Reaper Tales - Eclipsed - Ch. 3 - Age Crisis

Pilot Sky was testing his airship as he had just finished a few engine updates. Airship Raine was supposed to be faster now, and that without demanding any extra power.
Pilot was in the engine, checking the values while Diamond Hooves was piloting the airship. Things were looking good as the ship was nearly twice as fast now, and the values were stable.
"Pilot?" Diamond called over the Intercom.
"Yes?" Pilot replied.
"You should come and see this." Diamond sounded worried. "Weird things are happening."
Pilot didn't even reply. He galloped up on deck and out on the viewing platform that could be extended out. He looked up.
The sky was a mess, a large dark vortex forming, sending out shock waves that soon hit the ship, shaking it violently. Sparks flew from the engines as components inside exploded. Then six figures fell from the sky as the vortex stopped and started dissolving.
Pilot saw that the figures would pass by the airship, so he extended a net and caught them.
"What in the name of Celestia…" Pilot rubbed his head as he saw what he had caught. "How am I supposed to even explain this."

Horror was the first one to wake up, surprised to find Pilot Sky watching over him. He jumped up, but had problems maintaining his balance. He cursed.
"Calm down, dude." Pilot shook his head.
Then Horror realized that Pilot was larger than himself. He stood silent and stared up at the Bat Pony. "When did you grow so large?"
Pilot couldn't hide a chuckle. "Horror. I haven't grown an inch. You're the one who've changed."
"WHAT!" Horror stumbled backwards, stumbling over Eclipse. He instantly realized that Eclipse was smaller too, and looked a lot younger.
Pilot sighed. "What happened up there…"
"Well…" Horror looked up at Pilot. "Somepony had to not be cooperative and misfired a bolt that tossed the rift out of balance." He looked at Miasmic.
"And I guess that you don't remember anything else, right?" Pilot looked at the sleeping bunch behind the young Horror.
"Nope." Horror looked at the rest, who all now were waking up.
Pilot rubbed his head. "This is bad. We better get you all to a safer place for now."
"Where?" Horror tilted his head, which was a lot cuter than usually.
Pilot pressed a button on the intercom. "Diamond. Can you call in assistance? We need to get to Canterlot as fast as possible. If anyone asks, tell them that it's urgent."
"Gotcha." Diamond replied. "Calling for help now."

The trip to Canterlot took over five hours, mostly as the airship was quite heavy. The entire way were local pegasuses flying up to help, taking over for those who were exhausted. The last stretch over Canterlot was actually done by the Wonderbolts before the ship was securely moored to the castle.
Death was the first one to board the ship after the section of the castle had been cleared for guards and other ponies. He greeted Pilot.
"Where are they?" Death was concerned.
"They're under deck, but…" Pilot was interrupted by small hooves.
"BROTHER!" A small colt jumped onto Pilots lack, galloped up to his head and leapt at Death just to cling onto his neck like a parasite.
Death was surprised, while Pilot was confused.
Eclipse poked his head up. "Sorry sir. I couldn't hold him back. Honestly."
Death looked down, realizing that it was Blood who was clinging to his neck. He just sighed and shook the colt off. "And why didn't any of you tell me about him earlier?"
Horror poked up. "We thought Eclipse had done it."
Eclipse growled and planted a hoof with some force on Horror's head, hitting him back under deck. "Stop blaming me! I though you were the one, as you are the group leader after all!"
Horror laughed. "Cry some more!"
Eclipse roared in anger and jumped down.
Pilot shook his head. "For the love of Celestia. Will they never make peace?"
Death was about to reply, while Diamond was busy with breaking up the fight when three more alicorns came onboard. Celestia, Luna and Cadence.
"So what happened here." Celestia looked at Pilot, Death and Blood.
Pilot shrugged. "Something with a rift causing the reapers here to…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Diamond's voice interrupted him. "Get them off!" Diamond came galloping up, the reapers clinging to him. "Why me!"
Death coughed and Diamond stopped, just as the reapers let go and quickly assembled on a line. Even Blood dropped down from his neck and stood besides the rest.
Pilot nodded. "Now where was I… Oh yes. The rift. Apparently was the closing spell not cast properly, so the rift closed, but sent out a lot of energy as it did. This apparently caused an age reversal, turning all six into youngsters. And I'll be damned. They act like they are school-aged too." Pilot shrugged. "But if you'll excuse me. I have to fix the thrusters so this ship can fly again." He then trotted off, not even waiting for a reply.
Death looked at Celestia. "What should we do?"
Celestia looked at the reapers. "Well. We should put them somewhere safe until a solution is found."
Horror coughed. "Excuse me." He was looking serious. "Why can't you let us solve the problem?"
Death sighed. "You all have nowhere near enough magic to do it. Besides. I think you are going to have a great time here."
Horror sighed, just to get bumped by Eclipse. "I agree. We are just causing too much trouble anyways."
Death looked at Celestia again. "So who shall take care of them?"
Cadence raised a hoof. "You know. I can take care of them. I have experience with foalsitting after all, and besides. I will have Luna to help me with this."
Luna coughed, almost like she had been insulted. "ART THOU SUGGESTING THAT I HELP THY WATCH THESE FOALS?!"
Celestia lifted an eyebrow. "Luna… No need for the Royal Canterlot Voice here…"
Luna placed a hoof in front of her mouth. "Sorry…."
Celestia looked at the reapers. "Well you better get going. I promise. Cadence and Luna will be taking good care of you all."
Horror nodded. "Come along fellas. Looks like we have a small vacation at hand."
The rest chuckled and they all followed Cadence back inside.
Death looked at the sky. "What should we do. We can't just fly out and look for clues, and all remaining reapers are busy on missions."
"Hmm…" Celestia though for a moment, and then the airship shook a bit, followed by the sound of the thrusters powering up. "We could always ask Pilot for help, now that his airship is flying again."
Death nodded. "Sure."

