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'.

Chapter Two - A New Way of Doing Things

Well, she tried to get to sleep.

No matter how much she twisted and turned or adjusted her pillows and sheets, she just couldn't get to sleep. She even tried counting sheep, much to her embarrassment, but it soon got boring. Scootaloo sat up in the bed and looked at the door. Death had said she could go wherever she wanted in the house (with obvious exceptions) but then again adults said a lot of things they didn't really mean. Would he change his mind if she went downstairs after he'd told her to go to bed? She still wasn't sure how she felt about him. He'd given her a home and a chance to keep on living though. She owed him for that, even enough to call him dad in public.

Hesitantly, but with rebellious spirit burning in her stomach, she quietly got out of bed and left her room. It was dark in the house, the hallway was lit with a few candles set into the walls. Scootaloo found this weird, usually most houses had magic powered lights. Then again she'd been without lights at night for a year aside from when she used her torch, so she couldn't really fault Death's design choice.

She crept down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, intending to get a midnight snack, although she wasn't really hungry. The kitchen was pretty cool as well. The walls were white, as was the tiled floor. A painting of a bowl of fruit hung above a small table with four chairs. Scootaloo made her way to the fridge and opened it. It was full of all manner of food, but none of it looked very appealing to Scootaloo.

"Couldn't sleep?" Scootaloo just about jumped out of her skin. She turned around to find Death sitting on one of the chairs, at the kitchen table, a familiar book in his hoovess.

"What the hell? How'd you- I mean." she spluttered, face red from embarrassment.

"It's to be expected. You are dead after all. I mostly just sent you upstairs to give you a little time to get your thoughts in order." Scootaloo frowned.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. Death turned a page in his book.

"I didn't bring you back from the dead Scootaloo. I just made you undead, like myself." Scootaloo's jaw dropped. "A side effect of this is that you no longer need to sleep, though some time alone and in the quiet can helps a person order their thoughts I find."

"You mean I'm a zombie?" exclaimed Scootaloo. Death chuckled.

"No, you still have a mind. You'll find you don't need to eat or drink either. Though I'd dare say you'll still want to. Food will still taste delicious." It was after Scootaloo had finished digesting this information that she noticed just why the book Death was reading was so familiar.

"Hey, that's my math book!"

"Yes, indeed it is." replied Death, flicking through another page. "Considering your circumstances you're doing quite well. You have potential."

Scootaloo blushed, she thought she wasn't very good at math.

"Why does it matter anyway?" she said. "It doesn't have that much to do with guiding the death or whatever does it?"

"My official title is 'Guardian of Souls and Keeper of Records' Scootaloo. You will be helping me with all of my duties eventually, not just the former. Math and English skills are essential in my line of work."

"Well I think you've picked the wrong pony to make your apprentice then..."

"Nonsense!" Death let go of the book and it popped out of existence. "Like I said, you have potential. I'll just have to draw that out. Rome wasn't built in a day."

"What's a Rome?" said Scootaloo, confused. Death visibly stifled a snigger.

"Sorry," he said. "Old expression. Rome was an old Earth Pony settlement. You wouldn't have heard about it."

Scootaloo just shook her head.

"Now then, I have to go to work. I retrieved your belongings from your previous home. They should all be upstairs now. Don't be late for school!"

With those parting words Scootaloo watched as her new master stood up from the table. Darkness surrounded him for a moment and formed into his cloak, obscuring his face. Then he simply turned around and he was gone.

Scootaloo sighed. Why'd she have to be adopted by a weird pony?

Scootaloo managed to get through the rest of the night., Scootaloo even went early to school it was so boring not being able to sleep. Cheerilee was pleasantly surprised to see Scootaloo sitting on the swings when she went to unlock the school building.

"Scootaloo?" the teacher called. "What are you doing here this early?"

"Couldn't sleep Miss Cheerilee." replied Scootaloo, getting up off of the swing and walking towards her teacher. Cheerilee looked at the filly with sympathy in her eyes.

"Almost dieing does that a pony, I know," Scootaloo's eyes widened. "I had a near miss myself when I was your age." Cheerilee smiled kindly. "If you ever need to talk to somepony about it dear, I'm here for you."

Scootaloo smiled a shy smile.

"Thanks Miss Cheerilee."

"It's nothing my dear. Now get inside before you catch your death of cold, it's freezing out here and rain is scheduled for today."

Half an hour later class began. Scootaloo smiled as her friends took their seats next to her and class began.

"So class, today I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to our local librarian and student to the princess herself, Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight walked into the room, smiling and carrying a few books in her magic. Cheerilee continued.

"Twilight is here today to take the classes for today, teaching you about all the different forms of magic. As you all know Miss Sparkle is the element of magic so you can learn a lot from here. I'll be in the back of the class and I expect you all to be on your best behaviour."

Scootaloo leaned her head on her hoof, preparing herself for a boring lesson. It wasn't as if she was a unicorn or anything, why did she need to know about magic? Then again, apparently you didn't need a horn to do magic, at least according to Death. Scootaloo perked up a little. Maybe this would be a bit more interesting than she'd previously thought. She snickered, at least if Twilight didn't go into lecture mode.

