Even Death Needs A Vacation

The couch felt cold that evening, and the sounds from the animals sleeping was strangely quiet, replaced with what sounded like running water. Lily shivered as she laid there, shifting her hand to tug the comforter up a bit higher, only to find it missing, and the "couch" felt an awful lot like cool stone. Opening her eyes, she found herself laying on the ground in a familiar plaza, with a familiar fog surrounding it. Sitting up and turning her head, she saw a familiar fountain, but an unfamiliar figure sitting there.

She was back at her old station at the Wellspring. Feeling around for her scythe, she found it was missing as well.

"Spirit..." she muttered. "I don't like this..."

Once again, her companion was silent, but strangely...more so than usual. She turned to look at it, only to find that the ghostly orb was missing as well. Whimpering, she stood up and looked around in a panic. Completely unarmed, alone and back at her Wellspring was not where she expected to wake up. Well... She wasn't completely alone.

The figure was a foot or two taller than she was, likely a Death who died when they were older than she was. Nothing completely unusual, she did die pretty young. They had a long scythe, much longer than her own, which was topped with what looked like a burnt scrap of fabric. Every Death's scythe always had something like that, and it usually tied into how they died. "Poor guy..." she thought, her ears lowering, "He must've died in a house fire or something."

She slowly approached the Wellspring, the sound of pages being turned making her jump.

"Excuse me..." she said timidly, "Are you... the Death assigned to the Wellspring now?"

The figure paused, it's hooded head lifting up in response to the question, but not answering. Instead, it posed a question.

"Who approaches...?" That voice... it sounded so... familiar.

"Lily. I'm a Death too. But... I seem to have lost my scythe..." she said, sounding a little embarrassed, "I was wondering if you could maybe send me back to...wherever I was reassigned to? I think I left it behind."

"Lily...?" The figure muttered, sounding irritated. He stood up, making Lily take a step back, "You used to work here."

She frowned. She never said anything about working at the Wellspring. She only implied that she was reassigned and that she was unfamiliar with him. Something wasn't right.

"Um... Yes... How did you-"

Before she could finish her question, the figure spun around to face her, making her blood run cold. A humans face stared back, scowling at her. That face. That voice. That scrap of fabric.

"K-Kyle?! Kyle Longburrows?!"

"You... YOU did this to me!" He began to walk towards her, grabbing his scythe on the way by. Lily began to back pedal, eyes wide.

"N-no! I-I didn't send you into Limbo! Y-You were sent to the celestial afterlife! I saw you!"

"YOU stole my life from me AND my afterlife! YOU DID THIS!!" he screamed, his pace getting faster. Lily whimpered and continued to back up, soon stopping when she saw the endless black void looming behind her. Her feet scraped the edge of the plaza, a few stray pebbles tumbling into the inky expanse below.

"No! Please, Kyle! I didn't do this! You were saved! I-I didn't steal your afterlife!" she begged, to no avail. Kyle stormed over to her, stopping a foot or so away from her, huffing and puffing out of anger, "You were saved and my... our mentor! He sent you to the celestial afterlife! I was reassigned! Don't you remember?!"

"All I remember is YOUR blade tearing my spirit apart! You stole my afterlife, just like you steal EVERYBODY'S life from them! You're nothing but a monster, and that's what you created! You shoved ME into Limbo, so now it's YOUR turn!"

Lifting his foot, he planted it against Lily's chest, delivering a firm kick and knocking whatever wind was still in her lungs out. She flew off the edge of the plaza, screaming as she watched Kyle look down at her, then turn and walk back into the fog.

With a dull thud, she slammed down onto a wood paneled floor, the sound of a crackling fire nearby. She groaned, shifting in her prone position before slowly sitting up and gasping. Before her was her mentor, Death. He was sitting behind a rotten desk, a huge leather-bound tome laid out on it as he casually flipped the pages. Lily stood up, whimpering a bit as her mentor continued to look through his book.

"Lily, no last name given. Cause of Death: Forced Drowning. Age: 12." His ancient breaths were like sandpaper to her ears.

"B-Boss? Why are you reading my entry? I-I already died several thousand years ago..."

"Sit," he said, and a huge chair suddenly slid across the floor, stopping just behind Lily. Climbing into the ornate chair, she sat down and looked up at the huge spirit, who never once looked up at her. "I am...very disappointed... Lily."

