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-Ghost-
By Ruby Revenge, Proofread by LupoMikti
Rose was running as fast as she possibly could, for she was about to be late.
This mare was usually a very punctual pony, therefore she was never late. She had a very well-kept schedule, and let's just say that it was very important to her. She woke up every day at a certain time. She ate breakfast every day at a certain time. She left her house every day at a certain time. And most importantly, she opened her flower cart everyday at a certain time.
But today... today she'd overslept.
Not by much, but enough to make her skip breakfast, and rush to her cart with a slightly presentable mane and tail.
Key clenched in her teeth, she kept going, not wanting to be late. What if a young stallion wanted to buy a rose for his soon-to-be very special somepony, and she wasn't there? He'd likely not stay to wait, and go somewhere else to purchase flowers, or buy a different gift all together! And Lilly and Daisy never opened their carts without her—they had a little partnership, not unlike a small business—so not only would that make bad business for her, but for her friends as well!
And what if the mare in question only liked flowers? What if the others he found weren’t good enough? What if she only liked orchids? Orchids didn’t grow naturally in Ponyville! Only Lilly grew them, since they were so hard to tend to, and he wouldn’t be able to get one if she were late. She’d ruin his only chances at love!
As her mind came up with more and more scenarios, she urged herself forward. A sickening feeling in her stomach told her something was off. Not just the fact that she might be late and send her only friends into a state of poverty, but something that she couldn't place her hoof on. But it wasn't like she was doing any deep thinking after all. She shrugged it off as her nerves getting the best of her. She just couldn't be late.
"Almost there!" she thought eagerly, "Just past Sugar Cube Cor–oh no. Pinkie Pie." She spotted the brightly colored pink pony bouncing down the street in her direction, probably to wish her a good morning and chat about something or other like she usually did in the morning. But Rose did not have time for that; she only had a few minutes to get to her cart! She'd have to give her a polite smile and tell her that she was in a hurry. Pinkie Pie would understand. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe?
She slowed down to a trot, and braced herself as she drew closer to the mare. She waited for the bubbly string of words, the bright smile, and giddy laughter. She waited to be held up for a brief few seconds at best. But it never came.
In fact, now that she looked, Pinkie Pie had stopped a few paces in front of her to speak to Bon Bon, the town's local confectioner.
"They're probably just talking about candy shipments to the Cakes' place," she told herself, shaken by the fact that it wasn't her that Pinkie had been coming to talk to, "She probably just didn't see me. I should be thankful for that, of all things, anyway! I need to hurry!"
She found that she'd been moving slower than she meant to, and returned to her fast pace once more. She was almost there, and didn't have any time to lose.
As she went on her way, she kept thinking about the pink mare. Had she been ignoring her? It wasn’t like Pinkie to just not see ponies. She always said hello in the morning... it wasn't because she was late, was it? She began to notice that nopony else was giving her their usual nods or 'hello's’ or waves, or even 'good morning's’, as was the usual in Ponyville. Nopony was paying her any attention, not just Pinkie Pie! What had she done wrong to make them ignore her? Rose realized that this was what had been bothering her a few minutes before.
"Whatever," she muttered through her teeth and the keys. She just needed to get to her cart; that's all that mattered at the moment. She closed her eyes and shook her head, and took off at breakneck speed...
...only to have her face collide with the side of her cart.
"Well, at least I'm here," she mumbled, rubbing her nose with her foreleg. She fumbled with her key to unlock all the little doors and compartments that were on the cart, and set up the flowers for display the fastest she'd ever done. She stood behind the cart and let out a long sigh. She'd done it. She glanced at the clock. "And with a minute to spare too!"
No longer worried about being late (Or ruining futures) she made a few adjustments to the cart, chuckling at the sloppiness that only she seemed to see.
"Did I put this rose here? It's far too short to go with these ones. Ah, now that's better. Oh no! This one still has thorns in it! Good thing I saw that..." Tending to her flowers always calmed her down. She always allotted a large space of time on her schedule for that. It was her talent after all, and roses were just her special calling. It wasn't much of a surprise, seeing as her name was also 'Rose'. Now that she thought of it, Daisy's specialty were daisies, and Lilly's were lilies... How had their parents known?
"Oh well, it isn't like we're the first ponies to have a name related to our talent," she laughed, "Now, to wait."
And that's just what she did.
