Death's Apprentice

Death's Apprentice

by Phil-Osophy

Summary: Death isn't as young as he used to be, ten thousand years as the keeper of souls has driven him to exhaustion. So when a certain orange filly meets her doom. Death decides to take her on as his apprentice, the next 'Grim Reaper'.

Prologue – A Fortunate Turn of Events

“Scootaloo, are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Sweetie Belle, looking worriedly towards her pegasus friend.

“Of course I am!” Scootaloo responded confidently, picking up a small hammer in her mouth. “Wurr curf porraby ro rong?”

Appleboom shook her head at the other filly's poor choice of words.

“Don't go sayin' that Scoots, you'll jinx it!” she warned.

Scootaloo just scoffed and rolled her eyes as she finished hammering in one of the last nails.

“I swear Applebloom, you're family is the only family I know that still believes in all that sort of stuff.” she snickered. Sweetie Pie giggled as Applebloom pouted.

“I'm not backwards," she protested "I'm the one who first made friends with Zecora!” She threw a stray screw at her smirking friend.

“Hey! Don't throw things we might need.”

“I'm still worried.” Sweetie Belle said in a small voice, standing in front of the two before they could continue.

The other's faces softened and they both went in to hug the unicorn filly.

“Awwh don't worry Sweetie Belle! This is probably the best plan I've ever come up with. I get to try for a scooter stunt cutie mark, and we all get to try for construction cutie marks. It's a win win!”

“But don't you already ride your scooter a lot?” interjected Sweetie.

“Yeah, and aren't we always building things?” added Applebloom. Scootaloo looked flustered.

“Err... y-yeah b-but um... d-didn't Twilight say that we should focus on things we're already good at? Yeah! So if we keep doing big things like this instead of normal things we should get find our talent.” Scootaloo grinned triumphantly. Applebloom sighed.

“Fine,” she turned back towards their half finished ramp. “We're almost done anyways.”

“That's the spirit! Sweetie, get me some more nails and another plank!” said Scootaloo. She turned back to their construction and picked up the hammer in her mouth again. Sweetie walked over to their stockpile grumbling.

“Just hope I don't have to get my first-aid cutiemark today...”

Three hours later, their ramp was finished. The three crusaders looked in wonder at their newest and greatest construction. Applebloom had borrowed the supplies from the farm, which had them in large stock. The ramp was situated halfway down the path on a hill. Scootaloo would start from the top of the hill, gain some speed then shoot off of the ramp and land on the path some twenty metres below where the ramp stood. They had moved a few hay bales in the way at Sweetie's insistence.

“At least then you'll have a chance of survival.” she remarked as Scootaloo protested.

Scootaloo hated to admit it, but for the first time in a long time, she doubted her ability to pull off a jump. She'd never tried something on this scale before. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she fiddled with her helmet.

“Okay Scoots, we'll be down by the ramp. No doin' any fancy tricks this time ya' hear?” Applebloom warned, squaring up to the other filly and looking her dead in the eyes. "Just go off the ramp and in t' the hay."

Scootaloo grinned cockily.

“I'll be fine Applebloom. You just watch me.” she said confidently. Her earth pony friend merely sighed, wished her good luck, and galloped down the hill to the ramp where Sweetie Belle was waiting.

Scootaloo took a moment to line up the scooter, aiming directly for the middle of the ramp. Just as she got on, a chilling wind roared around her, almost throwing her off balance and filling her with a sense of foreboding. She shivered slightly before shaking her head. What was she doing? Getting scared of a little wind? Rainbow Dash would never scared of something so stupid! Scootaloo took one final intake of breath and pushed off, rolling down the hill.

The wind once again roared around her, this time it was different though, this wind made Scootaloo feel alive. Was this what she was missing not being able to fly? It didn't matter anyway, the ramp was fast approaching. Before she knew it, Scootaloo was hurtling through the air.

The adrenaline ran through her blood like a tsunami as she, for the first time, flew. Scootaloo giggled like a mad-pony. This was living, this was what she was made to do. The feeling was amazing, euphoric.

“Wooooooooooooooooooo!” screamed the orange pegasus. As she opened her wings and performed a three hundred and sixty degree spin. Throwing away all cautions she flapped her wings frantically as she began her descent, pushing her weight against the handles. One front flip, two front flips, three front flips! It took a second for Scootaloo to regain her senses, disorientated from the . When she looked forward, her eyes bulged.

By opening her wings, the wind had caught in them, lifting her way above the hay bales and further towards the farm. Elation turned to terror as the speed of her plummet rapidly increased, her heart raced with fear.

The scooter landed hard, Scootaloo's legs taking the brunt of the impact, cracking under the stress. Scootaloo yelled as she fell off the scooter as her legs buckled under the stress. Her broken body scimmed across the ground like a ragdoll.

The last thing Scootaloo felt was her head hitting one of the sturdy wooden poles of the Sweet Apple Acres fence and a small pain in her neck. Then there was nothing, nothing but darkness.