She swallowed hard, her hands fidgeting in her lap.

"Sending that...poor....soul into Limbo....Breaking down... in front of...a Living..."

"B-But sir, I-"

"And now... asleep on...duty...." He interrupted. "Do...you have... any idea... what I am.... to do with you...?"

"B-But I didn't send him to Limbo! You stopped me, a-and then you reassigned me to a world where nothing dies!" she protested, but Death didn't seem to listen at all.

"You... have left me... no choice. I am... sending you... to Limbo... for eternity... You are hereby...stripped of your scythe...and your companion."

"S-Sir!" she begged, "Please, reconsider! I-I was weak then, a-and that pegasus-"

"I have... seen enough," Death said. "Goodbye."

The door to the office opened up, and it began to tug Lily's chair into it's dark opening. She screamed, leaping from the chair and grabbing onto the desk as the chair was ripped out from under her and launched into the abyss. Her feet began to leave the floor as the door's suction got stronger and stronger.

"BOSS PLEASE!! J-JUST GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE!! I'LL DO BETTER!"

Death ignored her, the spirit simply turning to her page in the book, then slamming a large stamp against it. Lily gasped as she saw that the stamp had said "DENIED FOR AFTERLIFE", her grip starting to lose itself on the old wood of the desk. The desk's edge began to crack, then snap as the door continued to flap outward into the void, anything that wasn't nailed down being sucked out.

The wood snapped in Lily's grasp, and she found herself flying head-over-heels, squealing as she was sent into Limbo, the door to Death's office slamming shut.

Fluttershy nearly dropped the bag of feed she was carrying as Lily sat up in the living room, screaming. Setting it down and flying over to her, the poor reaper's face was white as a ghost, tears streaming down her cheeks. The pegasus grabbed her shoulders and started to gently shake her, making Lily open her eyes in surprise.

"Lily! Lily wake up! What's wrong?" she said, the concern in her voice apparent. Lily looked around, expecting to be in some dark expanse, but found herself back in the cottage, under a comforter and sitting on a couch. She looked up, seeing a pair of big aqua eyes staring back with a worried expression.

"F-Fluttershy?" she squeaked, almost in disbelief.

"Yes, it's me. What's wrong, Lily? Were you having a nightmare?" The mare frowned, gently petting at Lily's head.

"I..I don't.. it...it felt so real." she whimpered, making Fluttershy hug her against her chest. She hugged back, rubbing her wet cheek against the downy fur of the pegasus as she tried her best to calm down.

"Don't worry Lily, it was just a bad dream... It's okay." she said, reassuring the girl in her charge. "You're safe."

She whimpered and sniffled a little more, soon managing to calm down enough to talk. Fluttershy pulled away, smiling warmly at the little reaper.

"Are you okay now?" Lily gave a curt nod, wiping at her face with her sleeves. "Good. I need to get my animals some breakfast. Would you like to help?"

Lily nodded again, taking a tissue from a box on the coffee table before blowing her nose into it, tossing it into the trash bin. Fluttershy smiled and led her over to the feed bag she was carrying before, offering her a metal scoop.

"Here. Just put one scoop of the dry food into each of the metal bowls. I'll get to work on feeding the birdies."

Lily took the scoop from her host, scooping some of the dry, brown kibble into each bowl while the pegasus hovered above her, filling up plastic bowls with bird seed, dried fruit and nuts before putting them into metal rings attached to several stands hanging from the ceiling. The duo continued to feed Fluttershy's animals, the work going by a lot faster with them both doing it. Soon, they were back in the living room, another pot of apple cinnamon tea sitting in front of them.

"So... do you want to talk about the nightmare you had?" The mare said curiously, scooping up her cup with her hooves before taking a slow sip from it. Lily sat quietly, head low as she stared into her cup of tea. She wasn't certain she wanted to talk about it at all, all things considered. Fluttershy had no idea what "Limbo" was, or who "Kyle" was... So she quietly shook her head.

"That's okay." she said, smiling. "You don't need to talk about it. I just thought maybe it'd help to get it off your chest."

