As it turns out, a lot had occurred in the day that I've been dead. Some was good, but apparently the death of a few people opened the doors for worse. The Elements of Harmony... while they still retained their base attributes, they were... quite listless. Rainbow Dash, for one, experience whiplash when my wife performed, albeit unintentionally, a sonic rainboom, only to have herself and me die a few years after the fact. Pinkie Pie had since reverted to her old "Pinkamina" state, as Twilight called it. Applejack apparently was fraught with guilt, after misplacing her accusations with me for so long and to have me ultimately denounce them as all false. Rarity had essentially stalled her business, barricading herself within her bedroom to grieve on her own. And Twilight... she herself had become so... unsociable, that rarely did anyone -- er, pony, -- visit her library anymore.
What hit me the hardest though, was my mother. Princess Luna Dresden, according to Twilight, has effectively halted all her duties and has forgone completing them in any sense. My aunt Celestia had selflessly picked them up along with her own, and I assume she could do so effortlessly seeing as how she had done it for a thousand years. According to my informant, Luna herself has locked herself within her room in the East Wing tower, and has set up a magical barrier preventing access by even her own sister. Apparently, Celestia was right when I thought she had died the first time, when she told me the reason she had banished Luna was because she was jealous of her younger sister's power.
Not that sentiment mattered to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I felt terrible. You know how suicide hotlines always tell you there's a better way to make it all stop? How all those posters say that when someone commits suicide, they're really hurting their loved ones, not themselves? Yeah. I was getting a first-hand account of how accurate those things were. Turns out, they were probably right. And to be honest, I was being pretty selfish. After all, I offed myself to be with my wife... obviously, as I'm not posthumously rejoicing, I still haven't found her. Not that it should take much looking, though.
Apparently, according to Twilight, strange supernatural things have been happening in and around Ponyville. Most of it bad, but she told me she once visited my old home... my love's old cottage, and she was chased out by something that really didn't want her there. She described something that resembled a cry of anger and anguish. I could only assume, and hope, really, that whatever Twilight encountered at that cottage was my soul. It would work wonders for me.
Not that I'd have time at the moment. Twilight described something incredibly wrong going on at the elementary school, causing it to have to close down until its... situation was resolved. As it turns out, the location on my "hit card" matched that of the school. The job description matched that of what was going on there. Everything matched, which meant hell had come to pay whoever, or whatever was terrorising the school... literally.
"Princess Luna," called a voice from behind the door to the room.
Luna herself recognised the voice in an instant. "Go away, Captain."
Captain Stargazer had been Princess Luna's one true, faithful friend and confidant. He was almost an eighth her age, and had been her caretaker since her return from banishment. As such, he felt bound to help her in her current crisis. "I'm sorry, your Highness, but I'm afraid I can't do that." He was referring to Luna's previous order for him to leave; contrarily, he had remained outside her chamber doors since she sealed herself away.
"Then leave me alone," Luna cried out into her pillow. "Can't you see I'm busy... wallowing?"
Stargazer sighed. "No, your Highness, I cannot see. But I must implore you rethink what you are doing. The many ponies who depend on your night and your presence are-"
"I don't care about them," Luna shouted. Luckily, only Stargazer could hear her, and he would not comment or repeat that statement, for he knew it was an irrational thought. "What good are they to me if my own son is not here?!"
Stargazer, who was not a father himself, could not relate. Being a celibate guard, he had never married and, ever dutiful, had never engaged in any personal relations with a mare. However, despite these facts, he tried to empathise as best he could, if only to attempt to benefit his charge. "I've heard your son was a great man, your Highness. Word on the street is that he was the complete opposite of Prince Blueblood."
He paused to allow time for Luna to finish her cry of sorrow at the mention of her son. "But I must request you accept your fate and proceed as you would any other time. Would you think your son would want you to remain hidden away, locked in your tower, when duties are still there to be performed?"