Being a flower sales pony brought in a better profit than you'd think; ponies bought both edible flowers for food, and non-edible flowers for decoration or gifts. Some thought both kinds were pretty, and wore them in their manes or coats. Some just ate them without warning.
"Like a certain pony," she gritted her teeth in the memory of a certain pink pony eating a perfectly good flower in one bite, after it was given to her as a gift! Some ponies just didn't know how to appreciate hard work. Why, a lot of ponies assumed growing flowers was easy, which was half the reason she had to lock up her cart every night! Young ponies would assume that Rose wouldn't miss a flower or two, and would steal them when they thought she wasn't looking. If only they knew how much time she spent with these flowers, and how much more they'd be having to spend for them anywhere else! She always sold them a bit cheap, as she enjoyed her job and Ponyville wasn't exactly Canterlot. It wouldn't be fair to charge them that much.
Any moment now, somepony would walk up to her stall to inquire about the prices, ask what was in season, or to ask her for gardening advice. She always told them that she only really knew about growing flowers, and that they should go ask somepony like Carrot top or the Apple Family.
But nopony was coming.
Not one.
She'd opened on time, but nopony was coming.
Well, this was normal, wasn’t it? It wasn't like she was selling zap apple jam or anything… But as she looked out at the passing ponies, flashing smiles and giving small waves, nopony acknowledged her. The thoughts from earlier started to trickle back into her mind. What had she done? Why were they ignoring her?
Just when she was about to close up shop until lunch (some days, ponies would only come by in the afternoon), she saw that a young colt was coming her way. "A customer!" she thought eagerly, "Oh, what's his name… Clips? Chips? Slips? No… Snips!" and she was correct.
Young Snips was making his way over to her flower stand, probably in search of a gift for a filly he admired. Rose found a certain pleasure in helping young love, and was immediately excited as he made his way over. She loved to give colts small tips about how to win their young lady over, and the fillies’ expert advice on flirting. Well, maybe not expert, but it was fun nonetheless.
"Hello!" she called to him cheerfully, "You here to buy a flower for your very special somepony?"
But he didn't seem to notice her as he looked this way and that, "Probably looking to see if his friends or that filly are watching him," she commented playfully, watching him inch closer and closer to her cart. When he finally arrived, he kept looking around, as if he was afraid somepony was watching him.
"What would you like?" she asked the colt, but again she was ignored.
A mischievous smile spread across his face once he was confident that nopony was watching him. His eyes darted over each and every flower, trying to make a choice.
"Uh, can I help you?" she tried again, her smile turning to a look of concern.
Snips then grabbed the nearest rose with his mouth, and his chubby little legs took him away as fast as they possibly could.
With the flower.
He took it.
Right in front of her.
With her watching and talking to him.
Rose was too stunned to chase after him.
"Hey, you!" she called after him, "Thief!" but nopony, especially not Snips, paid her any attention. Soon, the pudgy little colt was out of sight, and she gave up.
"So they're ignoring me and stealing from me now?" she thought, confused. What had she done? Were they mad at her? She buried her head in her forelegs, leaning over her side of the cart as she did so. She tried sorting it out, eyes closed and mind open.
"Yeah, I haven't seen her all day!" she heard a voice. "Daisy?"
"I wonder where she is…" another one said. "Lilly?"
"Hey girls, you wouldn't believe the morning I've had!" she exclaimed, popping up, "So first I overslept, and I was almost late, th–"
"Her cart is opened and everything!" Daisy exclaimed, her voice tinged with concern.
"Uh oh, look over here," Lilly said, motioning for the pinkish mare to come to her. "I think one of the roses have been stolen!"
"Lilly… Daisy…?" she said to her friends, "Um, that's what I was trying to tell you; this little colt named Snips—or was it Chips?—came by and took it right in fr–"
"We'd better lock up for her," the green maned mare commented.
"Yes, we should… now where is the spare key she told us about again?"
"Hey guys…"
"Under the pen can, I think,"
"Guys…"
"Yep! Here it is!"
Rose watched her two friends lock up her cart, putting each flower away carefully.
"I'm right here!" she shouted, waving her hooves. But not even a glance was given her way. "These flowers need to be sold today! Tomorrow they'll wither…"
"Maybe she's sick…" Lilly thought aloud.
"Yeah, maybe," Daisy agreed, "I think I'll go by her house at lunch or something."
"I'll come with you."