Gosh she was so sweet... And that warm fur. It was like being wrapped up in a cozy blanket when they hugged. Lily sighed a little bit, sipping her tea before looking up at Fluttershy curiously.

"So...where are we, anyway?"

"Hm? We're in my cottage, silly."

"No, I mean.. what's this place called? This world?"

"Ohhh. I forgot you're new here. We're in a world called Equestria," she said, pausing to sip her tea before continuing, "The Land of Harmony."

"I see," Lily said, frowning. Why had her omniscience not caught that? And furthermore, why would she be sent to a world of cuddly pony things who can't die...? There were so many questions she had and not a single one was being answered. She needed to get to the bottom of this, and her mentor seemed to be completely ignorant to her calls, "It's very lovely here, Fluttershy," she said, hoping to defuse the awkward silence.

"Thank you~ I hope you've been enjoying it here, even if it's only been for a few days."

"Oh.. I've been here for a few months."

Fluttershy choked on her tea for a moment, coughing before looking up at her in surprise.

"A few months?" she said in disbelief. "Wh-What have you been doing for so long? Where have you been staying?"

"Oh... um... Nowhere... I spent the past few months laying in a field an hour or two out of town, waiting for my book to update."

This didn't seem to help Fluttershy's concerns.

"Your... book?"

Lily set her tea down, reaching into her robes and produced her log, opening it up for her new friend to look at it. "My log. It's supposed to have a whole list of souls that I need to help guide, but it's been blank ever since I got here. I thought it was an error, so I waited for it to update, but nothing came... After several weeks, I came into town in hopes of finding answers, but I only ended up with more questions..."

Fluttershy scanned the blank pages curiously, before glancing back up to Lily. "But what happened when it rained? Or when it was cold?"

"Oh... The weather doesn't bug me... I'm dead. I can't catch colds, or anything like that..." she said, shrugging a bit. "Besides, it was clear skies for most of the time I was out there."

"I see..." The mare frowned, sipping her tea again as Lily put the book back into her robes. "But didn't you get lonely out there?"

"No... I'm used to spending time alone." she sighed softly, looking a little sad. "Even if it does get boring."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that anymore. You can stay with me as long as you need." Fluttershy smiled warmly, setting her empty tea cup down. "I can introduce you to my friends, we can go out for lunch...I could even introduce you to-"

That's when the room suddenly lost it's gravity, everything beginning to float around aimlessly, much to Lily's surprise. The pegasus only seemed mildly inconvenienced by this, giving a soft giggle as she looked around curiously.

"Discorrrd... Quit that!" she said, sounding more amused than annoyed.

"Discord?" Lily repeated, before a bright flash made the room go right back to the way it was, and the teapot rumbled before a tall draconequus shot out from the top, the lid balanced on his head like a hat.

"DISCORD!" he shouted, giving a loud chuckle as he spread his arms out show-biz style. "Live and in person!" Another bright flash, and they were suddenly seated in what looked like a theatre, bright spot lights circling on the stage before aiming at the center of it. The curtains parted and the same bizarre creature stepped out, this time wearing a two-piece suit with the jacket buttoned up sloppily and half his shirt tucked in. He took a few bows, making Fluttershy giggle.

"I just flew in from Fillydelphia and BOY are my arms tired!" he said, his arms literally falling off, making Lily wince uncomfortably. Another flash and they were back in Fluttershy's cottage, sitting where they were, while the strange creature hovered in front of them, pretending to lay on something while he smirked at Lily.

"And you are?"

Lily blinked in surprise, looking around as if to check she was all there, then looking back at him. "Uh... Lily."

"Lovely to meet you Lily. My name is Discord. D before the I which is followed by the S, all wrapped up with a cord," he chuckled, levitating the teapot over and taking a bite out of it's spout, "Resident draconequus, and you?"

"Um.. I'm a Death." she muttered.

"You're deaf? Well that can't be right, because you're responding to everything I'm saying! Or are you one of those lip-reading deafs...?"

"N-No.. Not deaf... DEATH. With a TH."

"Ohhh I understand now." Discord nodded understandingly, taking another bite from the teapot. "You're one of those new students at Twilight's school, right? Mercy, that must be dreadful..."

Lily opened his mouth to correct him, but Fluttershy interrupted.

"No, she's not a new student. She's from a different world. It's a little hard to explain. I don't really understand it fully either..."

