It was a warm, summers evening in the Crystal Empire, and a familiar group of humans and pony children were heading back to the Crystal Palace after a day of playing at the waterpark that had just opened up, "Man, that was a lot fun!" Josh commented, as they walked along the streets.
"Yeah, but I kept getting water up my nose," Kelly complained.
"That's why I got goggles with a nose guard," Toby replied, as the neared the plaza just before the palace.
"Hey, who's that?" Lucky Joy questioned. Looking to where she was referring to, they saw what appeared to be a human girl with a stoic expression, looking back at them. She had long, black hair, and blue eyes, and was wearing a Gothic Lolita dress. Mike then noticed something about her eyes: the whites of her eyes were just as black as her hair. He was about to tell the others, when a cabbage cart rushed by.
"NO! MY CABBAGES!" the pony selling the cabbages lamented, as he chased after it. When it passed, the girl was gone.
"Hmm? Where'd she go?" Drake questioned. His question soon answered itself, when they felt an ominous presence behind them.
Later, back at the Crystal Palace,
"Hey Mommy! We're back!" Nathan called out. The adults all peered out from a room.
"Oh good, did you have fun?" Cadence asked.
"We did, plus, Ah think we made a new friend," Nathan said, casually pointing to a headless body. This caused Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Celestia, and Shining Armor to shriek.
"Son, what are you doing, bringing a headless body like that home with you?!" Shining Armor yelled.
"How did you even find this.... body?" Twilight questioned hysterically.
"We're not really sure ourselves," Cory replied.
Flashback, about five minutes ago,
After seeing the mysterious girl disappear, their suspicions were confirmed when a scythe was at Toby's neck, but the blade didn't even touch him. Lifting it off of him, he saw it was just a toy, "A fake scythe?" Mike pondered, as they all turned to see a headless body, desperately searching around for something. Charity, Serenity, Melody, Clover, Nyx, and Trinity all fainted, as made evident of their souls leaving their bodies through their mouths.
"Hold on Serenity! I got your soul!" Toby said, as he, Mike, Nathan, Josh, Conner, and Timmy all grabbed the girl's souls, and fed them back into their mouths. It was then that Crystal felt something tugging her outfit. She then saw the body, tugging on her swimsuit in a pleading fashion.
Real Time,
"And after that, we figured we'd bring her back here," Chris explained.
"So, she lost her head?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"That's not the kind of thing you just loose," Rarity commented.
"I think I remember Eliza talking about some kind of spirit from Celtic folklore, but I'm not too sure about the name of the spirit," Kelly commented.
"I think we should try and find her head," Chris suggested.
"A noble notion. We shall set out at once!" Luna declared.
"Now you kids stay put and watch over our.... guest," Cadence instructed, as the adults and Cory left the castle.
After about fifteen minutes of searching,
The Royal Sisters, Crystal Couple, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all regrouped near the castle, "Any luck?" Celestia asked.
"No. I searched everywhere close to where the kids found the body," Rainbow Dash replied. It was then they heard high pitched screaming coming from the park.
"That sounded like Pinkie Pie, or Rarity, or Fluttershy!" Twilight commented, as they rushed over to the park. There, they saw the three aforementioned ponies, standing before an unconscious Cory and Chris, "What happened?!" Twilight asked.
"Well, we searching the park, when we heard these two screaming, then we saw THAT!" Rarity exclaimed, pointing to a small clearing. Shining a flashlight over to where she was pointing, they saw the head of a little girl, with pitch black hair.
"Could that be the head?" Cadence wondered, gingerly approaching the head.
"Be careful Cadence," Celestia warned.
"I will be," Cadence replied, kneeling down to look at the head, "Um, excuse me? We found your body. Would you like us to bring you to it?" she offered, but got no reply.
"Maybe the head can't talk with it's body?" Applejack theorized.
"Could be. In any case, we should take the head back to the castle," Cadence suggested, reaching for the head, when,
"Do not touch me so casually," the head spoke. This made them all jump back, "I am a dullahan, the harbinger of death," the head spoke with an accent similar to Cadence's homeland of Prance, "It would appear you've all been caring for mon body. For that, I am truly grateful," the head spoke in a dark tone.