This caused Luna to remember back to the night she had first discovered her sister's then-lifeless body. She remembered what Will had told her when she broke down on him. She let a smile, ever faint, slip past her mask of grief, when she remembered that he didn't so much as tell her as he did slap her. "Pull yourself together, Luna! And focus! What's said was said, and I've forgiven you! Now get over it and focus on the task at hand!" The memory did bring back sad memories, which in turn brought fresh tears to her eyes, but she ceded the victory to Captain Stargazer.
"Very well," she told him through the door. "You may come in and tell me about this... issue face to face... I have not the voice to profess my thoughts through the walls." Her horn glowed, adding an exception to the magical aura she'd cast earlier designed to keep even her sister from entering. Stargazer entered without a problem, however, showing that despite the current condition of Luna's emotional state, she could still be trusted to keep her word.
Captain Stargazer stepped into his Majesty's room. "Now, Princess. On the matter of the people..."
The schoolhouse looked to be in very poor shape, despite Twilight insisting that it had only been abandoned for a day. It made me wonder whether or not these ponies took too much interest in the welfare of everything else, if a building couldn't remain operable after a day of not being used. I shudder to think what it would look like after a break. I stood on one side of the doorway, Bill on the other. I reached out to open the door, But Bill hand shot out and grabbed mine,
With his other hand, he pushed something into my own free hand. Looking down, I saw that it was a translucent Python revolver... it had the engravings I'd had carved in mine while I was alive...I looked up at Bill in shock. "How..." I began, but stopped, the words not coming to my mouth.
He chuckled. "Did I get it right? I made it so that you could have a little range on these things."
I looked it over once more, checking to see if all the necessary mechanical parts were in place and, seeing that the ones on the surface were, I responded, "It looks like it. Guess I'll just have to see if it works like it." I prepped the revolver against my leg and with a nod from Bill, slowly opened the door. Bill took point, allowing me to free up some of my thoughts. Not that it mattered, since this schoolhouse was just a single room. A desk sat at the head of the room in front of a blackboard, while several rows of desks were arranged in block formation along the back.
Naturally, the school being one room ,there was only one place the wraith we were here for could be. That being the case, we almost immediately discovered the wraith, the undead spirit of a "Lily Pad." Our presence did not go unnoticed, though, and at our approach she spun around and crouched defensively. Instinctively, I raised my spirit pistol, while Bill took up his duelist's stance.
"Who are you?!" Lily Pad asked, though it sounded like she was shrieking. It didn't bother my ears at all, however, but I could both hear and see a few of the windows shake in their fittings.
"I'm Will, this is Bill," I said, in as calm a voice as I could muster. "We're here to see you."
Her eyes narrowed, doubting the truth of my answer. "How did you know to find me here?"
I smirked. "It wasn't exactly hard to listen in on the living's words. The talk of the town was that strange things were happening in the schoolhouse, so here we are."
"What do you want, then?" I noticed her body tense, as if she was ready to fling herself at me at any moment.
"Frankly, miss," I said, bringing on my older voice in the hopes of appealing to her sense of flattery. I didn't actually know if it would work, of course, but it was about the last speech I had at my disposal. "I just want to know why you are... in the words of the living, mind you, not that I agree with them, but they say you are terrorising the children, and I just want to know what you're doing and why."
"I'M NOT TERRORISING CHILDREN!" She shouted this as loud as I could guess she could scream, and yet it hurt not my ears. Then, as sudden as she was angry, Lily Pad switched moods again, this time careening into sadness. "I'm just looking for my baby!" She fell on her bum, on account that she had fallen backwards, and threw her hands up to her face. She began to cry, which sparked the gentleman in me to action, much to Bill's dismay.
Despite his efforts to hold me back, I walked to Lily Pad and sat next to her. "I'm sure we can help you find your baby, Miss Lily..." I paused, and tried for another flattery piece. "You have a wonderful name, a happy name. Come now," I said, putting on my best smile. "We can find your baby."
