Dirty Money.”

“Oh geez,” Causality said floating up from the floor, holding out her arms to both of us. “We’re so sorry about this; like he said this is his first day. I’m supposed to watch over him and he kinda fumbled a bit but I had no idea that you’d be a near us experiencer.”

“It’s… it’s quite all right, I am getting on in years, and with the health problems I’m having, I’m not surprised if I’m higher on your list,” the stallion said as he tried to calm his racing heart. “Though I will miss my maid after all her years of loyal service… just how did she die? I… I want to tell her family it was peaceful, or at least that she didn’t suffer.”

“She died in service for you,” I said, looking past him and to the soul lurking the hallway I was able to see and read now. “She saw that you’d collapsed and raced to get you aid. She had unfortunately slipped on the top stair and broke her neck falling down.”

“Terribly sorry, sir,” said a mare that I had just seen trot into the room, “It was very clumsy of me to trip like that while trying to get help. Won’t happen again, I assure you!”

“Clean Duster, my dear, I do not think it will be an issue considering that you have passed along,” Dirty Money said. “As I said, you served me and my family well for these many years and I will ensure that your family, the Dusters, will be well rewarded.”

“Thank you sir,” she smiled brightly at her former master before turning to face me. “I am ready to go sir,” she said with a bow, the soft yellow coated alicorn mare flashing a smile at me.

“Very okay,” I said, wincing as I fumbled my words again. Holding out my scythe, I raised the blade to her with her backing up. “When I… um, slice through you, you will appear in in a very long line. You will need to wait your turn to face the Judge to see where you will need up for your afterlife.”

”You mean there’s a chance I could be in Tartarus forever?” the mare wilted, taking steps backwards with me noticing with morbid fascination that she was quickly approaching the top of the stairs.

“I cannot believe that you, of all ponies, would be sent to Tartarus,” Dirty said as he walked past me, placing a hoof on her shoulder and stopping her from moving any closer to the stairs. “I am certain that a mare that would risk her own life to save another’s would be bound for Elysium.”

“Th-thank you sir,” she said, tears in her eyes before she turned to face me again. “I’m ready to go sir,” she said to me. With that, I raised my scythe and sent her off to be Judged. I felt the soul pass through the realms and a smile formed on my face. I then blinked, or did the skull equivalent of one, and turned to face Dirty Money.

“Um,” I said, trying to recall exactly what Causality said to do in these situations as Lady Helheim wasn’t -

Still is not.

-all that keen on being publicly known.

“Don’t worry sir,” Causality said softly, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “You will not remember most of this; just small fragments and such.”

“That doesn’t seem-” But before he could finish, his soul flashed back into his body and he woke up. Tilting his head and rubbing the bruise, he began to call out for Clean Duster. We left the house through the roof as he left the room and made the discovery.

“Well Fall, that was not the best of starts,” Causality said as we floated past the manor. “More than a few big mistakes but you’re lucky that he was a near death experiencer and not someone that cheated Lady Helheim. That means he won’t remember most of what you said; maybe one line or two.” I must have looked depressed because she punched my shoulder. “But you did about the same as me, Nidhogg, George and every one of us when we started.”

“Really?” I asked her, turning my head to look at her.

“Oh yeah, I completely bungled my first run; I let the guy talk me into letting him wager for an extension of his lifespan. Said it would be fun. And honestly, what harm could a few extra centuries do for a creature that normally measures its life in eons?” She let out a weak chuckle. “Turns out he was very good at senet and he actually won. Lady Helheim was pissed and I’m not sure why she didn’t just boot me off to the Judge beyond the fact that there were so few draconequui who were suitable for this job; I think literally one out of every googolplex could have the potential to fill the position and there aren’t even close to that many draconequui left.”

“And how many is that in numbers I actually understand?” I asked, my implanted knowledge falling short.

Causality considered. “Well, a googol is the number one followed by a hundred zeroes; a googolplex is one followed by a googol zeros.”

I blinked, the number falling into place within my head. “Wow. That’s a big number.”

“Tell me about it,” Causality agreed. “But you see what I mean, right?”

“Of course,” I told her. “It means there’s almost no chance of ever finding another draconequus who could be a suitable replacement if something ever happened to you.”

