Fluttershy: the Grim Reaper
By Every Day we Shufflin
Chapter 1:
Death.
Just a moment ago, she was in her hospital bed, surrounded by friends and family. She knew what was coming, had known for the better part of a year, and was expecting it. She wasn't too old; actually, she was the first of her group of friends to go. But she didn’t know what would happen to her after she passed. But for some reason, this felt right.
Fluttershy felt weightless, calm, no need to worry anymore. So why did she still feel so present? She opened her eyes and looked around, surprised at what she saw. She was floating in a strange black sky, it was difficult to tell, but it certainly seemed that way. She didn’t feel any air rushing against her fur; she couldn’t hear any wind. She could only see a sea of black sky, along with barely visible dark grey clouds.
Fluttershy spun around, looking for anything else, anyone else. Then she saw it. There was a strange rectangular doorway of some sort, made of pure light, or what she could perceive as pure light. She felt the urge to walk into it. It seemed so inviting. But she was hesitant. This had to be it. Going into the light. She contemplated this for longer than she expected to be doing it. Of course, she didn’t actually know how long. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Probably not hours, but she wasn’t sure, but to make this final leap, or at least what she assumed was the final leap, well that was tough.
“Fluttershy, right? How’s it goin’?” Fluttershy heard a higher but nasally voice from behind her. She quickly spun around to where she heard the voice, to see a small filly. If she was a betting mare, she assumed she would probably be about six years old, not even a cutie mark. Her coat was white, with a black mane and tail, and she had what looked to be a black hoodie on her.
Fluttershy continued to stare at her, blinking multiple times, before lightly shaking her head to wake herself up. She didn’t want to be rude, odd as this was, so she answered the question as best as possible, “Oh… I’m fine, I think. A little confused.”
The filly smiled in a way Fluttershy was uncertain how to take, so she just smiled back. The filly then walked calmly towards Fluttershy. “Yeah, most creatures are when they come here. You’ll find you will understand it sometime soon,” she paused for a second before perking up. “So! Do you have any questions?”
Fluttershy didn’t need to think about it for more than half a second. “Am I… dead?”
The filly gave a slight chuckle before answering, “Always the first question anyone asks,” she said. “Yes, you are, my dear. You have passed on from the living world and entered the next.”
“Well, I suppose I was ready for that, not that much of a shock,” Fluttershy said before she stood there longer than she might have wished, trying to think of another question. “So then… Who are you?” She probably knew the answer for this one as well, but she wanted to make sure.
“Well, I’m glad you asked,” the filly started, “You can probably already gather by context clues. I’m Death, otherwise known as the Grim Reaper, and also known as…” she thought for a second before shrugging. “Something else, I’m sure. I can’t keep up with these names you all give me, even if I have had a long enough time to do so.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yeah, I thought so; I just… I didn’t expect you to be so… Young. Or gendered. Or perhaps physical at all.”
Death giggled. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call myself young. I know you’re confused about that, don’t worry about it. If you want, I will explain it all to you.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to waste your time,” Fluttershy said.
Death waved a hoof in dismissal. “Nonsense! It’s my favorite part of the job!”
“Well… then I am interested,” Fluttershy smiled and sat down, ready to listen, and death did the same.
“Well, how I got the ‘job’ of Death is an interesting tale, to say the least,” she started, “I used to be a regular filly, I loved my parents, I would go outside and play, the school was the worst, but I made friends, kept my grades up. My parents said I was a prodigy that I was going places! I was the star of my own world. It wasn’t that I liked school, or learning, or that I was even that smart; I was just a good listener. But one day, I finished my homework early, before dark. I had time to play. There were these woods outside my house that I would explore sometimes, and I enjoyed it. It was getting dark, and I knew I had to get home, but I couldn’t see. I tried to find my way back, but I wasn’t able to. I tripped on a rock or something, I fell down a hill, and hit my head.”
“Oh, no!” Fluttershy squeaked.