Scootaloo wouldn't say that she woke. It was rather more like she had just taken a very long blink. One moment there was nothing, the next moment there was something, like a flash. What was more confusing was the fact that she was now stood up, and the pain which had previously been her world was missing.

She was close to where she had fallen, the surroundings were familiar. It was just that the world was in monochrome. Scootaloo couldn't even hear any sounds, only the sound of her own ragged breathing

“Hello there young one.” Scootaloo whipped around to see a pony dressed in a large black cloak, their face obscured. She could tell from the deep voice that he was a stallion. He slowly walked towards her until he was directly in front of her. Scootaloo backed away slightly, her ears flat against her head.

“It is my solemn duty, to welcome you to the realm of the dead.” he spoke softly.

“W-what?” Scootaloo barely whispered. “You... you're kidding. Where am I, who are you! What the buck is going on” she yelled.

“I'm afraid it is true child. You are dead.” spoke the figure. “In answer to your question, I am what someponies call The Grim Reaper, Guardian of Souls and Keeper of Records. You may call me Death.”

Scootaloo started to sweat, backing up further from the supposed reaper. It couldn't be. It had to be a joke, a prank. Just an elaborate prank as punishment for going on the ramp. Yes, that's it! This was her punishment!

“Buck you!” screamed the filly. “Who are you really, this isn't funny. I can't be dead!”

Death simply raised a cloaked hoof and pointed to the right.

Scootaloo turned around and her heart skipped a beat. There she lay, her legs bent at odd angles, blood dripping from her skull and the many scratched on her chest. Out of morbid fascination Scootaloo drew closer, noticing how her neck was bent as well, if she had to guess she would have to say it had snapped. Her legs buckled underneath her as the true gravity of the situation set in. She was dead. Dead. Tears formed in her eyes as the little filly's mind struggled to grasp the situation.

“I'm... so... stupid!” she forced out in between sobs. She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and looked up into the obscured face of Death.

“I know this you're scared child. I know this is all happening too quickly. But time is growing short.” Scootaloo looked up into the black hole that was Death's face.

“Do you have anypony you wish to see before we go. Your family, perhaps?” he said kindly.

“N-no.” Scootaloo whispered, still sniffling.

“No?” asked Death. “Where did you live.”

“Here and there.” she said. “I ran away from the Cloudsdale orphanage a while back.”

“Surely you must have somepony who cares for you?” inquired Death softly.

“I do, over there.” Scootaloo nodded towards the distance, where two fillies galloped as fast as they could go to where their friend had fell. “They're my only true friends.”

“No adults?”

“No. Well,” the pegasus began to tear up again. “there is this one, but she never really took any notice of me.” Death paused for a long moment.

“What is your name young one?” he finally said.

“Scootaloo.” she replied weakly.

Death stood up and began to pace slowly. Scootaloo turned back to her broken body, tears flowing freely from her face now.

After a few moments Death stopped. There was a flash of light as a long scythe blinked into existence, surrounded by a dark aura. Scootaloo looked at it fearfully. To all outwards appearances it was a simple scythe but the light appeared to bend around it.

“W-what are you going to do with that?” asked Scootaloo.

Death did not reply and the scythe started to spin. It increased rapidly in speed, moving until it was spinning horizontally above Death's head. A low hum filled Scootaloo's ears, gradually increasing in pitch as the scythe became nothing more than a blur. Death reared and a bolt of light flew out of the middle of the scythe. The bolt made contact with the sky, releasing a massive boom as it exploded, filling the sky with shockwaves of pure white light.

“Whoa!” Scootaloo exclaimed, in awe of the feat of magic. Her death temporarily lifted from her mind.

“That was a time spell. Something to give us a little more time to talk.” said Death. Scootaloo looked towards her friends, who had drawn much closer in the minute or two she had been dead. They were now frozen. Mouths stuck in frozen screams of terror and fear. Scootaloo grimaced and turned away.

“What about?” asked the orange filly, sitting up for the first time since she fell. Death paused for a moment before turning back to the child, scythe floating lazily by his side.

“An opportunity.” he said. “I must ask you to let me give you some information. Please only talk when I ask you to.”

Scootaloo pushed down the rebellious urges inside her. It was much easier when she remembered the fact that she was now dead.

“What do you know of the history of Equestria?” he asked her. Scootaloo's smiled slightly.

“We were learning about that last week. Princess Celestia ruled for a while with her sister Luna before she was banished. Before that there was Discord! Right?”

Death smiled, even if it was obscured by his cloak. At last Equestria's generations were being taught about Discord.

“Correct. However what you won't have been taught is what there was before Discord. You have heard of the Hearth Warming's  Eve tale I assume, but that tale is only part true. Roughly ten thousand years ago the gods created Equestria, and with it all the plants and creatures, including the three tribes of ponies. Everything was fine for quite a while. Ponies died and I, being Death, showed them the way to the afterlife, as is my duty. However soon things took a turn for the worse.”

