Shady and the Curious Corpse
Chapter 1
Shady always had trouble sleeping at night. From her little three room apartment above the antique shop. She swore every night that she could hear something walking around down there and even though that was impossible, the notion kept her up anyway.
In the middle of the day, poor Shady had fallen asleep again.
“Hello? Shopkeeper?”
The pony didn’t stir.
“Ahem. Shop Keeper!”
With a choking snort, the pink pony jolted half away from the drool soaked countertop, her drab green hair an unsightly mess, like tendrils of tangled vine falling about her face.
“Uh, what? Oh! Yes ma’m! Wa-What can I do for you today?”
The customer turned her nose up, shifting her wide rimmed glasses and glanced around the cluttered antique shop.
“Mhm.” was the first response to Shady’s question. The customer didn’t seem to be impressed.
“I see, this is an antique shop is it not?” said the rounded and aged pony, with an annoying click of her tongue on every other word. Her eyes squinted over her nose sharply at the various assortments placed around her.
“Yes, I’m looking for a nice piece of jewelry for a dress I’m making. It’s for a very important occasion so everything must match perfectly!” she said.
Shady nodded, rubbing her eyes free of sleep crust whenever the visitor turned away from her.
“Oh, jewelry. Well ma’am I have a fine selection just this way. Please follow me.” Shady went from behind the counter and showed her customer to the wall farthest from her front door. There were two cases made out of strong glass, under which many sets of sparkling earrings, necklaces, brooches and other fine pieces.
“This is a collection going back as far as one hundred fifty years.” said Shady with an air of appreciating despite her tiredness.
“These look....impressive.” the older mare gazed long at the jewel case, what was presented must have met her illustrious standards.
“You know I’ve been all over Manehattan looking for quality gems. It’s so much easier out in the country. Much more abundant, you know. But I have to work with what I am given!”
Once again she adjusted her glasses.
“These appear to be Abtenauer in fashion and craft..”
The little shop keeper nodded. “Yes, though they were first discovered in the Ambling Alps. By the specific design I can only assume there was a kind of cultural overlay in that region.”
“Indeed that seems to be the case, now please, tell me about this eye catching necklace in the other case here.”
And Shady did so, easily rattling off the facts she had read and researched in the past. It wasn’t difficult, and she enjoyed the conversation though she noted some of the customers, given certain hobbies as collectors, tended to be very long winded. But this old mare who was named Bodkin was electively brief, she browsed more than she spoke but unfortunately she did not seem to come across what she was looking for.
Not until she turned to leave, then Bodkin saw it. The old pony’s neck snapped around towards an item she had not noticed before. In its own little case, which was more or less a simple wooden crate with straw, sat a brooch made of amber with a metal lining. Ms. Bodkin went to the box and scooped the brooch out without consulting Shady, her eyes glittering in wonder.
“What is this beautiful thing?”
“Uh well...It’s a simple amber brooch, Ms.” Shady was confused. This little piece was just a trinket someone had pawned to her earlier in the month, but it was nothing too special, nothing compared to the items they had just seen, which is why it wasn’t in the glass case. In fact Shady couldn’t even accurately place the time or date the brooch was first made. It looked generic to be honest. Lacking of any real unique quality. In fact the only thing of worth about the thing was that it was real amber. But Bodkin was enthralled.
“How much for this beautiful piece of jewelry?”
“Well...that’s just...” Shady hesitated, then mentally she shrugged. “Twenty-five bits.” Baffled by her choice but still glad to make a sale all the same. That is until she saw it at least.
The ‘it’ was another pony standing inside her shop. Just off to the side, next to the tea cups and under the wall clocks. His back was turned away but Shady could tell that his clothes were terribly stained and wrinkled. His tail and mane in a state of disarray. Shady cringed, with the way he looked, he obviously must smell terrible too. Only a matter of time before the smell reached the two of them.
‘When did he get there?’ Shady thought for a moment before her attention resumed on the old pony and the amber brooch.
“It’s perfect, simply perfect!” Ms Bodkin exclaimed. “I’ll take it!”
‘Really?’ Shady thought. “I’ll ring you up!” Happy to make a sale, one of her first in her venture as a self made pony, she put all her attention back onto Ms. Bodkin and the brooch. She lovingly packed it in a little gift box and wrapped the box with the decorated paper the older pony desired to use.
As soon as she was done she turned back to the inner sanctum of her antique shop. Looking among the tea sets and clocks, looking for the stallion who had walked inside while she’d been dealing with her first customer. She walked over but saw no one. Shady sighed, she hadn’t heard the bell over her door ring before Ms. Bodkin left the store or after. And she didn’t hear the
obvious sounds of hoof steps around her store, an obvious give away if someone were inside browsing.