“I woke up here, where I met an old pony. He explained what was going on, and he tried to ask me some things, but I just started asking him about himself. He was surprised. He told me his story and said he had been here for thousands of years; he helped ponies cross over and accept whatever fate may befall them when they cross that door. Eventually, I decided to help him cross. I asked to take the mantle, and I still have never seen anyone so happy to go through that door.” Death finished.
Fluttershy sniffed and wiped tears from her face, “How long have you been here?”
“Well, time works much differently over here. Every new soul that comes in here, time for you stops, so that I can keep up. Sometimes it can take days or even months to get the courage to go through that door. For me, I would estimate I’ve been here around a million years. For you, I would say around 300. But I wouldn’t quote me on that.” Death explained.
“Wow. And you still remember all that?” Fluttershy looked astonished.
“Well, there are some things you never forget,” Death said.
“Why did he choose you to take his place?”
“I asked him if he wanted to go, and he said yes,” explained the filly.
Fluttershy continued to think about questions. “Did your parents ever… you know… meet you here?”
The filly nodded. “My mother couldn’t live without me, she… she ended her own life a few months after. My dad came here long after that. He never had another kid, never remarried. It came as a surprise to both when they saw me again. I hope that whenever I go through the door, they will be there waiting for me.”
Fluttershy sighed. It was unfortunate the filly had to learn about her parents’ tragic lives and deaths, but it probably wouldn’t do well to dwell on that subject, so she changed it after what she thought was an appropriate amount of time, “How did you know my name when I first got here? You are very clearly not the depiction of Death that would have some paper for that or something, so how did you know?”
“When a pony, dragon, griffon, or what have you dies, I get a sort of flash of their previous life, just the bases, to know who they were on a basic level, as well as I just know their name, I don’t question it; I just let it happen,” she explained.
“So, you guide ponies to the afterlife, clearly, but how do you do this? And why? It seems like a fairly simple task for ponies. Just walk through the door,” the yellow mare asked.
“I help them come to terms with what has happened, and I help bring them closure. Sometimes when they awaken here, they will be confused, they won’t understand, they will need someone to help them.”
“And what is beyond the door?”
“If I’m honest… I don’t know. I’m not supposed to know. Perhaps it’s heaven. Maybe it’s a gate to reincarnation. Maybe it’s nothing,” she answered.
Fluttershy and Death sat in silence for a minute. Neither of them seemed to mind; just having the company was good enough for both. Fluttershy started to glance around; the black void surrounding them seemed to pique her interest at least a bit.
“This place should be scary,” Fluttershy started. “But it’s kind of nice.”
“Somehow, it never grows old. You would think after centuries of staring into only an endless void of black, with only a doorway of pure light would get boring, but it never does,” Death said, calmly looking around on her own.
Fluttershy had been meaning to ask something but didn’t want to come off as rude, but she figured if she didn’t say something now, when would she get the chance again?
“So the hood,“ She tried to find the right words; it was a weird thing to bring up, after all. “Has it always been on you? Is it just a coincidence that the usual depictions of Death back in the living world also have a hood? And why is it so modern?”
Death looked curious at her; she didn’t expect a question like that. “That’s a new one… It kind of just came with the job. I think it updates with the living, I don’t have any influence on the living world, so I’m not sure about that. But I’ll be honest; I haven’t paid attention.”
“Well, at least you’re keeping up with the trends, even on accident,” Fluttershy commented, earning a slight chuckle from the filly.
“You’re very approachable; it seems,” Death said.
“Oh, thank you,” Fluttershy replied, blushing, “I try to be as welcoming as I can, though it’s not always easy.”
“You don’t see a lot of ponies with that sort of spark nowadays.”
Once again, the silence broke out between the two. Fluttershy stood up and walked around for a minute, looking over at the door for a few seconds before thinking even more. She felt like she should take the final steps forward. But she couldn’t bring herself to it. She didn’t know why. She thought she had closure, that it was her time. But it didn’t feel right.
“Ready to go?” the high, nasally voice inquired from behind.
Fluttershy continued to argue with herself for a full minute before speaking again, “If you could stop being Death, would you?” she asked, turning around. “You have been here for so long, waiting to find out what’s behind that door. What do you want?