While she'd been thinking, Twilight had already introduced herself and started into her first lecture.

"Now when most ponies think of magic, they think of unicorn magic. But the truth is that magic is all around us. In the food we eat, the water we drink and inside every living thing in the planet." Her horn lit up and she levitated a piece of chalk from Cheerilee's desk to the blackboard.

"Magic comes from the sun in the day and the moon at night. We absorb this magic just by being outside as well as eating and drinking. This is why a unicorn can't cast spells very easily when malnourished and why all ponies enjoy being outside so much." She drew a diagram on the blackboard of the sun and moon with arrows pointing down to pictures of a flower, a chicken and a pony.

"A flower, a pony and Scootaloo." sniggered Diamond Tiara under her breath to Silver Spoon a few desks away. Scootaloo scowled.

"This also has an effect on pegasi. Pegasi use their magic when flying, as a pegasi's wings are way too small to fly normally. Instead they use their magic to propel them through the air. No matter how hard a pegasi flaps, without magic the wings are useless."

"Maybe that's what happened to Scootaloo. Maybe she's magically retarded." whispered Silver Spoon. Diamond Tiara giggled. Scootaloo fumed. Could Cheerilee or Twilight not hear this? Then Scootaloo had a thought. She usually wouldn't be able to hear them this clearly. Why could she hear them?

"Earth ponies on the other hoof use magic to gain greater strength and endurance than other ponies. Without the magic their strength is severely limited."

"I bet Scootaloo's parents are so poor they can't afford to feed her anything, so that's why she can't fly." whispered Diamond Tiara.

Scootaloo looked around at Miss Cheerilee. She was marking some papers or something while Twilight taught. Buck load of good she'd be then.

"Maybe that's why she's so stupid as well."

"Yeah, maybe she more resembles the flower after all. That's how stupid she is."

"I bet that's why she's a blank flank. You need magic to get a cutiemark."

Scootaloo's wings pulsed as he heart rate sped up. A primal reaction  to her ever increasing anger. She wasn't even listening to Twilight anymore. She swore, if Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn't shut their stupid bucking mouths she'd...

"Did you hear about that accident she was in yesterday? She almost died. Wish I'd have seen it."

"I wish she really did die. Do you know how hilarious it would have been? A pegasi die because they couldn't fly."

"Shut up!" Scootaloo yelled. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut the buck up!"

Scootaloo panted with barely leashed rage as she glared at the two fillies, who like the rest of the class were staring at her in shock.

"Scootaloo! Get off of there and stand outside until the end of class!" Cheerilee was out of her seat, glaring at Scootaloo. It was then that Scootaloo realised that she was standing on her desk, wings outstretched. Still panting, Scootaloo jumped off of the desk and walked outside the classroom, slamming the door behind her.

"I'm sorry Twilight. Please continue."

Scootaloo sat outside the classroom on the corridor floor. It was cold, but she barely felt it. Come to think of it, she supposed that she hadn't felt the cold that morning either. Another side effect of being dead? Scootaloo scowled. She felt so embarrassed to have blown up like that, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon pissed her off! Ever since her, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had become friends they'd been a constant annoying presence in her life. Always there with a quip or a comment about the fact that she couldn't fly, that her fashion sense was bad or how she never wore makeup or... something! She was always so tempted to just smack some sense into them, but Applebloom or Sweetie always stopped her just at the right time.

Scootaloo forcefully hit her hoof onto the floor. Next time. Next time she wouldn't let her friends hold her back. The two nags needed to be taught a lesson. A painful one.

It was some time, at least half an hour, before Cheerilee came out to deal with her. With a curt order to go to her office, she went back inside. Scootaloo sighed. Seemed she'd be missing recess. As if there was ever any doubt. It wasn't like she hadn't gotten detentions with Cheerilee before.

Cheerilee's office was only down the corridor. Scootaloo entered the little room and hopped onto the chair opposite the desk.

Cheerilee came in a few minutes afterwards and sat down in her chair. Scootaloo looked at her with a bored expression.

"I've tried to be kind with you Scootaloo." said Cheerilee. "Each time you've been in here you've promised to stop misbehaving. I see that simply giving out a punishment like normal simply doesn't work."

"But Miss Cheerilee," said Scootaloo. "I wasn't telling Twilight to shut I was telling Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were whispering about me."

Cheerilee shook her head.

"That doesn't matter Scootaloo. You could have raised your hoof and asked me or Twilight to make them be quiet. Instead you decided to be overly aggressive and make a huge scene in public. That is completely inappropriate a reaction." Scootaloo deflated in her seat.

"Fine." she snapped. "What's going to happen to me then."

"I've sent a letter to your father. We're going to have a meeting."

Scootaloo's heart felt like it had frozen in her chest.

"He's at work."

"On your contact form it says that he works from home."

"Oh. Yeah. I knew that." Scootaloo said awkwardly. Rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof.

"He should be here any moment."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Cheerilee smiled and walked over to the door.