"I won't be there… I'll be here, at my cart. Trying to make sales," she seethed. Even her best, no, only friends were ignoring her! "Girls, did I do something wrong? Please tell me! I hate being ignored!"
"We'd better get back to our carts," Lilly continued their conversation, "I don't want that thief stealing any of our flowers…"
"Alright. I just hope Rose is ok…"
"Daisy! I am ok! I'm standing right in front of you!" frustrated, she went out from behind her cart to block Daisy's path, "Ahah! You can't just walk around me without acknowledging me!" she cried triumphantly. "Now please tell me what's up… Did I do something? Did I forget something? What's going o–" she cut herself off with a small yelp, for Daisy had started to walk, and surely she'd bump into her. But with her eyes closed and body frozen in a flinch, the bump never came. Slowly she opened her eyes. Were they finally going to talk to her?
But when she opened her eyes, they weren't there.
She looked around, and saw that they were still walking, but they were now behind her.
"Why the little…" she thought angrily to herself, "She must have only pretended to walk forward, and when I flinched she walked around me!"
"Ok, fine!" she yelled after them, "Go ahead and ignore me then! I'll just find somepony else to talk to!"
She glanced over to her cart. "Might as well leave it closed. I won't get any business like this."
She shook her head, frustrated. She was almost sure she hadn't done anything to make everypony act this way. Heck, she barely knew any of them! Only Daisy and Lilly really; the rest were just kinda… there. She didn't even know all their names, and this was a generally small town. But it wasn't like they'd come to her to be friends, right? They were just other ponies, living their own lives.
"So why would they group up against me?" she asked aloud, hoping somepony, anypony, would answer. But no answer came. "That's it; I'm gonna get somepony to tell me what's going on! But who? My two friends won't say a word, so it'll have to be somepony who likes to talk, and doesn't remember promises well. Somepony that will accept bribes easily," She thought for a moment, "Wouldn't that just be kids?"
Satisfied with her assessment, she headed toward the School to wait for recess.
"I wish someone would give me a push…" Sweetie Bell grumbled as she sat motionless on the swing, "I can't believe Scootaloo is in detention again! And Apple Bloom is still home sick."
All she wanted to do was swing, but she didn't know how.
And she wasn't about to go tell that to anypony, no matter how much she wanted to learn. Diamond Tiara and her little toady Silver Spoon would get everypony laughing at her about it! Even if she went up to somepony nice, like Twist, the snobby filly would certainly catch her doing something like that. She always seemed to know when something embarrassing was happening at school, especially when it came to the CMC. Scootaloo was convinced they had hired ninja spies, whilst Apple Bloom said that they were just nosey snoops. Sweetie just thought that they knew who to ask, being expert gossipers and all.
Or at least that’s what Rarity had said.
She tried leaning back and forth, trying to copy the movements of her classmates. She only succeeded in jostling the swing. She let out another exasperated sigh.
Suddenly, the swing began to move.
"Somepony's pushing me!" she thought gleefully.
"Thanks!" she said, turning around to see who it was. But her happiness turned to shock as she saw that nopony was there.
She let out a shrill shriek and jetted off.
"Ghost!" she screamed, "There's a ghost on the swings!"
"Wait!" Rose called after the little white filly, "It's just me… darn it!" Even fillies like Beatie Shell were in on it! And she was sorta good at it too. She'd covered up her 'mistake' of talking to her as a ghost pushing her on the swing.
"Well, this is the last time this ghost pushes you on the swings!" she yelled, even though 'Beatie Shell' was already out of sight. She was probably off to tell Cheerilee, and ghost or not, she was pretty sure that a grown mare such as herself wasn’t supposed to be on school grounds with a bunch of kids. The teacher would probably sacrifice keeping the ruse up to kick her off the campus.
She'd have to move fast.
To try to get another kid to notice her of course.
She looked around the yard until her eyes fell upon two earth pony fillies, one a light pink and the other grey.
"Hello, girls!" she said excitedly as she walked towards them. "If you'll just talk to me, I'll buy you each whatever you'd like from Sugar Cube Corner!"
"Oh my gosh! Silver Spoon, did you hear that scaredy cat?"
"Haha, yeah! She was all like 'oh nooo there's a ghost pushing me on the swings~' "
"Umm, girls?" Her smile was growing thin.
"Pshh, attention hog!" the light pink one giggled.
"I know right! How do you think she comes up with these things?"