One hour later was Airship Raine on it's way again. The destination was Summerhoof and the Rainfall Rift. This was to try to gather clues so they could find a way to reverse the effect. Magic wouldn't be enough.
The airship was going full speed, and it was flying lower than usual. The land underneath flew by at an impressive rate and the wind was so strong that nopony was on deck. Not even Pilot, who was seeking shelter in the control house, using a new steering system to steer the ship.
Summerhoof was approaching fast, soon coming into view as the scorched land became all they could see from the ship. This was once a sunny land, but after the changelings had attacked during the Rainfall Event had the land been infertile and dead. Summerhoof was still a ruin too, and the clear landing marks of the airship were still there.
Pilot landed then airship where he had landed it before, and opened the side hatch. All four walked out.
Death looked at Pilot and Diamond. "I'll head up to the rift with Celestia and see what we can find there. Can you two check the library for clues? Or any local observatories?"
Pilot saluted. "Yes sir. And be careful up there. Last time we were there, were we almost killed by changelings."
Death nodded. "If they are there now should they flee then."
Pilot chuckled. "Well you two better get going then."
Death and Celestia took flight and headed for the hill and for the Rainfall Rift, which was showing itself as a large shred in reality itself, rain falling out of it like blood from an open wound.
Pilot nodded at Diamond and they both headed into the library, starting to check anything that was readable. It wasn't much, as most of the books were either burnt to ashes or damaged by water. The medicine section had also been cleared upon departure, so there was no help there either.
Some books fell off a shelf behind them.
Pilot turned. "Who's there!"
No reply.
Diamond sighed and grabbed the shelf with magic, sliding it out of the way.
They were bot shocked when they saw what was standing behind it. A changeling. Not any changeling either. It was the same changeling that had been responsible for the Rainfall Event. It was a bit smaller than a regular changeling, and it's mane, eyes and tail were orange-red. It had the regular Changeling-color besides that.
"Please don't kill me!" It was scared.
Pilot growled. "How are you even alive!" He lifted a hoof to strike it. "We saw you die!"
The changeling looked up. "I'll tell you if you promise to not hurt me…"
Pilot sighed and lowered the hoof again. "Fine…"
The changeling sighed in relief. "The truth is that I did die…" It was looking down. "But somehow the rift energy regenerated me."
Pilot was unsure. "Didn't we seal the rift?"
The changeling shook its head. "Then why is it still there?"
Pilot didn't reply. He knew there was something odd when he saw the rift there.
The changeling nodded. "Yeah. There is something inside it, forcing it open. Some baby reapers will probably be the least of your concerns soon."
Diamond narrowed his eyes. "How did you know about the reapers…"
"I overheard you two." It laughed a bit. "Anyways. I can help, but in return do I want permission to live in Equestria like a normal pony."
Pilot shrugged. "You'll have to take that up with Celestia, mister."
"Ahem." The changeling coughed. "I'm a female, just so you know that…"
Pilot went silent.
"Call me Void Surfer." She grinned.

