Darkness. Nothing but darkness. Darkness and an absence of feeling. No sensation, no emotion, nothing but empty blackness so far as the eye could see. Which wasn't very far at all, actually.
Princess. . .
Was this all death had to offer? This oppressive emptiness?
Princess. . . Open your eyes, Princess. . .
Had she truly gone to such great lengths for such a disappointing result? Or was she trapped in a purgatory of some sort, as punishment for taking her own life?
Well, neither actually. Look, Princess, could you please open your eyes?
Twilight felt as though she were on the verge of tears. She had killed herself to answer that greatest question, the question that had baffled scholars for millenia, only to find that the answer was spirit-crushingly disappointing. Well, at least she would have something to tell everypony when she was revived. That is, if the burst of energy managed to do it without rupturing something important, Otherwise she would just wind up back here.
Come on, Princess, open your eyes. This is getting really tiresome.
To think that she might have to spend the rest of eternity here. . . the thought was almost too much for her to bear.
Hey now, that's not fair. How do you know you'll enjoy living, or rather dying, somewhere if you won't even OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK AROUND!
And to top it all of, there was that annoying voice, nagging her about something or other. She had no idea what that was all about.
Oh, so I'm annoying now? About thirty seconds ago, you couldn't even bother to acknowledge me, and now I'm annoying? Do you know what's really annoying. Having to deal with an angsty, obsessive-compulsive, death-obsessed alicorn princess, who believes that she can attempt to cheat Death and tamper with the fundamental laws of nature simply because she wants to answer a question! That's annoying!
Was the voice. . . telling her off? Had she gone full-tilt insane or-
"For the love of all that is sacred, open your damn eyes, or I swear I will remove your eyelids and make sure they stay open!"
That definitely hadn't come from her head. Was she really dead then? Or had the spell already revived her and death was merely a state of eternal unconsciousness?
"No, Princess, I assure you that you are very dead."
Twilight had no idea who was talking, or how they were reading her thoughts. Come to think of it, if she were dead, how was anypony even capable of talking to her? It was after questioning this logic that Twilight became aware of the fact that she was not, in fact, floating through the infinite void. She was lying down on a bed. A very soft bed. So soft, it was almost like it wasn't there. Softness. Softness was a sensation. Sensation meant the presence of senses which meant the presence of a body with which to sense. Therefore she must have a body. To test her theory, Twilight tried to move her right fore-hoof. It was exactly where it should have been, and moved exactly how it should. If her hooves were there, then the rest of her body must be there as well. She'd heard somepony or something speaking to her, so she probably had ears. At the least, she had properly functioning ear canals. And was that. . . potpourri? Yes, it was potpourri! So she definitely had a nose.
"Look, this little bit you're doing, right here, rediscovering your body; it's cute and all, but I'm really starting to lose my patience. So let me do this last bit for you."
Twilight felt herself lift off the bed. She was flipped so that her hooves faced the floor and then dropped. As soon as she hit the floor, her eyes were torn open by some unseen force. Well, not really unseen. Twilight could see the aura of magic being cast and the pony casting the magic stood directly in front of her. She was rather tall, at least as tall as Celestia. Her mane was reddish-brown and her hair was bright white. Twilight couldn't see the mare's cutie mark from where she stood, but what she could see was a pair of wings and a horn. Could this possibly be. . .?
"Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I am--"
"You're Tau Sunflare!" Twilight interrupted enthusiastically.
"Yes, Twilight, I-- well, actually, no, I'm--"
"OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOSH; if your Tau Sunflare, then that means I've been sent to some sort of heaven! It means you exist! I mean, I've always had my doubts, but--"
The pony who looked like Tau Sunflare placed a hoof on Twilight's muzzle, silencing her.
"No more words, Ms. Sparkle. Please, just let me explain a few things. First off, I'm not Tau Sunflare. I just assumed this form because I thought it would make you more comfortable. Obviously, based on your outburst, it's made you a little too comfortable."
"Heh, heh. . . yeah, sorry about that. Hey, wait. . . if you aren't--"
"Please save all questions until the end of my explanation. To continue on Tau: she was in fact a real pony. Was she incredibly powerful and proficient in magic? Yes. Was she a god? That's debatable. Is her presence any sort of indication that you are in Heaven? Certainly not."
"Well, thank you for clarifying, but--"
"Ms. Sparkle, please. Try not to interrupt. Secondly, you are not in purgatory, as you originally believed. Nor are you in Heaven. Don't look so frightened Ms. Sparkle; you aren't in Hell either. Now, any questions before we move on?"
"A few, yes."
"Then go ahead."
"First: who are you? What's your name? And what do you mean assumed this form? Are you some kind of changeling?"
The pony that wasn't Tau chuckled to herself. Or was it himself? Either way, he/she/it was laughing.
"It's been quite some time since anypony asked me that question. At least a thousand years. Give or take a century. Very well, then. The name I bore when I walked Equus was Dread. I was, and still am, Equestria's reaper. As for the assuming of different forms, well, that comes with the job. If anypony saw what I really looked like, nopony would ever follow me anywhere, and then how would I get anything done?"
Twilight was confused. Really confused. So confused, that to describe her level of confusion, you would likely have to create a whole new word.
"Reaper? Your job? What are you even talking about?"
"Ah, yes. It's easy to forget what a piss-poor job Celestia's done educating you. Not you specifically, Equestrians in general. Though I suppose when a war ends in stalemate, it's up to the survivors to write history."
"What does that even mean?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing, just thinking out loud. Does the term "Harmony Wars" mean anything to you?"