“Bingo, new guy,” she said and then she seemed to get sad. “That means I’m stuck with this job for a very long time. There are a few decent members of my kind out there, don’t get me wrong, just none ever suitable for being a Reaper. So I either got to wait until one pops up or they all kick the bucket before I head off to my paradise.”

We stopped on a cloud, looking at her for what seemed a long time before I asked her. “What do you think yours would be like?”

“Like the world I grew up in; much bigger trees and ferns and stuff instead of these toothpicks trees we get now. Proper high temperatures rather than all this cool weather we’re stuck with now,” she grumbled with me tilting my head as it was just the start of harvest season, with it being a crucial time to get the products in as we were dealing with a heat spell. She noticed the confusion on my face and gave me a wry grin. “Kid, and I say this in all seriousness, I am literally old enough to have seen the first snow this planet ever got.”

My jaws dropped as I tried to figure out how that was possible.

“Draconequui age differently, remember?” she said with a chuckle at the expression on my face. “I may seem ancient to you, but to my kind, someone who’s a million years old isn’t even the equivalent of a teenager yet. That kind of lifespan means it’s not easy relating to non-draconequui, but I managed, even before I got this position.”

“Will it start to make sense with time?” I asked her, tilting my head upwards at her.

"Yeah, it will," she said sadly. She then bumped my side and grinned at me. “But hopefully, you'll get your replacement soon before it gets too long for you.”

“Heh,” I said, looking up at her. “You think I can handle the next one, Causality?”

“Yeah, and we’ll keep at it if you goof up again,” she said, pushing my hood over my face with a laugh before dashing off, with me chasing after her while I was laughing all the entire time.

“Wow,” Twilight said as I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts. “That’s… that’s really some story.”

Helheim nodded from her own position. “And that’s just the beginning.” She turned to Fall Harvest, who winced. “Do go on, Fall.”

“All right, all right…” Fall looked contemplative. “So… next comes the part you really care about; where I meet Celestia for the first time.”

Chapter Eight

For the next little while, I began to learn how to do my job more and more, with me splitting myself up to cover multiple deaths that were happening at once while exploring the alicorn kingdom now that I could do so without having to worry about money, food, class or anything like that.

“You were exploring the alicorn kingdom?” Twilight asked, tilting her head while looking at Helheim. “I thought she-”

“Lady Helheim,” both Fall and Causality interjected, causing Helheim to roll her eyes that she formed for that sole purpose.

“I mean, Lady Helheim didn’t want to be known so…”

“Back then, I had more trust in my Reapers to behave themselves so I allowed them to be in the mortal realm,” she said with Fall looking off to the side recluntently.

Twilight licked her lips, seemingly understanding the situation enough that she didn’t have to ask for more details.

As I was saying, I took the time to really explore the world that I never got to know. It was amazing how many fancy parties I got to observe now that I didn’t look like a starving poor colt and I was really settling to my new life with Causality, George and my fellow Reapers helping out. As well as Lady Helheim, of course.

I was walking with George, the Reaper of Griffons, down a street while he was telling me about some of his past clients and how to handle large crowds of souls that were still hostile to each other when we hit a massive crowd of bodies that blocked the main street. Normally, we would have to push and fight our way to front if we were mortals but as who we are, we just made the crowds part for us using some of our gifts that make mortals skittish around death. Within a few seconds we were at the front of the crowd, just behind some of the guards that were holding everyone back. Even though George was a Reaper, he still got some suspicious looks as he was a griffon.

Craning our heads out as to see what had every-

“Hey, what does he look like?” Rainbow Dash asked, causing everypony in the room to groan. “What? I’m curious.” She said defensively.

Helheim snorted before replying, “Like a griffon. Eagle Vulture head, body like a puma. Fairly big for his body type. And much better looking in death than the half-starved state he spent most of his life in. Great guy, but terrible hunter. I do hope he is happy with his paradise.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and shrugged. “Cool, thanks.”

“Can I continue, now?” Fall sniped loudly, causing the mare to wince a bit.

We were craning our necks out to see what caught everyone’s attention when the crowd began to really push forwards with the guards pushing them back.

“Look, Fall,” George said to me, with neither of us worried about being overheard. “Look at their livery.”