"Do..." she stammered. "Do you really think so?" She looked up at me, and I could tell she was not faking her cries.
My gamble had payed off. "Promise."
She sniffed and nodded. After wiping her nose on her sleeve, Lily Pad stood up, and I with her. "Her name," she sobbed. "Is Roseluck."
At that moment, I was stunned. Not because Bill's fears were proved true and this was all a ruse by Lily to defeat me easier, but because I knew Roseluck. Not personally, no, but I always passed by her flower shop and bade both her and her coworker Daisy good morning on my way to the hospital. "Bill," I called. "What time is it?"
Bill looked at his wrist, which bore either an invisible or nonexistent watch, and replied, "It's almost one in the afternoon, why?"
I, both mentally and physically, cheered silently. "Good, we still have time. Let's go find your daughter, Lily. Roseluck, you said her name was, correct?"
"Yes," she nodded.
"Great. I think I might know where she is, then."
"So, Tri- I mean, Silver, sorry. Is there anything I can get you? Tea, maybe? A hay sandwich?"
"No, Miss Sparkle, but thank you. I don't... I don't want to overstay my welcome."
"Oh," Twilight said with a noticeable dip in spirits. "Well, would you like to look for a book while your here? I'm sure I have something you might like. You said were a researcher in Canterlot? I have a couple books based on Starswirl the Bearded's theories on magic application."
Silver Star sighed. "Actually, Miss Sparkle, I think I've stayed long enough. I didn't exactly, er, leave a very good impression last time I was here, so I don't want to chance something coming up. I was already chased by your orange friend..."
Twilight cocked her head. "Who, Applejack? She chased you?"
Silver nodded. "Will, Bill and I were coming here to talk to you, but she saw me and we had to run. She followed us."
"How come she didn't find you here, then?" Twilight, oblivious as always, failed to notice the crates Bill and Will had stacked up behind their living vassal.
"Will and Bill blocked the way with some boxes... though I thought she'd be able to get around them by now..." Pounding on the door pronounced her point. "Speak of the mare..." Silver muttered under her breath.
"I'll..." Twilight began, not sure if she should let Applejack in to possibly hurt Silver Star or to turn her away. She eventually decided on the former, of course. "Let her in, but I'll make her promise to behave. It's... the most I can do."
"Very well, Miss Sparkle," Silver said in a somewhat defeated tone. "I'll manage."
As Twilight went to answer the door, Silver Star sat on the couch, preparing herself for a hailstorm of accusations, criticisms, and insults. When Twilight opened the door, she saw that her preparations were called for. "Twilight," Applejack called. "Th' fact you'd let this here con, this sham, into your own home disappoints me, girl!" Applejack, to Silver's dismay, got very close to her face, staring at her with a very condescending glare. "What have ya gotta say fer yerself, huh?"
"Applejack, please," Twilight pleaded. "Let us tell you why she's here before you start getting on her case."
"Didn't ya see th' way she acted last time she was here, Twilight? She can't be trusted, especially not with important stuff."
"Please," Silver begged, very uncomfortable under the sheer gaze brought on by the orange mare. "I'm not the same mare you know me to be. Please... let me explain..." She shrunk down, cowering deeper and deeper into the couch, trying to hide from the stern stare of the intimidating farm pony.
Applejack stood there for a few moments more, but eventually stepped down after a while. "Alright, but you better come up with a good story, ya hear?"
Silver froze up, but with some encouragement from her once-rival-now-ally, she took a deep breath and began to retell the same tale she told Twilight an hour ago.
"Are you sure you know where my baby is? You seem pretty confidant, but I doubt you really know."
It wasn't the first time during our walk to the flower shop that Lily Pad doubted me. In fact, it was almost a constant slew of second-guessing from her, which more hurt my ears than it hurt my ego, but still. Rolling my eyes, not for the first time, mind you, I responded in the same manner I'd done so for the last ten instances of this same question coming up. "Yes, Miss Lily, I am almost entirely certain I know where your daughter is. Please, just have a little faith in me."