“That’s strange.” Shady thought, but the slight prick of unease left as her mind wandered to other things.
The next morning, Shady read the morning paper. A most unusual feeling of morbid curiosity fell upon her and her eyes settled over the obituary.
One Ms. Bodkin died peacefully in her sleep on October 28th at ten o’ clock. Found still tucked away in her bed by a close relative who was visiting. She was a respected mare of 60 years, lived in Manehattan and owned a very profitable wedding planning business. Bodkin is survived by...
Shady let go of the paper, her hooves slightly shaken. Her mind working on two different sets of logic. One half knew better, it knew that she had nothing to do with this sad departure.
But another side filled her with an uncanny dread. She was a pony who always feared the worse.
‘See what you’ve done, missy?’ it whispered. ‘Don’t do it again!’
“Yikes!” Shady jumped out of her chair at the breakfast table and turned around. “Who’s there?” she asked the empty apartment. But the voice was so close. It wasn’t her own.
Shady watched the rain hitting the glass windows of her store front. It was cold and drab. Business would be slow today, Shady knew that. So she decided to take a late breakfast at a familiar diner.
“Welcome to Nick’s Biscuits and Bread Bowls! Where the crisps are always crispy and every bite tastes just right!” The blue unicorn behind the bar recited her line cheerfully as the bell above the door jingled and the potential customer came in from the rain. But when she noticed that the customer was Shady, her candor shifted from a polite waitress to that of a comfortable friend.
“Oh, Hi Shady! I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Shady didn’t respond right away. Her coat was sopping with rain, she hung it on the coat rack by the door, and went to the nearest stool, her usual and favorite place to sit.
“Why the long face?” the waitress jokingly teased from behind the counter.
“Oh don't give me that, Fizzy.” Shady said crossly.
“I've been moving old dusty boxes and pushing old dusty furniture around for hours and I just need a break! This hasn’t been the best morning for me....” She reached over for a small menu pad. “I need a break.”
“Aw...” Fizzy lowered her writing pad and moved a hoof towards her friend. “What’s wrong, Shady? Is it trouble at work?”
“No it isn’t that, Fizzy, it’s just...well.” Shady hesitated. It’s silly.”
“Well what'll it be?” Came the voice of a third pony coming through the kitchen door. She was a bright pink pony with a lighter pink mane, most of which was held back by a white head band. Fizzy turned towards the newcomer.
“Lickety Split don’t be that way! There’s no need to be rude.”
“Rude about what?” asked Lickety Split.
“Uh, just the usual I guess.” Shadie answered Lickety Split’s question with a sheepish smile.
“Huh?” Fizzy frowned, confused at Shady’s frankness.
“Suuuure thing!” Lickety Split replied, she placed the pen and pad she had been holding back down on the countertop. She didn’t need to write down this order..
“It’ll be four minutes!” The pink earth pony walked back to the kitchen door, half way inside she looked back at her coworker.
“And you better get back to work! Stop talking to the customers, Fizz. You know Pumpernickel gets t’d off if he catches anyone being idle.” Then Lickety Split let the door slam shut.
Fizzy sighed, frustrated, but she knew her sister was right. She turned back to Shady who now had her head resting on her hooves. She looked positively miserable and Fizzy didn’t feel right leaving a friend to sulk.
“How about this,” Fizzy said. “When my shift is over I’ll come visit you. We can talk then!”
Shady’s ears tilted back, a show of hesitation but she relented. Maybe company would help.
“Okay, thanks Fizzy.”
After Shady had eaten it was back to work. She flipped the closed sign to open and went inside. She set down her umbrella and started moving a few stray boxes that had been used to move into the building just over a month ago. She didn’t want to admit it but her showroom floor was still a bit messy. Everything was finally in the correct spot but the over all space still needed to be organized.
She was tossing boxes into a pile to be thrown into the dumpster behind the building. Thats when she noticed an empty box with straw still sitting in a display area. She went over to collect it, she stopped mid step, hovering over the box. Something was still inside it.
“What? How did you....get back...”
It was the plain amber brooch the now deceased owner had been wearing only hours ago.
Shady and the Curious Corpse
Chapter 2
As soon as Fizzy arrived, Shady crept out from the shadows of her store and pulled the unicorn through the front doors. “Look, Fizzy, look!” Shady lead her unicorn friend, Fizzy over to the straw crate. “It’s still here! Exactly as it was before I sold it to Ms. Bodkin!”