I leaned forwards and began to see beyond the markings of the royal family. I could see additional and personal liveries in place on their uniforms; such as the scale of the king or the Crossed Sabers of the queen, but the sun and moon were new to me.

“Yeah, I do-” I froze as I saw both the king and queen in one carriage with their daughters in the next one behind them. The younger one was Luna; I knew that much back then even when I was alive. She was a dark coated filly, like midnight blue dark and looked completely bored.

Of course what caught my eye was Celestia; she was so beautiful even then. I remember that moment perfectly well; she was sitting on a velvet cushion next to her sister. Her coat was a striking white colour, dazzling in the morning day with a flowing pink mane that sparkled like jewels and when her eyes flicked past me, I felt my legs go limp.

It took me a bit before I realized that George was snickering loudly as he led me away from the front line of the crowd. “What, what’s so funny?”

“Nothing kid, absolutely nothing,” he grinned, clicking his beak. “Just going to guess that you never saw a mare when you were alive, did ya?”

I snorted and bumped my side into his. “Of course I did,” I said, rolling my eyes. “There were those who ran the workers hut during the time I worked at Lord Apple’s farms and there was the-”

“Wait, did yah just say Lor’ Apple,” Applejack suddenly spoke up. “As in, an alicorn who was part of mah family?”

Fall nodded. “A lot of ponies nowadays have relatives in the old alicorn kingdom. Your family was no exception. In fact, I...” his raised hoof hovered where it was, his face suddenly sad before he dropped the limb to the floor with a loud clop before he cleared his throat. “Never mind, let me continue.”

What was I saying? Oh yeah.

“And there was Lord... I don’t remember, who had several mares running the kitchen and-”

“That’s not what I meant, kid,” George said, rolling his eyes at me as he fluffed his feathers. “I meant one that was your own age.” He turned his to the side before adding in. “Your own mortal age when you were alive, of course.”

I blinked, my ears tilting to the side as I thought of it. “Not really, I mean there were a few that did exist but they were just as busy as me working in the fields.”

He let out a sigh, shaking his head at me. “Before Freya or Causality gets involved; just going to guess you were never in love, were you?”

“Well, no,” I admitted. “Never really had the opportunity. I was always busy working, just trying to get by.” I then stopped and looked at him as what he said kicked into my head. “Wait what? Me and her. Come on, I mean sure, she’s absolutely stunning and any colt would be lovestruck by her but I don’t have a chance with her!”

“Oh, and why’s that?” George asked him with a grin on his face, sitting down.

“Because I’m me and she’s her?” I said, pointing out the obvious.

“You mean you’re an Adjunct to a Power and she’s a daughter of a Power?” he said, waving his talon as if to encourage me to say more.

“Well yes but still, she’s all that,” I tilted my head towards the procession of the royal family and then gestured to myself. “And I’m…” I trailed off, looking at the dirt and grime and was acutely aware of how… not poor, per say but underprivileged I was when I was alive. How nothing I was and how low that made me feel.

“You’re what?” George prompted me, snapping me back into focus.

“I’m not, George,” I said, my body drooping a bit.

“Kid, need I remind you that you’re not that anymore?” George said, slapping my arm. “You’re in better shape than you ever were, you’ll stay that way until the end of all existence, and you’ve got a position of power and responsibility now that you’ll have until it’s time for you to retire.”

“I know, I know,” I said, shaking my head.” But still...”

“So why don’t you griff up and see her?”

“She’s still royalty, and I’m… well, I was a civilian,” I shot back. “How would it look to the rest of the ponies around here if some random guy came out of the crowd to talk to her? Not to mention that the guards would probably assume I was a threat and jump me and then the whole nature of who I am would get out and cause a massive incident or something.”

“Then don’t be an idiot about it,” George snappeed. “Your talent is growing stuff. Get a job there and see if you can get chance to meet her.”

“I don’t know, sounds kinda wrong to me,” I said, shaking my head. “False pretence and all that. Besides, I don’t know if Lady Helheim would approve of it.”

“She doesn’t care all that much as long as we keep to our tasks.” George countered, shaking his head. “In fact, it would show how much you’ve come if you could continue to handle all the differents souls you need to collect while keeping a cover life here.”