"Please talk to me…" "Was my bribe not enough?"
"Well, her big sister Rarity is quite the drama queen," she answered.
"I'll do anything you want!" Rose yelped.
"Oh, that makes sense," the grey one agreed.
"Just please, please say something to me!" she begged, now on the ground.
"Ugg, recess is over," the pink one groaned when she heard the unmistakable noise of Ms. Cheerilee ringing the bell. Her friend echoed her in response, making a similar groaning noise. In an attempt to stop them, Rose jumped in front of them to keep them from walking.
"No! Wait!" she pleaded.
But they didn't wait.
They walked.
Right through her.
And that's all Rose remembered before everything went black.
Ghost.
The word echoed in her mind.
Ghost.
Was that what she was? Was she dead?
How had she died?
Why was she still there?
Rose cracked her eyes open, only to be greeted with what seemed like never ending darkness.
"I really am dead…" she thought, as that was the only explanation she could come up with. Why else would she be in such a place?
"Hello!" she called out, "Is anyone there?" It was worth a try… but no answer came. She counted the seconds.
"1… 2… 3…" she paused, sniffling.
"4…" she looked around.
"5…" she stopped as she broke down and began to sob, the entire day's events finally taking their toll on the mare. She hadn't been being ignored. She had been a ghost. Not seen. Not heard. Not there.
"Yes," a feminine voice echoed from the darkness, "I am here."
She looked up to see nothing.
“Why can’t I see you?” she asked, “Am I dead?”
“Oh no, you are not dead,” it chuckled. “I have just transported you to somewhere more… private,”
“Private?”
“Yes, I needed to discuss something with you with no distractions, so this seemed like the perfect place! An endless stretch of nothing, with you and I being the only ones here.”
“The only ones… where are we?”
“Oh, just a magically constructed dimension of sorts. I’d love to tell you all about it, but I doubt you would enjoy a disembodied voice giving you a lecture on such a thing,” it said, a tinge of embarrassment in her words. “I’m not actually here though; I can see you, but you cannot see me.”
“What?” the poor mare asked. “Can you just tell me what’s been going on? Nopony can see me! Is that because of you?”
“Yes,” it sounded triumphant.
“Why the hay would you do that?”
“You need to be taught a lesson,” it answered. “Now, before you go asking me anymore questions, let me explain; You, Rose, don’t understand the importance of friendship!” The voice announced the last sentence with what seemed to be great excitement.
“But I have friends,” she protested, “two of them; Lilly and Daisy,”
“It doesn’t matter the number, Rose,” it responded sadly, “it only matters how close you are. Which brings me to my next point; how well do you know your neighbors?”
“What does that have to do with anything? What does this have to do with anything?”
“I could keep you here forever,” it replied coldly. A feeling of unease settled upon the mare.
“Uh, well, I think there are two mares next door—Bon Bon and Leana I think—and at the other side, a little ways off, there’s Lilly, one of my friends.”
“I think the name you were searching for was Lyra, not Leana.”
“…oh.”
“And I’ve been watching you for a while. Wait! Not in the creepy sort of way!” it added hastily, “I just mean that I’ve been keeping tabs on you, in a way. You need help, and lots of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have always been invisible to the crowd, never joining in or enjoying others’ company. You don’t like to make yourself heard outside of your business. You don’t take time to get to know anypony, even your friends. You were invisible,” it paused for a moment, “and now you really are invisible, in both senses. Nopony can see, hear, or feel you. You have three lessons to learn, and once you’ve completed the tasks that come along with them, you will be seen again.”
“But why?” she asked. “What have I done to deserve this?”
“Why that’s just it, Rose. You’ve done nothing, nothing at all.”
Rose didn’t reply, and for a few minutes, all was silent.
“Now I’m going to send you back to Ponyville, ok? Well, technically you are still there, but what I meant to say was–” it coughed, “I mean, I am going to let you go now.”
“Wait!” the earth pony yelled, “Can you at least tell me who you are?”
A few moments passed, as if it were thinking.
“A… a friend,” it decided.
“But that doesn’t answer my question!” she cried. But it was too late; she was in the sunny streets of Ponyville once more. “Dammit! Whoever you are, I will beat this little game of yours! You hear me? I will beat your stupid game!”
But there was no answer, for the only ponies that were there could not see her.
She was alone.
Author's Note
Thanks to LupoMikti's wonderful proofreading! ;)