"Well lucky you! You get to see a brand new world with your own two eyes! Unless you want a different set. You can borrow mine, if you wish." He reached up and grabbed out his eyes with his lion paw, extending it to Lily and dropping the glassy orbs into her hands, making her squeal in fright, dropping them. They bounced across the floor before Discord picked them back up, dusting them off and putting them into his 'pocket'. His eyes then literally rolled back into place and he chuckled.

"A simple 'no' would've sufficed."

Lily gave him a fussy frown, scrunching up her face. Fluttershy looked at him with a disapproving frown. "Discord! Don't scare her like that, she's not used to your antics."

Putting up his hands, he smiled at the mare. "Very well. My apologies, Lily." He extended his hand in friendship, and Lily carefully took it, giving it a shake. That is before Discord's arm popped off for the second time that day, making her squeal again, dropping the appendage.

"Discord!" The pegasus said, a bit more firmly this time.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I was only trying to give her a hand!" Laughing, he picked up his arm and put it back on. "Well, I'll leave you be, you seem to be busy. Let me know if you need some chaos, alright?" And with that, he spiraled into a ball before disappearing in a magical flash. Lily sat there shaking, curling up on the couch.

"Sorry about that, Lily. Discord means well, he just doesn't know when to stop sometimes," she said, hoping to reassure her, "But he's actually very sweet."

There was a silence as Lily sat there, trying her best to relax after the disturbing display. A knock on the door made her jump, squeaking in surprise. Her host blinked, then smiled, setting her tea cup down. "I'll get it. You just stay here, okay?"

She flew to the door, opening it and smiling at the purple mare behind it. "Oh, Twilight! What a lovely surprise!"

"Hey Fluttershy. Could you come to the castle? I don't really have time to explain, just know that it's important."

"Oh, of course. Do you mind if my new friend comes along? I couldn't bear leaving her alone..."

"New friend?"

Fluttershy opened the door a little more and let Twilight inside. The alicorn walked past her and looked at the couch, gasping at Lily.

"Where did you find her?!" She quickly ran over, making Lily incredibly uncomfortable, fidgeting on the couch as she was cornered by the mare.

"Oh, I found her outside just yesterday, she was curled up on a low hill, crying," she said, frowning, "I couldn't bear to let her sit out there all night, so I brought her in. Her name is Lily."

Twilight looked at her friend, then back at Lily with a calm smile. "Lily, right? I'm sorry if I frightened you before... You remember me?"

Lily looked up at her, whimpering a bit as she nodded. Twilight looked at Fluttershy curiously, frowning.

"She came to the palace sometime yesterday... She thought she was invisible at first, but when I told her that I could see her, she got super antsy and panicky, shouting about "being sent somewhere" and "a higher-up"... Do you know anything about that?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, not really. She told me that she's called a 'Death', and she's some sort of guide from another world. And that we can't die? Whatever that means..."

"Die with an I, right?"

The butter pegasus nodded, furrowing her brow. "If that's what she told you."

Twilight turned her attention back to Lily, who was still clearly unnerved by the alicorn standing so close.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. We just want to help. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Those "few questions" lasted long into the afternoon, as every answer Lily gave only seemed to further the confusion of the two mares. Words they knew not the meaning of, concepts completely foreign to them, and just more questions. Lily wasn't sure she could give anything more than what she knew, which wasn't a lot as it was. How do you explain death or souls to a creature that never dies?

Eventually, though, the questions did stop. Fluttershy went back to her animals, and Twilight sat with Lily as she tried to piece together the confusing picture.

"This is all very.. interesting, Lily. So you have no idea why your mentor sent you here?"

Lily nodded quietly, gently petting the ghostly orb that had nested in her lap.

"But you don't want to go back, because you fear that he'll punish you...?"

Another nod.

"But you're also convinced that he's mistaken for sending you here."

"Yes," she said, looking upset. "And... if it's what I fear, then I don't want to be here anymore."

"What do you think it is?"

"I think he may have sent me here to be this world's Death, so that you all stop being immortal or something... I don't want to kill you!" she said, the panic setting in again. "I-I don't want to ruin this place! You're all so happy!!"

Twilight blinked, waving her hoof. "C-Calm down, Lily, it's okay!"

