Ponyville Haunting (Part 3)

>Sweetie Belle blinks a few times, staring at Anonymous' bright, eerie eyes.

>"You... you're what?" she asks, eyes still following that of the specter's.

>"I said," the translucent creature says with a strange, fascinated grin on his face, "I'm dead. But you can see me?"

>"Well... yes. Yes I can."

>Anonymous blinks his eye spots quickly, then darts his head to you and back to Sweetie a few times.

>"Spike," he says excitedly. "Spike, she can see me."

"Yeah, I got that."

>"She can see me, Spike."

"Again, I can tell."

>"With her eyes and everything, man, she can totally see me."

"Anonymous. I got it."

>"She recognizes that I take up physical space in the world, Spike, that is amazing!"

>You ignore the now tittering mass of spectral mist and giddiness as you focus on the mare in front of you.

"Sweetie... uh... well, how can you see him?"

>"I don't know. How can you?" she asks plainly, smiling slightly at you.

>Huh... she had a point. You don't even know why you can see Anonymous, and all of a sudden Sweetie Belle can see him too?

>"Did he say he was dead?" Sweetie asks, looking from you and back to Anonymous, who is slinking low to the ground, rolling in a small patch of grass as best he can.

"Yeah, yeah he did. He's a ghost."

>"Really? Like the kind we heard about on Nightmare Nights and stuff?"

"Uh huh."

>"Oh wow... so, does he go around haunting things? Like old abandoned houses?"

"I WISH."

 

>"So... does he bite?"

"What?"

>"Does he bite? You know, like ghosts do."

"Ghosts don't bite, Belle. Well, maybe this one does, he's kind of a huge jerk."

>"Hey," Anonymous says, his head phasing through your chest as he glares up to you. "I resent that. Here I am trying to just find my way to the other side, and you have the nerve to sit over here with your pretty little friend and tell her lies?"

"Lies? It's the truth!"

>"Oh what do you know, scaly?"

"More than you, you floating fart."

>"Hey! I can't help if I look green!"

>"Aren't ghosts supposed to be white?" asks Sweetie Belle, cocking her head to side, staring at the spirit with confusion.

>"Oh my god," says Anon, looking at Sweetie Belle like he'd been personally insulted, "You can't just go around asking ghosts if we're supposed to be white."

>"But I just thought th-"

>"You need," he begins, passing through your body and coiling around Sweetie in a misty swoop, "To not push your preconceived notions onto me, miss..?"

>"Uhm... I'm Sweetie Belle. Did Spike say your name was Anonymous?"

>"Indeedy he did!"

>The ghost swirls around her, resting a disembodied head onto her shoulder.

>"So what can Papa Anon do for you, little miss?"

"Papa Anon?"

>"Shush, let me have this."

>Sweetie Belle just blinks, staring at you for some kind of confirmation that, yes, this was all real.

>Truth be told you were starting to question a lot of this as well.

 

>"Uhm," Sweetie Begins, thinking to herself. "Well... can you talk to other ghosts?"

>"Oh pishaa! Course I can! We all speak ghost language!"

"What?"

>"Ghost language?" Sweetie asks. "Ooooh, is that some kind of, like, long forgotten ghost text that no one but the dead speak? What does it sound like?"

>"Oh you know," says anon, conjuring a hand and brushing his non existent nails on his chest, "Just how dying things sound."

"...How do dying things so-"

>"OOOUUUUAAAAAGGHHHHHHAAAAAAUUUUGGHHHHHBEWAREMYCURSEOOOOUUUUUUUAAAAAGHAHAHAHAHHHHIIIAAA"

"..."

>"..."

>"I know what you're thinking. How DOES he pull off that accent? Well, it's not easy, let me tell you."

"Anonymous that was just stupid."

>"Spike! RUDE! You are being -rather- racist I think," says Anon, turning his head from you in disgust.

"Raci- Ghosts aren't a race!"

>"Now you sound like a xenophobe."

"I don't even know what that is."

>"Figures, you dumb dragon."

"Okay now THAT'S racist!"

>"GUYS."

>You and Anonymous stop, turning to look at Sweetie Belle.

>"Spike! You're missing the point! We can see dead ponies!"

>"I'm not a pony," says Anon.

>"Well how do you know? Maybe you were once a pony and now you're a wandering spirit, destined to walk the earth in turmoil," Sweetie says, looking starry eyed at the specter.

>"..You're kind of a downer, you know that?"

"Hey, Sweetie... you okay?"

>"Huh? Oh! Yeah, yes I'm fine. I'm just.. this is so exciting! We can communicate with the long dead!"

 

"Huh... I didn't know you were into that sort of thing.."

>Sweetie nods, smiling at you but then turns her attention to Anonymous.

>"So uhm... tell me about yourself."

>"Me? What's there to tell? I'm dead, you're alive, and I'm trying to help this purple little jerk fix something with his life to move on... actually that was plenty to tell."

>Belle looks to you with a curious glance.

"Whoa hey, I don't know what he means by it. He thinks that because I see him, that he has to... I dunno, help me with my life."

>"And then I get to move on, to that big ole' void in the sky!"

"What?"

>"No clue!" says the ghost, coiling around you and Sweetie Belle. "But you see me. That -means- something, you know?"

>"But I can see you too," Sweetie chimes in.

>Suddenly Anonymous does something he's not used to.

>He stops talking.

>"That," he says, glowing eyes the shape of orbs, "Is true... does that mean you need help too?"

"Why would she and I BOTH need help?"

>This was starting to get annoying. Like, really bothersome. Your scales were even getting itchy...

>You hated it when your scales got itchy.

"Look let's... let's just go somewhere that's NOT the middle of town, okay? Please?"

>Sweetie Belle isn't even looking at you anymore. Instead, she's still asking Anonymous questions.

>"Wow... so you used to live here?"

>"I don't know."

>"What was your life like back when you were alive?"

>"I don't know."

>"Did you have a family?"

>"I don't know."

>"Wow... you're really cool..."

 

>Rolling your eyes, you walk through Anon's body and off to the side, but soon he follows you.

>"Hey. Spike."

"What?"

>"Who IS she?"

"Huh?"

>"HER! This mare, the one with all the questions."

"Uh... that's Sweetie Belle."

>"Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle... hmmmm...."

>Huh? What's this?

>Is he remembering something?

>Maybe he has something to do with her?

>What if they're connected?!

>What if THIS is what he's been waiting f-

>"S'kinda cute."

>...

>...

>What.

"What."

>"Yeah... I mean she looks nice and I think she likes me for me, you know?"

"Are... are you retarded?"

>"I mean, she seems REALLY into me, you know?"

"You're retarded. Like a huge ghostly man child. Just... GUH."

>"Maybe we could have dinner?"

"SHUT. UP. This is STUPID."

>"Gee Spike, what's wrong with you?"

"You, man! You! I don't WANT to see you, you annoying... never mind. Just... just leave me alone, alright?"

>You walk off, rubbing your temples as you make your way back to the library.

>Just get away from him for a bit. Think to yourself, you know? You'd be feeling better later.

>From a distance, Anonymous watches you, eyes glowing and closing into a squint.

>You thought Anon could be a petty man child now?

>Sadly for you, you were going to experience just how juvenile he could be.

 

To Be Continued