“You really think Lady Helheim would approve of this?”

“Yes, I would,” Lady Helheim said, causing both of us to jump in surprise. She was accompanied by...

“Hey Fall, you okay?” Causality asked with concern, placing her claw and hoof on Fall’s shoulders.

“I’m okay, it’s just been a very long time since I last thought of him.” Fall replied with Helheim looking incredibly angry for a moment, the expression on her face so dark that it cowed anyone from speaking up.

Lady Helheim and hewere standing front of me. Kelvik smiled at me and I smiled at hm. Back then, we were very close friends, a reflection of how the alicorns and the centaur kingdoms were close to each other. Anyway, Lady Helheim gestured towards him. “Kelvik works openly with the royal family of the centaur kingdom, mostly with Prince Tirek and his brother Scorpan.”

Jaws dropped all over the room at that.

So did a few copies of Jaws, and Fluttershy looked at Discord, who did his best to look innocent. “What? You know I can’t resist a good pun!”

Fluttershy shook her head in amusement. “Oh, Discord…”

“You give us a bad name, Discord,” Causality grumbled at him.

“At least this time it was a harmless prank,” Twilight interjected as she levitated the books off to the side, clearly planning to look at them more closely later. “Still, Kelvik worked directly with Tirek? How…”

“Tirek had lusted for power from a young age, even before he caught Kelvik’s eye,” Helheim put in from where she was manifesting. “He learned of a hermit who called himself Sendak the Elder, who taught him some dark skills and later figured out how to steal pony magic; he was the one who showed Tirek how to do so as well.”

“Then… this Sendak, he’s the reason Tirek came to Equestria and tried to steal our magic all those years ago?” Twilight looked aghast. “Please tell me we don’t have to worry about him escaping and causing trouble for us too.”

“It is my fault for being too trusting back then that I did not investigate the then Lord of Magic’s concerns about Tirek as Kelvik assured me the centaurs were, for the most part, interested only in peace,” Helheim said. “King Vorak, in particular. He strongly disapproved of Tirek’s ambitions when he learned about them and ordered Sendak imprisoned for his crimes against the pony kingdoms; the hermit reportedly died in the mines not long after, but by then it was too late to stop what had been set in motion. If more had been done…”

Twilight’s eyes darted from Helheim to Fall Harvest who was glowering angrily, pawing deep grooves into the floor and any further questions she had died as it seemed to be only enraging him further.

“I see,” she said quietly. “Go on then.”

Right. Well, that was before I knew what kind of person he really was, so at the time I was willing to gladly accept his advice and follow in his hoofsteps.

“I feel it would do you good to learn how to work the mortals and addressing this absent area of your knowledge would be very beneficial,” Helheim told me. “So I want you to go the castle, and explain that you are a young gardener that is seeking employment.”

I flinched as a wave of information was put into my head; all the necessary information that I would need to say to the guards had just been provided by Lady Helheim. While I wasn’t all that confident in this plan, I would never argue with Lady Helheim and-

“HA!” Helheim laughed loudly before she coughed and waved Fall on.

As I was saying, I would never argue with Lady Helheim and trust her decisions without question. So I bowed my head and made my way to the castle to get a job.

Chapter Nine

I walked straight up to the castle of the royal family, with the map that had fallen into my head leading me to an out of the way office, where a stallion was looking out at me.

“Who are you and how did you get in here?” he asked me, frowning as he started to push himself up from his chair.

“Fall Harvest, sir,” I said, bowing my head. “I’m here for the new gardner position.”

His frown deepened, staring harder at me. “How did you hear about this; I only started posting news for this opening yesterday.”

“I have good eyes and ears, sir,” I told him. “I listened when somepony told me about the opening earlier today and I wish to apply.”

He continued to stare at me before shaking his head and walked past me. “Follow me, kid,” he said snappishly, leading me out a very long and dull path that made me think he was trying to lose me or something. Little did he know that I was determined to have this job and was very stubborn so I kept up with him all the way until we got outside. He turned around in surprise that I was still there but he tilted his head to beckon me on forwards to a more secluded part of the gardens that was highly unkept and had a large hedge that was begging for somepony to turn it into a sculpture.