Fizzy saw the small amber jewel sitting there still and alone, twinkling innocently in the darkness and completely unimposing.
“Something is definately, definately wrong here!” said Shady as she trotted back and forth with her head down. “There is no way this should be here!”
“Shady you need to calm down.” said Fizzy in a level yet still cheerful voice. Trying to offset her friends oncoming panic and distress.
“I’m sure there is a perfectly good explanation for this.”
“No this is impossible.” insisted Shady.
“When I have to leave, I lock the door and the display is in my line of site. If somepony came in I would see them put the brooch down!”
“ You really need to turn the lights on in this place. Its so moody in here and I think it’s starting to affect you.” Fizzy levitated an expensive looking candelabra towards her, if Shady had been in a less distressed presence of mind she would have snatched the item away. “Besides, what other explanation could there be?” asked Fizzy
“I don’t know...” said Shady. She shook her head, bewildered. Maybe with a little more time she could figure it out. But right now her thoughts felt jumbled. Perhaps unnecessarily so. Shady’s friends were always telling her that she worried too much over the silliest of things.
That was it! There was inventory in the back room that she hadn’t sorted through yet. For all she knew, she had a box full of similar looking jewelry. She had already opened a few boxes the previous day. Cheaper non antique items to fill out her shelves, and there was a chance she had a box full of the things sitting on the floor somewhere in the back.
For a brief moment something flashed across her vision in the darkness of the stock room ahead of her, but it was too late, she was already inside.
“Maybe it was a GHOST!” The ghoul sprung forward nearly knocking Shady back on her tail. The pony screamed, practically backflipping out of the store room and tripping over her cash register. Shady’s back hit the side of the counter, and she recoiled to the floor in fright.
“Shady, what's happening!” Fizzy galloped to the front of the store, her ears flooded with the sound of hysterical laughter. It was muffled but she recognized the voice. She could see the figure was still heckling as Shady crawled away. Fizzy frowned as her horn glowed.
The shadowed ghoul continued to laugh, not even noticing the the stack of boxes now floating above its head. Then Fizzy released the levitation spell.
“Hahaha, Shady you should see the look on your fa-Ouch!” The boxes connected with its head and the figure collapsed in the doorway.
“Gusty cut it out right this instant!” Fizzy demanded with a disapproving scowl. There was a mumble and a growl beneath the boxes before they were tossed away in a shower as the pony pushed them away with her wind magic. Gusty stood up on stout but slightly unsteady hooves and she pulled the goblin mask off of her face in order to speak clearly.
“Ow! What the hay, Fizzy!” the white unicorn grumbled as she rubbed the top of her head where the pain was most acute.
“Mhm, that isn’t funny, Gusty. You know Shady doesn’t like this kind of stuff!” Fizzy said as she helped the still bewildered earth pony off the floor. When Shady finally recognized who their visitor was she was honestly surprised.
“Gusty is that you?” she asked.
“Yeah of course its me!” The white unicorn said as she dropped her mask to the floor and pulled off the rest of her costume, which was nothing more than a big black sheet held onto her by an elastic band. She kicked it away from her hooves and stepped clear.
“Did you miss me?” she asked with a smile. As if forgetting the past few moments, Shady lept over to hug her friend.
“It really is you!”
Gusty had been a childhood friend from Ponyville, she had moved away two years before Shady went to live in Canterlot. And it had been another year since then. The original uneasiness she had been feeling all morning evaporated quickly, as she thought about all the time she would need to catch up.
“I’m here on a little business and ran into Fizzy, so I decided to drop by!” Gusty said cheerily..
When the fog of happiness cleared, Shady then realized she had a rather curious question to ask.
“How did you get inside my storage room?
Gusty smirked, like a magician revealing the secret of a trick.
“You left your apartment window open.”
That gave Shady pause. She stood up and stared blankly into the darkness of the storage room. Then she looked up at the ceiling as if she could see through to the other side.
“You...climbed?” She sputtered.
“Yep.” Gusty said. “It wasn’t too hard. I was trying to surprise you by tapping on your window but you weren’t there, then I noticed your window wasn’t latched. Decided I’d come in and wait for ya.”
At that moment many thoughts clicked into place. It was certainly possible albeit unlikely.