Scootaloo began to speak but Death silenced her with a wave of his hoof.

“Questions later. The population grew to the point where I was usually quite busy each day. I have other duties than reaping the dead but I was still able to manage my time effectively.” Death frowned.

“The problem was that there were enough ponies for large scale war to be possible. The old gods were forgotten and the ponies split into the three tribal races all fighting against eachother. Entire armies slaughtered in one day. Wars going on for years. Too many dead for me to deal with. I have the blessing of being able to... adjust my position in time, but it was still extremely difficult for even me to deal with. It took me centuries to finally collect all the dead for that era, and by the time I was finished, another war had already begun."

"So now you see my dilemma. For all my power I am still just a single entity. The more the population grows, the harder it get's to reap all the souls required of me. And the population is showing no signs of stopping. Henceforth I am offering you an opportunity child." Death removed his hood and Scootaloo gasped. The bare skull she thought would be revealed was absent. Instead she was looking at a stallion with a greying dark brown mane, tan fur and deep red eyes. He was an earth pony.

"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"You are dead, but that does not mean you have to leave the mortal plane. If you wish you can stay with me, and become my apprentice. Help me guide the dead into the afterlife, learn my trade."

“I'm sorry.” Scootaloo said after a moment, eyes downcast. “It doesn't really sound that appealing really, stuck meeting dead people for all time.” Death let out a great, booming laugh, Shocking the little filly.

“Ha! I suppose it wouldn't sound very exciting to a foal.” He smirked. "But I think I can persuade you otherwise. ~If you become my apprentice we can reside in both the world of the dead and the living. For all intents and purposes, you'd be alive.”

“You could bring me back to life!” Scootaloo exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

“Not quite. You'll be able to continue out your life as normal, and during this time I'll teach you everything you need to know, about flying, about magic and about our duties. I'll come up with a cover story for my involvement in your life but you need not worry about that.”

“So, I'll still be able to see my friends?” Scootaloo asked. Death grinned.

“Yes, you'll get your life back. You'll be able to get your cutie mark, fly for the first time. Everything. But be warned Scootaloo.” Death's smiled turned into a scowl, and he suddenly seemed to tower of Scootaloo.

“This all has a price. You will be able to be with your friends, and those you care about. But one day they will die, everypony you know will die and we can never do anything to stop that. Can you do that child? Are you prepared to see those you love wither and die for all eternity until our duty is fufilled?”

“Yes!” Scootaloo shouted immediately. “Yes! Yes! Yes! I don't care if they die, at least I'll be able to spend a lifetime with them. That's enough!"

“Are you sure. After this there is no going back.” Death gave his final warning.

“I'm sure. I want to become your apprentice.” A familiar hum of energy began to build up. The scythe started to twirl once more.

“Very well.” Death grinned. “I shall see you soon.”

“My apprentice.”

The scythe shot across the space between them and struck Scootaloo in the head. Then for the second time that day Scootaloo fell into unconsciousness.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Urgh...” Scootaloo groaned. Her head hurt, and the rest of her body wasn't feeling too good either. She remembered her conversation with death, then the scythe hitting her in the skull.

“Look Sweetie! She's up!” Scootaloo winced at the volume of the voice, which she recognised as Applebloom's.

“Yeah... yeah I'm up. Stop shouting please...” Scootaloo said quietly. Opening her eyes.

It looked like she was in a hospital. The tubes connected to her left foreleg confirmed this. Surprisingly, she found that she could actually move all of her legs, admittedly with some pain. As soon as she had shown signs of being awake, her two friends had rushed off out of the room. Scootaloo presumed it was to get a doctor, or somepony else. In all honesty, she didn't really care as she turned over and snuggled back into her pillow.

The door burst open and a group of ponies swarmed into the room. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle as well as their sisters. There was also a mare in doctor's garb.

“We're so glad you're okay!”

“We were so worried!”

Scootaloo smiled sheepishly as her two friends embraced her. One on each side of the bed.

“Awwh, come on guys. I knew I would be fine.”

“Quite to the contrary Miss Scootaloo, you are very lucky to be as uninjured as you are.” everybody in the room turned to look at the doctor.

“As it is you only suffered minor head trauma and sprains in all of your legs. How you only injured yourself to this extent  when you fell three stories is a miracle!”

Scootaloo winced.

“We're all very ashamed of you kids!” said Applejack angrily. “Pulling a stunt like that, why I'd like to have a word with your parents Scootaloo! It's high time we talked about all three o' ya'll having the same punishment.”

Scootaloo panicked. She had worked hard to make sure nobody knew that she was an orphan. That and she was technically a squatter. She'd be sent back to the orphanage in Cloudsdale! Then she'd never get to see her friends again!

“We've sent a pony out to her father, her mother's name isn't listed.” said the Doctor. Scootaloo's eyes bulged. What?

Just then the door opened and in walked a familiar face.

“I'm here! I'm here.” he looked towards Scootaloo. “What has my daughter got herself into this time?” Death said with a grin.