"Whoa, this girl's nothing like her body. It's kind of a klutz," Rainbow Dash whispered to Shining Armor.
"I will admit, it is rather shameful that I must be revealed to you in this form. I must beseech you mortals to restore moi to mon body, and let mon powers of darkness to be returned," the head proclaimed.
"Uh.... come again?" Cadence asked. The head became irked by this.
"Insolent mortal! Do not mock me! I am death incarnate! You must restore me to my former glory!" the head demanded, only to get some confused looks from the adults, "Um, I'm asking if you could take me back to mon body. it's not very comfortable being just a head," the head clarified, making a pouty face.
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Cadence asked, as she picked up the head.
"You say you're the harbinger of death. You're not going to try and kill any one, are you?" Twilight asked.
"My kind only comes for those whose times are drawing to a close. We make no time for the living," the head replied, before bursting out laughing.
"What's all this about?" Shining Armor asked.
"I-I-I-I DON'T KNOW! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! It would appear *laughs* that someone is tickling mon feet!" the head replied, laughing again.
"Tickling your feet?" Rarity parroted. Then, it hit them.
Back at the castle,
"Y'know, this feel's kinda weird. Without a head, I can't tell if she's enjoying the massage," Toby commented, massaging the body's feet. it was then the body retracted her feet.
"Maybe she didn't like it?" Kelly theorized.
Back with the adults,
The head eventually stopped laughing, donning her gloomy expression once more, "What happened?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I couldn't take any more of that tickling, so I tucked my feet in," the head replied.
"Well, we should get back now," Luna suggested, as they headed back to the castle.
Back in the living room,
The body soon placed the head on it's neck, "There, all better now?" Cadence asked.
"Oui," the girl replied.
"Uh, sorry if you didn't like the massage I was giving you," Toby apologized.
"It's fine. Mon feet are quite ticklish," the girl replied.
"Wait, so you can feel what happens to your body, even when your head's not attached?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Oui," the girl replied.
"So, would you like anything to drink?" Cadence offered, giving her a cup of milk.
"Oui," the girl replied, taking her head off, and pouring it directly into her throat. This action caused most of the adults and the kids to faint.
"Not sure if I can call that 'drinking'," Rainbow Dash commented.
"Can you eat that way too?" Pinkie Pie asked, offering some cookies, which the body seemed rather excited for.
"Oui. It helps when eating something I don't particularly like," the girl replied, as Pinkie poured some cookies down the body's throat. It was then that the fainted regained consciousness.
"You said you were the harbinger of death. Is this true? Is someone going to die?" Twilight asked. Everyone broke out in a cold sweat.
"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. It is not my place to tell," the girl replied.
"Are you sure you're tellin' us the truth?" Applejack asked.
"Oui. Much like death itself, I cannot determine who is destined to die," the girl replied, only to find Applejack and Season Harvest staring relentlessly into her eyes. This made the girl uncomfortable, so much so, that she ran away, and clung to Nathan's arm, "W-Well, maybe we're not the harbingers of death, per say, but...." the girl was cut off when she saw the others all staring at her just as relentlessly as the farm ponies, "Ok, ok! Dullahan's aren't actually harbingers of death! My name is Mavis Gustou, and I come from a high class neighborhood in Paris, France! What more do you want from me?!" she cried, spilling the beans about everything, including stuff that wasn't related to the topics at hand. Cadence, feeling compassionate, came over to her, and pulled her into a comforting hug.
"You needn't worry, Mavis was it? We won't judge you for not being like the stories tell you to be," Cadence cooed. Mavis felt at ease with this.
"You know, Mavis might benefit from a visit to Ponyville. At least that way, she can get to know Equestria a little better," Josh suggested.
"You may be on to something," Nyx replied.
From there, Mavis went on to being accepted into the Equestrian circle of friends, and made plenty of them, including the Northern Grotto Nymphs, while also eluding two power hungry unicorns, and facing the ghosts of her past.