Causality made a large coughing sound that suspiciously had the noise of ‘dork’ in it, and Fall Harvest gave her a pointed look while the mares began to snicker.

“Okay, let me see what you can do,” he told me, tilting his head towards all of the mess, not that he needed to as it was really annoying for me to see. With my horn glowing in my alive magic color, I began to fix up the garden, adding my own personal touches to it while I trimmed down that darn hedge into something more appropriate and don’t ‘cough’ again Causality, I know how it sounds and you don't need to say it.

The head of the grounds, Hedge Clipper, kept his eyes on me as I did my work, finishing with making the hedge much smaller; despite how much I wanted to fix it up into something more fancy-looking, I needed to show I could be reasonable.

He kept quiet the entire time until I was finished and placed my tools to the side, giving him a hopeful look as he began to inspect my work. He got low to the ground, muttering to himself as he made his way slowly around the garden before he stopped at the hedge with a ruler levitating in his magic. He placed it on the hedge and leaned in close before shaking his head which was when I started to get worried.

“It’s fair,” he said, turning to face me. “You managed to tame the ground and flowers fine, albeit not to our standards and the hedge is uneven.” I must have frowned or something because he softened his eyes at me. “But it is good for somepony as young as you and you are the first to truly apply for this position.” He then frowned at me again and flicked his wings. “How did somepony as young and talented as you wind up needing this position?”

I froze as I wasn’t expecting this line of questioning even though it made perfect sense for him to ask me that. Still, I was very talented at lying my plot off so I said, “To be honest, good sir, I was sick for a long time when I was younger so I had a lot of time on my hooves to tend my craft, and you can see the results, yes?”

He looked at me, taking a step backwards. “Are you healthy now, kid?”

“Of course, sir,” I took a deep breath in to show that I could. “I can promise you that I would not ever get ill or sick if you do hire me.”

He continued to look at me, shifting on his hooves as he tried to decide what to do with me. “You have your own residence, I presume; we do not have room for any colt that will get underhoof and we do not wish to see any indecency if I choose to take you on.”

“I promise you sir that I would do nothing of the sort; you can trust me to do my job without fault or any issue whatsoever,” I promised him, holding my hoof out to him.

He shifted on his hooves before he sighed, and shook his head. “I will let you on for a week to see how you do; if you do well, we will see if we keep you; we might even assign you a place here.”

“Thank you sir,” I said, a smile breaking out on my face with him doing the same. “I am ready to work right now, sir.”

“Good lad,” Clipper said as he placed his hoof on my shoulder. “Come, let me show you more of the grounds and what will be your assigned area to tend to.”

From that I-

“Fall,” Causality whined, sprawling outwards on the floor. “You’re not going to bore us with a yammering story about how you started to weed the grounds, are you?”

Fall blinked, a hoof raised in the air. “...Maybe?” Causality let out a louder groan, throwing her skull backwards.

“Come on, it can’t be that important, right?” Dash asked. “I mean, about the only one here who actually cares about that sort of thing is Applejack, and maybe Fluttershy, since I know she’s got a small garden of her own for some of her animals.”

“Ya pardner, and no offense, Ah kinda want to hear you and the princess got together,” Applejack said, her eyebrow raised.

“Fine,” Fall pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. “I’ll condense it, seeing that none of you care about gardening.”

“Very astute, Fall Harvest,” Helheim said with Fall huffing loudly.

Well, as nobody - pony or otherwise - cares about my time as a gardner, I’ll summarize it. I kept to my area more or less for the first week, with Clipper keeping an eye on me, giving me a few praises and a coupleof critiques - stay quiet Causality, you wanted me to skip this part so you don’t get to interject now.

During that week, I saw Celestia from a distance mostly, nearly every time from her window. No wait, not like that; I mean I saw her through the window of the room she was in when she was working with her tutors and a few times in the window of her bedroom.

Even glimpsing her was a jolt of joy for me back then, but from both what is simply proper and a rule of my employment, I never really did anything to attract her attention.

Or so I thought.

One day, I was tending a small garden at the base of her tower; a small inlet really that had a tiny fountain, a few flower beds and a couple of other stuff, but I guess you’re not really interested in all of that. As I was saying, I was working in the field when I heard somepony coughing. Looking around me, I couldn’t spot the pony so I went to pick up my tools when I heard some more coughing.