"I don't want to lose you! I don't want to go back to being hated!!"

"You won't be hated, Lily!" Twilight frowned, looking toward the back of the house, hoping Fluttershy would come in to defuse the situation.

"I-I need to go!" Lily stood up to run, but Twilight quickly caught her, the magenta aura surrounding the girl and bringing her close. Giving her a warm hug, she wrapped her wings around Lily carefully, rubbing her cheek against Lily's. This seemed to make Lily stop panicking, but she clearly was still upset.

"It's okay, Lily, you're fine... A-And besides, even if you WERE here to kill us.. whatever that is.. You said that you can't, right?"

Lily whimpered, nodding a bit as sat in Twilight's embrace.

"So that means you aren't here to kill us. Because if you were, your book would be full, and your powers would still work."

"But... but..." Lily wanted so desperately to argue, the doubts clawing at her mind refusing to let up. But... it made sense. The only thing that wasn't making sense in her mind was why she was here. If it wasn't for work, and if it wasn't for punishment, then why was she here? Death may work in mysterious ways, but he's almost always direct about it. If he wanted it to be mysterious, he would've made it OBVIOUS that it was a mystery. So why did she feel like she was missing something?

Twilight continued to snuggle her, squeezing her close. She was so warm and soft, just like Fluttershy was. But this time, she didn't feel like breaking down. Perhaps she had just run out of tears, or maybe she just didn't need to cry anymore. Regardless, Lily decided it was better to just enjoy it. Leaning back into the purple mare's chest, she smiled, feeling safer than ever like this. She felt protected.

Night fell once again, and Twilight had since taken her leave, telling Fluttershy that Lily was probably better off in her charge than the castle, something Lily was silently thankful for. Coming back over, the mare tucked Lily in, giving a soft kiss to her forehead.

"If you start to have another nightmare, you're free to come and sleep with me if you need," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, Fluttershy..." Lily said, smiling back.

The pegasus nodded, then turned and went upstairs and out of sight. Lily let out a soft sigh, unsure if she wanted to experience 'sleep' again, after the awful dream last night. It was so realistic. She never wanted to experience something that scary again, so perhaps she'd just lay there awake tonight.

"Lily..."

He sat up with a start, looking around in surprise. "W-Who's there?"

"Lilyyyy..."

She grabbed her scythe, holding it close as she looked around the room. It was almost totally empty, aside from all the sleeping animals. She frowned, biting her lip.

"Up here Lily."

Looking up slowly, she jumped in surprise, seeing an apparition coming down from the ceiling. The figure was clad in white clothes, floating just above the table. As the figure's head came through the ceiling, she gasped.

"K-Kyle?!"

"Yep." He gave her a warm smile, chuckling. "I bet I was the last person you'd want to see, huh?"

"What are you doing here? H-How are you here?! Aren't you a-"

Kyle raised his hand, silencing the little girl.

"Relax, Lily. I'm not a reaper, and I'm not in Limbo. I made it to the celestial afterlife, and it's great here! I actually came back to apologize..."

"Apologize...?" she said, confused.

"Yeah... I was acting like real meathead before. You were just trying to help, and I should've just listened. I heard you were having nightmares, so I wanted to tell you that I was okay." He tucked his hands into the varsity jacket he wore, chuckling.

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"I can't really say. I don't have a lot of time. It takes the angels a lot of work to keep me here like this, so I just wanted to say thanks... and I'm sorry."

"I-It's okay, Kyle... I was acting like a brat too..." she frowned, her ears lowering, "That's why I got reassigned here."

"I know," he chuckled, "But hey, all is forgiven. Enjoy your reassignment."

"H-Hey wait, how do you-"

But when she looked up, he was gone. Frowning, she laid back down on the couch, setting her scythe aside again. That was weird. But at least Kyle was okay. She wasn't certain she could bear the thought of him having his afterlife stolen from him over a stupid over-reaction. But how did he know all that stuff? Who was telling him? And why did he say "enjoy" at the end? Nobody should enjoy working as a Death, least of all Lily. Especially given her circumstances.

Things were only getting more and more confusing, much to her dismay. And oddly enough, she was feeling awfully tired. Maybe trying out that 'sleep' thing again wouldn't be so bad after all.