Otherwise known as, ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE.
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They all stood there, not knowing what to do.
It was in the clearing where Reaper last spoke to Steelfeather, he always liked that place.
It was raining, three days after the final battle between Reaper and Nightmare. It was his funeral. The six flanked the princesses, all openly weeping, tears splashing on the ground. In his coffin, Reaper lay there, with that smile plastered on his face that he died with. They were all accustomed to his razor-sharp teeth. His hands were clasped over the LMG he brought with him from Earth, helmet resting on his breast. his suit and body showed no sign of war or battle, as if he peacefully died in his sleep. Celestia wanted to reach out, feel her son for one last time, but she knew it was time. With a nod to the Guardsponies, Reaper was slowly lowered into the ground. A squad of Pegasus guardsmen all burst into the sky, spiraling and twisting out to their respective places, and landing. They made small rows, lining the coffin. Drawing their swords, they made a small hallway covering over the gravesite, honoring their mentor. As Reaper made his last decent into the ground, so did the memories of the six.
Applejack looked back at when she first handled talking to Reaper, and how he responded with nothing but respect and honesty.
Pinkie Pie looked back with a small, sad smile when she first glomped Reaper, his reaction of being completely drained mentally.
Twilight looked back at when she first learned that Reaper could control magic. She also remembered that then was also the time when she turned him over to Celestia's guards.
Rarity was sitting there, eyes puffy. While he did not have that much interaction with him, she thought that she could of known him better before he left.
Rainbow Dash was unlike herself, solemn and serious. As Reaper began to make his decent into the cold earth, she threw one of her feathers down the hole, a physical memory for him to take with him. As she tracked it fluttering carelessly down the hole with Reaper, she muttered,
"I got your back."
Fluttershy sat there, dejectedly rubbing at one streak of blood that Reaper had left on her cheek with his hands, refusing to wash it off until she properly got to say goodbye to Reaper.
All of their thoughts finally rested on their last joint memory of him that uncovered some of Reaper's mysterious capabilities. After Nightmare died, they all awoke at once, immediately remembering what they had done with Reaper. They heard some kind of soft sniffling, and they all saw a sight that they never would have guessed to see.
Luna was resting her head on Celestia's shoulder as they both wept bitterly over something held in Celestia's arms. Twilight didn't even need to be one of the smartest unicorns in Equestria to know something was wrong.
And so there they were, all looking at what could have been, the entire world of Equestria not being able to know what they had just sacrificed, or ever getting the will to care. The futility of his sacrifice conflicted with the sheer importance, making it a momentous, quiet occasion that had already been swept under the rug by the general populace.
They all stood there, not knowing what to do.
Slowly, they all began to drift away as the dirt was piled on top of Reaper's coffin.
Applejack went home, and re-named the year's cider stock to the Hooded Alicorn.
Twilight stayed with the two Princesses to help console them before going back to her library, dedicating herself to research and amend all of the misconceptions of Nightmare Moon and her uprisal.
Pinkie Pie went home, a smile plastered on her face, knowing that being with Reaper for his last goodbye would have made him happy.
Rarity found a memory from Reaper implanted into her mind, and immediately set to work making Kevlar fabrics.
Rainbow Dash went home and made her first solo sonic rainboom. It's colors seemed to be ultra-bright as she dedicated it to Reaper.
Fluttershy washed off the grime Reaper left her, and returned home, tending to her animals. She hoped that seeing that she was happy would have made Reaper happy.
The night's following Reaper's death sucked all of the joy from the world, the moon and stars were all snuffed, everyone witnessed the pitch black void that Reaper had to journey to to make sure that they would be safe. If some pony listened hard enough, they could hear a haunting melody drifting through the night. It said,
A falling star fell from you heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore though them and now it's left me blind
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then it stopped and I was in the darkness
So darkness I became
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart
I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart.
Luna sat next to Reaper's grave, staring after her song. She knew that what she was doing needed to be done, but not yet. It doesn't feel right to stop now. Luna looked at the headstone where Reaper was, and leaped into the air to do her nightly duties.
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Later that night, a strange figure appeared not too far from the royal orchard, stalking through the trees. To anyone, even for Reaper, they would have called it a monster. It stalked through the night, body seemingly changing with the breeze, outline dark as the sky above it. It finally came to a stop at the foot of the small mound of dirt from the funeral. It's shape resembled something to Reaper's as it squatted down to pat the mound, and reach for the headstone. It muttered out,
"Never expected to claim you this early, Prince."
A brief shining on the headstone, and it was gone.
--- --- ---
Luna returned from her rounds, and visited Reaper one more time. When she did, she noticed something was wrong. There was writing on the headstone. Luna read over it once and memorized it before rushing off to see her sister.
Sitting on the tombstone, in drawling scrip was a message.
The villain lies slain, the family saved, the friends safe, but the one with two and four inside is lost.
Of the 13 of blood from his coming, and the longest of birth, the grass takes it's domain in the water above the billowing verdant sea.
The creature of four does not remember the two, but yet it will find itself drug back to you.
When night intersects the longest day, the lost will find its way, and in the coming of power, and in the chime of the hour, the two within the four will once again feel the bright of day.
The two will become four, and the four become six, but the two will leave and forever walk away.