“…”

“Haha!”

“…”

“Heh, ha!”

"…”

“Ha! …Pinkie, come try this!”

The pink-coated mare touched down next to her friend, bringing her eager watch to the crowd of ponies that unknowingly surrounded the specter of Rainbow. “What is it, Dashie?”

“Watch this!” she commanded, not taking her gaze off the passing townsfolk.

Her eyes weaved through the mass of color until settling on a suitable victim. Rushing forward to meet the aquamarine target that she selected, she landed in front of her path. Setting down one hoof and leaning forward, Rainbow bounded forward, phasing through and planting her four hooves down on the other side of the pony. Instantly, the mare shivered, stopping to draw a hoof closer to her as she recoiled with chattering teeth. “Must be the wind,” she muttered.

Rainbow fell into a giggling fit, a hoof held to her mouth in a vain attempt at self-control. Pinkie, however, was oddly silent.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked all through the passing crowd with a white demeanor. Just as suddenly, she burst into a wide grin. “That gives me an idea!”

“Yeah?” Rainbow replied, her laughing having died down, “What’s that?”

“If we’re ghosts…”

“Yeah?”

“Does that mean…”

“Uh-huh?”

“We…”

“What is it?” Rainbow called eagerly.

“I was getting to that. If we’re ghosts, then does that mean we can possess things like in the stories?”

Rainbow blinked once. Then she looked around at the passing crowd. Finally, she grinned a maliciously mischievous face. “I—”

“Oh, one second,” Pinkie interrupted. She perked her ear out as if listening, then, yelling out to the distance, said, “Good one, Rarity! …Okay, I’m good.”

Rainbow’s eyes furrowed in confusion for a moment, but she shrugged it off. Just Pinkie being Pinkie.

Returning to her prankster thoughts, her mind rushed through all the possibilities that now lay at her undead, mischievous hooves.

Davenport looked helplessly at his store’s ceiling, his mouth hanging agape as he tried to comprehend how the unassuming pegasus in front of him managed to get a sofa stuck to the ceiling.

“I say this a lot,” the gray pegasus said, “But now I really mean it. I just don’t know what went wrong.”

Davenport could only nod.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was busying cackling as she lay on the roof-bound couch. “This is great!” she managed in between breaths, “Oh, this couldn’t be better!”

“You should try being a couch!” the sofa called in a high, energetic voice, “It’s so soft!”

“Ha ha!” Rainbow ducked her head over the armrest, taking a look at the two ponies below them. “Wait, I know how this can get better! Pinkie, if we can take over objects, could we take over ponies too?”

“Ooh, I like how you’re thinking. Try it!”

Rainbow nodded with a mane-shaking nod, diving down next to the pegasus. “How exactly did you do this, Pinkie?”

“Will yourself into something,” the sofa answered, “It’ll feel all woozy at first, it’s really neat! Like, super-neat. And I don’t say that about everything.”

Rainbow set her sights on the pegasus. Ditzy, she remembered her name to be. Well, Ditzy, Rainbow thought, let’s see how much you live up to that name. Reaching out with her hoof, she made “contact,” which also had the effect of sending a small chill through the pegasus. She focused her concentration, following Pinkie’s advice. The effect was instantaneous.

The chromatic mare felt herself being pulled into the other. Although not unpleasant, her friend’s vague description of “woozy” certainly was fitting. She likened it to gliding with along with a strong gust of wind if not for the fact that she was far from flying. Within a moment, Rainbow lost her sense of herself, instead being forced into an unfamiliar form. She blinked, a set of eyelids that weren’t her own following the action. “Did it work?” she said, the thoughts in her head not matching the voice that she heard. That was weird.

“Did what work?” answered not Pinkie, but the stallion present.

Rainbow turned to face him, once again feeling the oddness of the body’s following movements. “Uh…”

“Psst… Rainbow, it worked.”

Rainbow looked up at the sofa, realization dawning on her. “It did? I’m Ditzy?”

“You bet! Bubbles and all!”

Rainbow blinked again, trying to focus her vision. For some reason everything was sort of blurry, like double-vision. Wait, she thought, This must be how Ditzy always sees things. “How can she see like this?” she asked aloud.

“Um,” Davenport said, looking at her with confused scrutiny, “Are you talking to me?”

“Huh?” Rainbow said in Ditzy’s voice, looking back at him.

“You were talking aloud there.”

“Oh. No, I wasn’t talking to you.”

That didn’t help. “Um… then who were you talking to?”

Rainbow looked up at the sofa then back down to the helpless stallion. “The sofa.”

That didn’t help at all. “Uh… okay then… I’m going to see if I can get it down now, if you don’t mind. I have a ladder…” He turned toward his office.

“Oh, wait! Allow me.” Rainbow looked up with her off-set eyes, throwing a wink up to her couch-friend. As if their minds were in tune, Pinkie got the hint. In a moment, the furniture made a steady descent back to the ground. Once it returned to being fully planted on the ground once more, Rainbow turned back to the now wide-eyed shock of the store owner.

“How…?” he muttered.

“Oh, it was nothing special,” she faked modesty.

Davenport closed his hanging mouth, shooting a serious look her way. “No, really how did you do that?”

“Mm…” she mmed, then smirked. “Magic.”

“Magic?” he cried, “But pegasi can’t do magic like that?!”

“Eh, that’s just a rumor,” she bluffed, “Here watch this.” She spoke up, enunciating clearly, “I’ll make that quill jar over there levitate over here.”

Sure enough, it floated up on a whim, crossing the air until landing down next to the “magical” pegasus.

“Magic!” Rainbow triumphantly declared, raising a hoof into the air.