A sigh came from Lily, which was new, but her follow up comment was not. "Very well, I guess I can only put my trust in your conviction right now."
"Please believe me," Bill jumped in. "Will's about the only person short of his mother and aunt that you can put your faith in and not be disappointed by failure. We won't let you down, ma'am. I swear you this."
A moment of silence crept into our group, but it was broken by a question. "Why are you talking in the olden tongue?"
"You mean," I asked for clarification. "Why are Bill and I using old English? That's actually a lot simpler than some would expect."
"Why's that?" Lily asked innocently. Despite her origins, at least... her wraith's origins, I didn't really feel threatened by her. It would probably come to stab me in the back later on, but I honestly didn't view Lily Pad as a threat.
"Well," I told her. "I dunno about Bill, but I'm doing it because it's the best way to flatter someone." I shook my head. "It really used to help when I needed to impress high society. I guess I simply forgot that... those lesser off do not exactly take the time to... put effort into speaking like snobs, I guess." I chuckled in an attempt to show Lily that, if she were of "lesser status," not that I wasn't, I didn't think any less of her. "Too much time spent working and playing, rather than trying to maintain an image of class. 'Tis what I like about these smaller villages; the people are quick, dirty, and to the point. I don't have to worry about poison in my food if I don't speak in the right order."
"Wait..." Lily said, not to stop the train, but to clarify one point that I think I might have let slip. "You... are you saying... you... you can't be..."
Honestly, this was the most terrifying experience with Lily I've had so far. I had no idea what she was talking about, but luckily if anything went wrong I could always count on Bill to pull through in a bind. "What do you mean?"
"Are you... Will? As in, Prince Will? And you," I didn't have to see her to know she was looking at Bill. "You must be Bill Power, Princess Luna's husband..."
Bill visibly tensed, which kind of sent a chill down Lily's spine, but I didn't entirely notice. I was too busy trying not to let certain memories resurface... memories of my life. "Let us please entertain these thoughts no longer, please, Miss Lily. I do not wish to be reminded of many events that occurred during our lives."
"But you're Will, and you're Bill! I can't let this go!" I thought she meant this as a signal to come to conflict, but it was instead a different tone. "You guys are amazing! You-"
"Please, Lily, drop it," I said much more forcefully than I had intended. "I mean it. I don't like some things I did. Let it be."
"Oh..." Her demeanor immediately diminished. "I'm... sorry."
Guilt automatically gripped my heart, and I was spurred to ease her sorrow in way I could. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, Miss Lily. I really am. It's just that... I'm not comfortable speaking about my life. There were too many things that went wrong then, I guess... I guess I just haven't gotten over it yet." Come to think of it, I felt like I was speaking to Silver Star back in the Everfree Forest.
"I... I understand, Will. I'm sorry for bringing it up. I promise I won't do it again."
I sighed. "Now I feel terrible for hurting your feelings." I more directed the next part to myself, but Lily must have heard me or she wouldn't have responded. "It seems to be all I do... Mother... Aunt... F-f-f-f..." I paused. "I can't say it..."
"Your... wife?"
My chest was visible wracked with pain, evidenced by Bill's moving towards me to support me and keep me from tipping over. "Miss Lily," he said. "I think it would be best if this subject was dropped. Why... why don't you tell us what your daughter, Roseluck? looks like, so we can find her more easily."
"Oh... right... Er, she's cream-coloured, and she has a pink-and-red mane... that's... really all I know. I'm guessing since you're taking me to a flower shop she works with flowers, so I think I can assume her cutie mark is a flower of some kind, probably a rose. Will that be enough?"
Being able to stand on my own again, I nodded. "Yes, thank you, Miss Lily." I huffed. "Let us... let us get on with it, then."