Death studied Void closely. "Are you sure we can trust her?"
Pilot shrugged. "What else is there to do? She knows the rift better than any of us."
Death sighed. "But she's a changeling."
"That may be right." Void interrupted. "But when I tried to return from the failed mission a year ago after being regenerated was I chased away again, called an outcast for not serving my duty. I have been wandering Summerhoof ever since, feeding of the energy in the air."
Celestia coughed. "And you said something else too. About the Rainfall Rift."
Void nodded. "Yeah. I felt that there was something in there. Like a large machine or something, forcing the rift open, like it's trying to break through."
Nopony said anything. Mostly because nopony had anything to say.
"Also…" Void interrupted the silence. "I have taken time to study the rift the last year, and I've noticed that it's been steadily growing in size." She placed a pile of papers on the table in the lounge of Airship Raine. Each paper had a date and had a hole cut in the shape of the rift. And just like she had told, was the size of the hole increasing for each paper, at an alarming rate too.
Death nodded. "So what do we do about it? I don't think any reapers will be able to head inside and seal it from there."
Void shrugged. "True that. The energy inside would tear them to bits. The same goes for whatever's inside, so it's probably using some sort of energy stabilization device. Destroy that and the rift will probably close."
Pilot sighed. "Sounds like a suicide mission."
"It is." Void chuckled, like she enjoyed thinking about it. "If you're lucky will you die instantly and your soul will be torn into pieces. If you're unlucky, however, will you float around the void until you starve to death." She shrugged. "It might also exist other realities, though. The machine proves that. You might hit one if you're really lucky, but that I doubt."
Death pushed Pilot away. "We can talk about that later. Now we have to focus on the reapers. Why do you think you can help?"
Void grinned. "Easy. They're probably saturated in Rift Energy that I can reverse. It's easy as that."
Death nodded. "Good. We better get going then."
Pilot nodded and headed up and powered up the thrusters. The ship gained speed fast.

It took them less than an hour to reach Canterlot, and as soon as the airship was securely docked was Celestia, Death and Void trotting off. Cadence met them.
Death looked around. "Where are Luna and the reapers?"
"They were tired and went to sleep." Cadence smiled.
"Do you even have enough beds for them all here?" Death was wondering, as he didn't expect that there were many beds in this part of the castle.
"Not really, but that wasn't a problem." Cadence shrugged. "Luna have been watching over them well, and let them use her bed. Last time I checked where they all cuddled up together, sleeping soundly."
Celestia walked up besides Death. "You better go wake them up then." She looked at Death. "And you should get going now."
Death nodded. "Alright. I'll dispatch a squad to Summerhoof now too, so they can watch over the rift, making sure to report in if any changes happen." He vanished in a flash.

Five minutes later were all the reapers assembled on a line. Void studied them, feeling the energy that saturated them.
"Just as I thought…" She closed her eyes, coming in tune with the energy.
The energy started glowing, radiating off like the gas from the sun.  It surrounded them like a red haze, slowly drifting away. Suddenly it froze, before starting to flow in reverse. Sparks flew as the effect of the rift was reversed, the reapers now glowing bright white as they grew older over ten seconds. Then the energy perished and the glow vanished. Void collapsed from exhaustion.
Horror quickly galloped over and checked her. "She'll be fine. Just need to rest."
Pilot nodded. "Alright. Just remember to thank her later."
Horror grinned. "Yes sir."
Celestia coughed once in a royal manner to get everypony's attention. "Now that this is done should you all get back to work. There are still rifts that needs sealing, but if you find one that isn't dangerous, keep it open. We'll let Void live there instead."
Horror gave a nod. "Shall do." He gave the others a signal. "Let us go. We have a wagon to locate and rifts to seal."
Just as they were about to take off did Pilot take their attention. "You can come with me, so you don't have to fly."
Eclipse nodded. "I don't know who you are, but as it looks like you work for the reapers, and what you did shall we accept that offer."
Pilot and Diamond carried Void onboard while the reapers followed. Then the engines were powered up and the ship was once again in flight, heading for new adventures, new dangers and new experiences.