Davenport stared at her for a long second. Then he said, “I need a moment. Please don’t stick anything else to the ceiling.” He left into his office, shaking his head.

Rainbow lasted one moment before bursting out laughing. “We got him good!” she cackled.

Pinkie responded with her own fit of uproarious giggling.

“Whew,” Rainbow commented once she got ahold of herself once again, “How are we supposed to—”

The front door flew open, a foggy mess of smoke billowing into the premises. The two stared in surprise, the form of Pinkie rematerializing next to Rainbow. “Ooh… ominous,” she said, aside.

From the smoke emerged the figure of a tall figure completely draped in black, flowing cloth. From under its hood emerged the skeletal, soulless face of a pony, its empty sockets watching the ground at its bony hooves.

The two parties stared at each other before the newcomer suddenly spoke, its voice raspy and rough. “I’ve waited too long for you two.”

“Yeah?” Rainbow challenged, “And just who are you?”

The skeletal pony looked up suddenly, somehow looking confused despite the lack of facial features. “Wait, what is this? You two are the souls I’ve been sent to retrieve?”

The mares looked at each other. “Uh, probably?” Rainbow answered, “Don’t you know? You just said you’ve been waiting for us.”

The figure cocked its head. “I just say that whenever I’m collecting a spirit that’s evaded death too many times. It creates a dramatic effect.”

“Right… So who are you, again?”

“Don’t you recognize me?” it said, almost sounding hurt.

“Pinkie?” Rainbow prompted to her friend.

“Mm… Nope! Can’t say I do. I definitely would’ve remembered a skeleton. You would be a blast on Nightmare Night.”

“Skeleton…” it said confusedly. Suddenly, it perked up, saying, “Oh, I always forget I’m in this form when I collect souls. One moment please…” A royal blue glow rose up around the figure, encasing it entirely. The ghostly duo watched the display in intrigue as the orb of light steadily died down, leaving behind the same dark cloak but with something else underneath.

Someone else, to be exact.

“Princess Luna?!” the two cried out together.

Sure enough, the blue-coated face of their Ruler of the Night looked out upon them from under her hood, an awkward smile upon her lips. “I believe my sister would say, ‘Surprise.’”

Rainbow broke her befuddled staring long enough to ask, “You’re the reaper?!”

“Yes,” she supplied simply.

“But… since when?”

“Ever since I defeated the previous embodiment of death in a duel.”

“What?!”

“My sister and I aren’t immortal for no reason,” she said, her smile recalling pleasant memories.

Rainbow stared, her jaw agape.

Pinkie, however, was less stunned. “Oh, wow!” she exclaimed, “That must have been amazing! What happened? What happened?”

“Indeed it was,” Luna chuckled, “We challenged him to a duel in limbo for the right to eternal life. His undoing was his own self-confidence.”

“Limbo?” Rainbow asked, “Like sort of dead but not really?”

“Nay. It was a literal game of limbo. Being the tallest one there, he was sure to lose.”

“Cooooool,” Pinkie drew out, “How did you become the reaper, then? Was that part of the wager?”

Luna nodded, putting on a warm smile. “Now then,” she said, “Are you two ready to go to the afterlife?”

“Afterlife?” Rainbow answered with a question.

“That’s right. Now that you’ve died, that’s where you’ll spend the rest of eternity.”

“Uh… No can do. We’re coming back to life later.”

Luna frowned. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but that can’t be done. Death is permanent.”

“Nuh-uh,” Pinkie piped in, “Twilight’s preparing a necromancy spell.”

The Princess visibly recoiled at the thought. “Necromancy,” she bitterly spat to herself, “Foul, unnatural magic. Of course Celly would teach it to her student just to mess with me…”

“She says she can bring us all back soon,” Pinkie added.

“I’ll—Wait, did you say ‘all?’ As in, more of you?”

“You bet!” she answered, “Us two and Twilight and Rarity and Fluttershy and Applejack are ghosts too!”

Luna stared at her blankly. “How did the six most important ponies in Equestria all die at once?”

“Twilight messed up some super-powerful spell.”

“…Of course Celly would teach her student battle magic…” She shook her head. “I am sorry, but I cannot allow you two to defile the natural order by returning to the living. You two will have to come with me.”

“Not happening, Princess,” Rainbow retorted, “With all due respect, we’re coming back to life. We had our whole lives ahead of us.”

“Allow me to rephrase,” Luna said, dropping her tone, “You two will have to come with me whether you like it or not.”

The two mares looked at each other. With a mutual nod, the turned back to the reaper, confident smiles adorning their faces.

“You’ll have to catch us first,” Pinkie sing-songed.

“And I’m the fastest thing alive—er, formerly alive,” Rainbow taunted.

Luna looked between them solidly for a moment. Then she dropped her head. “Fine,” she sighed, then, suddenly looking back up with a grin, said, “We will do this the fun way!” A flash of blue light came from her side, subsiding to reveal a long, curved scythe floating in her magic.

The two parties began circling each other, Luna using her magic to carefully remove the blocking furniture between them. Each side looked at the other with expressions of confidence in a fearless demeanor. Rainbow shot cocky smirks towards the Night Princess; Pinkie smiled widely. Luna flicked her blade around menacingly. They both stopped suddenly, a mutual, unspoken agreement being—

“Wait,” Rainbow interjected, “Can I get out of this body first? Ditzy’s not supposed to be here.”

Luna sighed. “Make it quick.”

One stuffing of a delirious pegasus into a supply closet later found the heated, silent exchange back in full force. Once again, the two sides stared each other down until one of them broke the ice.

“Bring it,” Rainbow jeered.