Death thought that was a curious choice of words but answered anyway. “Well... Yes, I probably would. I would need to prepare myself, and I would need a successor, but I would.”
“And if I told you I would be willing to take your place?” the pegasus asked. “Do you think I would be a good choice?”
Death didn’t seem to need to think about it; she just looked at Fluttershy and gave a big smile.
“A good choice?!” she exclaimed. “I would think you are the perfect choice! Perhaps even better than myself.”
The tiniest of smirks dug into Fluttershy’s face. “You probably know what I’m about to ask, then?”
Death took in a deep breath. She was expecting this from the way the conversation was heading. “I suppose I do… But would you even want to?” she questioned.
“Would you object?”
The filly took a pause, being the one to think to herself this time around. “No.”
“Then yes,” Fluttershy finally answered.
Death looked quizzically. “But why? Why would you want to do this? You spend years of your life doing this for what amounts to prolonging your fate, no breaks from it, a constant stream of death pouring in that you need to take care of. I guarantee if heaven and hell exist, you will go on the upside of that. Why wouldn’t you want to go through there? You lived a good life; why do you want to do this?”
“Why did you?” Fluttershy asked.
There was yet another brief pause before the pony in question spoke, “Because I wanted to help. I never got a chance at life, so I wanted to make others’ deaths better.”
“I did have my life, but I also want to help even more than I already have,” Fluttershy explained. “You are tired. I can see it. I think you should rest. You deserve it already.”
Death looked down, contemplating what the mare had just said, before slowly nodding her head. “You know what? I think you’re right. I have been in here for too long. Perhaps it is my time.”
“You can think about it as long as you like,” Fluttershy said.
“No, you’re right,” Death started. “I have been putting this off myself for years; it is high time my journey comes to a close.”
“Well, you never know. Maybe your real journey is just beginning.”
“Can we just… Rest before?” the young-looking filly asked.
“Take all the time you need,” the yellow mare responded, sitting back down.
They sat there for seemingly days, barely moving or saying a word. Perhaps on occasion, Fluttershy would ask a question about being Death. Still, ultimately she didn’t have as much to ask as she thought she would. The time seemed to be at a still; they had been lost in thought; Fluttershy could only imagine what was going through Death’s head at the moment. Years of this “life” only for someone to come and take it like that, so unexpectedly?
But over time, Fluttershy noticed Death didn’t seem as bothered; in fact, it seemed she was coming to terms with it.
Death finally stood up, and Fluttershy knew what this meant. The pegasus gave a quick knowing nod, and the filly walked past her, heading towards the door, hoof steps echoing throughout the chamber.
“Ready to go?” Fluttershy spoke, looking towards her.
“Yes,” there was barely any time between the reply. It was clear that the child was ready.
“Can I ask you just one more thing?”
The filly nodded.
“What do you think is through that door?” she asked, but continued, “I know you don’t know, but what is your theory?”
“Well, if our souls are brought here after we die, I assume this means that there is at least something else out there. I mean, if there wasn’t anything at least higher up, I don’t think we would be talking right now. So I suppose my hopes are pretty high that there is something good,” Death answered, “You were waiting for that to be the last thing you asked me, weren’t you?”
Fluttershy blushed. “I thought it would make for a nice close to our meeting.”
Death chuckled one final time. “And did it?”
“I certainly think so.”
“Me too,” With a nod, Death turned towards the door and started walking again. “Good luck Fluttershy!” she exclaimed, not looking back.
“You as well!” Fluttershy said, waving one final time, as her newest friend took one last step into the door, light engulfing her until she was no longer visible.
Fluttershy was alone. But she was excited to take on the new challenge ahead of her. She looked down; a hoodie had seemed to place itself over her. She felt something was coming, and she knew she was ready for it; after all, she was now Death. She was now the Grim Reaper.
Author's Note
It feels good to write again. I actually started to write this a couple of months back, and only really started getting serious about it last month. I don't think the chapters will be particularly long, heck, maybe not even longer than this, but I am hoping I can get those in their best forms, short or long. I really hope you enjoyed it, I certainly enjoy this more than my previous works.