"No. Should it?"
"No, it shouldn't. Now where were we? Oh, right, you were questioning my occupation. It's funny how trying to answer one question has already lead to so many others, isn't it?"
"I'm used to it. It's part of the learning process. You ask questions and keep asking until you get all the answers you need. Now could I get an answer?"
"Yes, you can. A reaper is an immortal, omniscient being whose responsibility it is to keep balance between the living and the dead in their respective dimension. Every dimension has it's own reaper, but we all share an after-life. There. Now you know what my job is. As for the shape-shifting... to be honest, reapers as a species are pretty damned ugly. Frighteningly so, even. So we take on the form of the most intelligent creatures in the world we inhabit. But I hate dolphins, so ponies were the next best thing."
"So there are more of you? In other worlds?"
"That's what I just said, yes."
"Even in that world I visited, with all those... things walking around on two legs?"
"I believe they're called humans, but yes."
"Okay, that answers one question. Now could you tell me exactly why you have to change your form?"
"Like I said, my people are naturally hideous. We just don't want to frighten the creature's we interact with with our terrible uglyness."
"But you only ever interact with the dead. It's not like they can run from you."
"True they can't; but if you'll remember what I mentioned about keeping balance...."
"... Wait. You mean you can interact with the living too?"
"Right on the nose, Ms. Sparkle. Though I personally have had those privileges revoked."
"How'd you do that?"
"Not my tale to tell, Ms. Sparkle. If it's any consolation to you though, I could assume the form I took when I walked the bloodstained soils of a wartorn Equestria."
"Pardon? Bloodstained? Wartorn?"
"Look, do you want me to change or not?"
"Uh, sure. Go ahead."
"Great. To be honest, I was getting a little uncomfortable, being a mare and all. I'm not exactly used to having... well, you know."
"I don't, actually."
"And you're supposed to be Celestia's star pupil. Anyway, just go ahead and turn around for a minute. The transmogrification process is a little graphic, to say the least. I wouldn't want to scar you."
"I could just close my eyes."
"Yeah, you could. But I don't trust that you'll be able to open them again. So turn around."
Rolling her eyes, Twilight turned around. Directly behind her was an open window; an opening out of which Twilight could see blue skies and white, fluffy clouds. Birds were singing, squirrels were chasing each other in the grass below and Canterlot Castle was as glorious and-
"Wait, what?" Twilight questioned. "Canterlot Castle? How's that even possible?"
Twilight was so confused by her discovery that she was oblivious to the noise caused by : crunching bones, tearing flesh the thud of false wings falling to the floor. It was really quite disgusting. But Twilight failed to notice any of it, so engrossed with the enigma at hoof was she. After all, she had performed the suicide spell at her library home in Ponyville. So how was it she'd wound up so close to Canterlot Castle? Was she truly dead? Was this "Dread" simply a mare-napper, playing some twisted mind-game before doing unspeakable things to her?
"You know that's not possible, Miss Sparkle." said a relatively masculine voice from behind Twilight. "It's a good days journey from Ponyville to Canterlot. Somepony would have noticed somewhere in-between if I was just casually walking about with an unconscious princess of Equestria on my back. And like i said before, you are very much dead."
"That whole reading my thoughts thing is starting to get a little uncomfortable."
"You forfeited your right to comfort the moment you killed yourself, Miss Sparkle. Now, if you would turn back around, we'll be on our way."
"On our way where?" Twilight questioned, as she turned to face Dread. "I don't even know where we are now."
As she finished her sentence, Twilight came full circle and laid her eye on the newly transformed Dread. He'd become a unicorn stallion of average height. He had black hair, a white mane and eyes of a color Twilight couldn't really identify. Some strange shade of bluish-green.
"I've never really been sure what this place is called," Dread replied, "but I've always called it Memory Lane."
"And why is that?"
"Why don't you take a look around this room and find out."
Twilight did as Dread said and gave the room a general scan. Something about the way it was laid out was eerily familiar. It was almost like she'd been here before. In fact, she had been here before. This was her old room, back at her parents house in Canterlot. Or at least, what it used to look like. Twilight hadn't had a My Little Gecko poster in years, yet there it was, hanging on the wall. What a great series of books that had been.
"You're getting a little off track Miss Sparkle."
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I just really liked those books. Anyway, how is any of this even stuff even here? My room hasn't looked this since before I was Celestia's pupil."
"Memory Lane, Miss Sparkle. Reapers have to keep track of all the dead in their world, and all the actions performed by those dead. It's a difficult, time-consuming and altogether tedious job. Sometimes we miss a few things, a wandering spirit gets put somewhere it shouldn't be and then the whole afterlife is thrown out of balance. So some millenia ago, the Grand Reapers found an empty pocket of space-time and created this place as a projection of the memories of the deceased, used as a reference point for what kind of pony or person or what-have-you they were in life. After a brief trip down memory lane we make an evaluation of that creature and place them where we feel they belong."
"And where is that, exactly?"
"Follow me and find out. What do you say, Miss Sparkle? Care for a stroll down memory lane?"
"Not really, no. But I did come here to learn. And I'm pretty sure that question was more of a formality anyway. I mean, do I really get a say in the matter?"
"No. No you don't. Now come along, Miss Sparkle. There's much to see, much to learn."
Opening the door of Twilight's memory bedroom, Dread stepped out and motioned for Twilight to follow. As he walked away, Twilight caught a glimpse of his cutie mark. It was a harvesting scythe overlayed by an equine skull. The image stayed planted firmly at the front of Twilight's mind as she followed Dread through the door.