"Ah, just on cue." she said as she opened the door. "Come in Mr Ink. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Death stepped through the door. His cloak was missing, which Scootaloo supposed made sense unless he wanted everybody to think he was the Grim Reaper. Which he was.

Death pulled up a chair and sat next to Scootaloo. He looked at her and smiled reassuringly.

"Just can't keep out of trouble for one day can you Scoots?" he said. Cheerilee grimaced.

"In school time at least Mr Ink I would have to agree with you. Scootaloo has consistently misbehaved for quite a while now. The most recent incident was today where she yelled and swore at two of her classmates when a guest speaker was teaching,"

"I see." said Death. He turned and looked once more at Scootaloo. Scootaloo stared back into his intimidating red eyes defiantly, her hooves crossed.

"Scootaloo," he said. "Why did you do what you did?"

"They were whispering about me."

"I know you have a thicker skin than that." Scootaloo looked at him questioningly. "What exactly did they say to set you off in the middle of class."

"Plenty of things." Scootaloo responded. She didn't want to tell them. It was too embarrassing. But both Cheerilee and Death looked at her expectantly. After a few moments of silence Scootaloo sighed and relented. "They were making fun of the fact that I don't have a cutie mark yet. That I can't fly yet. And they said that they wished I'd died yesterday." Cheerilee's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly.

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"Well," said Death grimacing. "I suppose then that your actions were understandable, if not excusable. I also assume after her outburst she missed the rest of the lesson?"

"Yes." said Cheerilee. "It was a lesson on magical theory. She'll have to catch up."

"I'm quite capable of explaining the basics to her. She shouldn't need any additional help in the subject." Cheerilee nodded. "Scootaloo, could you step outside for a moment?" Scootaloo shrugged and hopped off of the chair before leaving the room. Once the door was closed Death began to speak in a low voice.

"I trust that these two pupils will be spoken too."

"Yes," Cheerilee sighed. "I know that the two students in question have quite a rivalry with Scootaloo and her friends, but I hadn't thought they would harbour such ill will towards her."

"Foals bicker." said Death. "I know, but you're right. This is getting out of hoof. I would like to request that I decide her punishment. It appears she will need to learn how to control herself better."

"And I will keep and closer eye on them all."

Meanwhile, outside the office Scootaloo was once again bored. Her legs still hurt slightly so she once again sat down next to the door. Scootaloo didn't know what they were talking about in there. She could only hope that her master and teacher wouldn't give her too harsh of a punishment. Scootaloo sighed. This day sucked.

"Oh, hello Scootaloo." said a voice from beside her. Scootaloo turned her head and saw noneother than Twilight Sparkle standing awkwardly beside her.

"Err... hey." said Scootaloo quietly. Neither of them said anything for a few moments.

"I'm sorry about what happened in class." said Scootaloo simply. Meeting Twilight's eyes. Twilight smiled.

"It's fine. I'll admit I was more surprised than offended. I thought you were talking to me."

"No, I wasn't."

"I know." Scootaloo almost winced. The awkward silence had returned. "Then again, I know most people are bored by magical theory" said Twilight.

"I wasn't." said Scootaloo quickly. Twilight's expression brightened

"Oh?" she said. "Did you like it?"

"Yeah, it was interesting." It was true. Scootaloo had found it more interesting than she'd thought she would originally. Especially since she knew she'd be casting magic in the future.

"Well, then. Since I assume Miss Cheerilee is busy with your father. Would like to hear more about it?" said Twilight, sitting down on the floor next to Scootaloo

"Sure." said Scootaloo, smiling.

Death was pleasantly surprised when he exited Cheerilee's office about ten minutes later to find Scootaloo talking to whom he could only assume was Twilight Sparkle. He had never met Twilight Sparkle, his occupation usually didn't leave much time for meeting other ponies, at least those on the mortal plane. But the magic coursing through her was unmistakable to his enhanced senses. He could hear it humming from inside her. Only an alicorn or the element of magic could possess such pure power, and she wasn't an alicorn.

"Hello?" he said, interrupting what he guessed was an explanation of basic magical theory. She must have been the guest speaker then.

"Oh, hello!" the mare said as she hastily got up off of the floor, looking slightly embarrassed. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, I was just talking to Scootaloo here about what she missed in the lesson today."

"Nothing too complicated I hope?" said Death.

"Oh no, just the basics."

"Good," Death grinned. "I was hoping to teach her the more advanced magical theories myself." Twilight looked intrigued.

"Do you have an interest in magical theory?"

"Yes. My special talent is mathematics you see." he nodded towards his cutie mark. "So although I'm not a unicorn I find the equations involved to be fascinating."

"Really? I've never come across an earth pony with a love of magic if you don't mind me saying."

"No not at all infact-"

"Am I being punished or not?" Scootaloo interjected, impatiently.

"Miss Cheerilee told me that you're free to go and enjoy the rest of your recess. I will decide the rest of your punishment once we get home."

Scooterloo grinned. She couldn't believe her luck.

"Thanks!" she called as she hurried off down the hall as fast as her aching legs would carry her.