Flicking my ears upwards, and I looked up to see Celestia stretch her head out of the window, leaning on the sill and looking down at me. “Hello down there,” she called out with a singsong tone.

“And hello up there,” I called back and due to her smile and the tone of her voice, I stupidly said, “Do you get a joy out of seeing those below you getting dirty for you?”

A moment later, I froze, my mouth hanging open as I realized what I had just said to her and was terrified that I had completely ruined my chances with her when Celestia started to laugh.

“Oh my father’s stars, that was horrible,” Celestia snickered before she launched herself out of the window and flew down in a graceful spiral before landing in front of me.

“Well, along with me being good with my hooves at digging this fine dirt, I am even better at verbal fertilizer,” I said without thinking again, and Celestia laughed more.

“You are awful,” she chuckled, clicking her tongue. “My name is Celestia, my good pony. And yo-”

“Really, I thought your name was Rose, young lady,” I said, picking one up with my magic. I leaned in close to examine it before I flashed her a grin and levitated the rose over to her. “Both are extremely beautiful after all.”

“Flatterer,” she said, taking the rose and batting her eyes at me. “Now, what is your name?”

“Fall Harvest,” I said, dipping my head to her. “I am the new gardner.”

“So I’ve seen,” she said, walking past me, examining the garden which I should have realized was her garden. “You've done a fair job here, mister Harvest.”

“Thank you very much, Celestia,” I said, and as per usual without thinking. She turned to face me as I hadn't used her proper title but she didn’t seem offended or anything.

“I should thank you, for taking care of my private garden,” she said, looking at the bed of rhododendrons and smiled. “The rhododendrons are really blooming; they usually don't do well.”

“That’s why I put a lot of attention on it,” I said, moving next to her with our sides brushing against each other briefly. “I didn’t want them to die and have you disappointed in me.”

“It is perfectly okay, mister Harvest-”

“Please, I prefer Fall,” I said with her giving me a smile. “Mister makes me feel so old.”

“I completely understand; being called princess all the time makes me far older than I am,” she said and then sighed sadly. “You cannot possibly imagine all the duties and responsibilities ponies expect of me.”

I frowned to hear her so sad and shook my head. “I can only guess,” I said as I pawed the ground - not hard enough to dig up the grass, luckily.

She let out another sigh before looking at me. “Thank you again for making this area so peaceful for me, mister Harv-, I mean Fall. I need to get back soon to eat lunch.” Her eyes darted to her room when I made my mind up.

“Wait; give me a moment. I know of this good little café, I will be right back,” I said to her with Celestia giving me a raised eyebrow.

“All right,” Celestia said to me, causing me to spread my wings and take off. I waited until I was out of sight before I teleported away to the place I’d told Celestia about, and quickly made my way into it and placed an order for the tastiest sandwich they had. On a whim, I bought her a tasty dessert as well. I didn’t know if she liked them but it wouldn’t hurt to try and it would be a nice gesture.

I then made my way back to the castle and to Celestia's private garden, only to see that she was gone. Frowning in disappointment, I was thinking that she had stood me up when I heard Celestia talking above me, to one of her tutors I thought. Turning my head upwards, I saw her back in her room, talking to somepony I couldn’t see. She turned her head in time to see me for a brief second before looking back into her room.

Seeing that she couldn’t come down, I placed the food I’d gotten her under the bench and placed a spell that would prevent others from seeing it except for Celestia. I then got back to work, tending to the grounds with a whistle on my lips while simultaneously doing a light review of my other selves taking in souls from the kingdom. I was doing a better job at reaping and hadn’t bungled up recently in what I said to them; and in the recent weeks, that bastard Kelvik had been telling me that he felt, based on what he’d seen, like I was made for this position. At the time, getting those types of compliments from other reapers, and especially from him, meant the world to me.

Still, what kept my attention was the hope that Celestia would have taken the food I got her. The next day, I went over to the bench and found the lunch I got her was gone. I then heard a singing voice from above. Flicking my head upwards, I saw that Celestia was there humming a song from her window, looking down at me with a smile on her face.

Smiling back at her, I tipped my head towards her, knowing that I’d made the first right step.