*******
It took us another fifteen minutes, but we finally reached the flower shop where I was certain Lily Pad's daughter Roseluck worked. As if on queue, the sign in the window flipped from open to closed, and out came two mares. One I immediately discounted, as I recognised her as Daisy. with her pink coat and off-white mane. The other, with a cream coat and pink-red mane, fit Lily's description exactly. Granted, the description was rather broad, but it was still a match. "Roseluck!" Lily called out, running to her living daughter.
The operative word here was, obviously, living. Lily was neither heard nor seen by her daughter or, any other pony for that matter. I doubted, though, whether that mattered to her or not. Seeing her happy was one of the things I didn't want to admit was on my priorities list and, based on the reaction to seeing her daughter, I could say with confidance that Lily was elated. Bill and I stood at the end of the drive for a few moments before joining Lily by her daughter as the latter walked home while engaged in conversation with her coworker.
"You can't imagine how happy I am to see my baby again..." Lily whispered, knowing only we could hear her.
"Honestly," I said. "You're right. I just hope that I can meet some of my relations."
"Alright," Lily said, and I could hear her changing the subject and tone of the conversation. "I know why you're really here, Will."
I was taken aback. "What do you mean, Miss Lily?"
"You can drop the act, Will. I know you and Bill are Reapers."
"How could you guess that?" I asked incredulously. Do Reapers walk around with their professions stamped to their foreheads or something?
"You aren't haunting anything... not yet at least... not to mention that Reapers can tell each other apart." As if waiting for it to click, she turned to look me in the eyes. Upon closer inspection, I could now realise she had a different... aura about her than the wraith that had possessed Silver Star had. "I know He sent you to me. I know why."
"W-w-why?" I sputtered. "Why would I be sent after another Reaper?"
She sighed. "I'd actually been a good Reaper. I'd been doing my duty for about four years now." Another sigh. "But after I learned that I had a daughter and she was fully grown, I began searching for her." A sniffle this time. "I forewent my Reaping duties and took advantage of my free reign to complete a personal goal. That, as you can probably guess by now, is against the rules."
"But... how did you know you had a daughter?"
"It's the same thing that you told me when we first met: I heard it from the living. 'Lily Pad's filly, Roseluck, she's got that flower shop. It's very pretty.' That's where I heard it from." She paused before adding. "Though, now that I've seen my daughter, and seen how happy she is... my quest is fulfilled. I can go peacefully now."
"Very well," I said. "I guess this is goodbye."
A cough from Bill, though, drew my attention away from Lily to him. He whispered in my ear, "Will, we can't let her go."
I looked at him in shock, but kept whispering. "Why?"
"Our assignment specifically states we must erase her, on the basis that scaring kids is too horrible a crime... look," he said, sensing the protest on my lips before they left my mouth. "I don't want to do this just as much as you want to be reminded of things, but we have to, or we risk the same happening to us... I'm sorry."
I pulled back and stared sadly at Lily. She looked at me quizzically, then asked, "What? Is something wrong?" I took my assignment from Bill and gave it to her. She read it carefully and I could tell her eyes rested on the method of performance. for several moments. "You mean I have to... go... I can't even be remembered by my own daughter."
Tears began streaming from my eyes. "I'm sorry, Miss Lily."
"No, no," she replied, her own voice cracking. "I deserve it. And I wouldn't want the same to happen to you." She sniffled again. "At least I got to see my daughter grown and happy." Huffing, she told me, "Do it. I'm... I'm ready."
My body froze; I was unable to move. Saving my hide, Bill came to me and drew my pistol. Leveling the barrel at her head, Bill placed his finger on the trigger. "I know I'll forget you by the time I pull the trigger," he told her. "But I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and that this will hurt me more in the second it takes you to be erased than it will hurt you." Lily said nothing, so he pulled back.
My eyes shut, so I didn't see just what happened to a wraith, Reaper or not, when they permanently died. The shudder that shot through my spine and up again told me I didn't ever want to find out. Unfortunately, it was then I realised that I was going to have to do this for the rest of my existence... oh, the universe loved to screw me, rain or shine, alive or dead. Thank you, universe.