Every morning she’d open her window, the only window in her small apartment that allowed her to look out to the street and watch the day unfurl as ponies began their days. Sometimes she’d greet ponies she knew, but usually she just wanted to hear sounds loud enough to help push her out of the morning stupor she often suffered, mostly because she never did a comfortable amount of sleep during the night to be refreshed in the morning. Not without hearing the grating shouts of the couple who worked the print shop across the street, or the news boy inciting interest for the morning print. Or some other merchant trying to garner business his way.
Mentally Shady kicked herself, how could she have forgotten to close the latch on the window!
“I’m so stupid!” Shady said with a moan, bringing a hoof to her forehead.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Shades. And don’t worry, I locked it behind me when I got in!”
“Thanks.” Shady said with a chuckle, not being able to hold onto exasperation.
“So anyway, about your ghost problem.” Gusty picked the conversation up where Shady and Fizzy had left off, but taken liberties as to what conclusion could be considered reasonable.
“Are you serious?” Fizzy asked with a disapproving look.
“W-what,ghosts? What about them?” Shady didn’t want to entertain the notion.
“What else could it be?” Gusty covered her face with the mask. Obscuring her voice and making it sound gruff. “So close to Nightmare Night, things are bound to happen!”
jingle.
“The sign says you’re open, is anyone in here!”
“Oh! A customer!” Shady whispered more to herself than to her friends. “Be right there!”
The front door opened and in walked a customer. A vested heavy set blue earth pony stallion with a short cut mane and a hat tilted atop his left ear. He stomped into the store and immediately started poking at the displays, examining a set of antique dolls by picking one up, turning it around and then putting it back without much effort to be gentle.
Shady exited the storage room, an eager servant responding to a summons.
“Yes sir, can I help you?”
“Hmmm.” The stallion made a sound from the back of his throat as he deliberated the items on the shelves. He brought a hoof up to scratch his throat and Shady noticed the bags under his eyes. The guy looked to have not slept in days. Shady stood close by anxiously waiting for a reply to her inquiry. At first he didn’t respond until he happened to notice her out of her peripheral vision.
“You the owner of this junk shop?”
Shady grimaced slightly. “Yes, that’s me!” she quickly smiled. You must always be cheerful for a customer!
“I got a train to catch and I need an anniversary gift for muh wife .”
“Anniversary? Well...” Shady tilted her head and pondered. “What does your wife like?”
“I have no idea.” grumbled the stallion. Shady took another look at his drooping eyes.
“Uh-oh....” That took the pink mare by surprise. “Perhaps interest you in an antique two wheel coffee grinder? Or how about this beautiful blue speckled teapot?”
"Geh...coffee..." The customer grumbled and walked away, as if forgetting Shady was there.
Shady silently placed the teapot down when Gusty and Fizzy walked up beside her.
“How’s business?” asked Gusty.
“It’s booming...” Shady rolled her eyes.
“I hope he finds something nice!” said Fizzy. “Then he’ll totally give your store a good reference and you’ll get a ton of business!”
Shady smiled slightly. “Well its only an antique store, I don’t expect that much-”
“This looks good, I’ll take it!” The lone stallion had located the lone brooch sitting in its lonely box
For a moment Shady was breathless. “A-uh-are you sure?”
“Yeah I’m sure. You have a problem with it or somethin?”
Shady immediately shook her head. “No no, not a problem!” For a split second her eyes darted from the pony to the brooch and back again. “I’ll wrap it up for you.”
Minutes later the small piece of jewelry was paid for and its new owner left the store without another word.
“That went well enough.” Gusty said as she looked around the showroom floor. Honestly she was a bit disappointed. She had been expecting some explosion of the paranormal, or at least for something to move across the floor. Then she noticed the clock.
“Hey, its almost lunch time. Wanna go out for a bite to eat?” she asked.
“Oh, oh, me! I'm starving!" Fizzy replied, sidling up to the white unicorn. Before she left through the front door she turned around to see Shady still doing things behind the counter. "Are you coming, Shady?”
The pink pony popped her head up from behind the counter, clipboard in hoof. “I just opened, I think I’ll skip lunch today, I have some items that need sorting.”
Gusty turned and flicked her tail. “Your loss then. Hey Fizz, wanna try that new salad bar place about a block from here?” Gusty’s voice faded as she went, letting the door close softly behind her.
As Shady worked alone a strange pressing feeling came over her, pressing into her shoulder, that feeling of someone looking intensely over your shoulder. Startled, Shady turned around and looked up just in time to see something utterly ghastly staring down at her from over the counter. The sallow visage retreated before Shady could belt out a scream. She scrambled until her back hit the wall behind her. After the startlement subsided, she managed to hoist herself up to the counter’s rim and peek over the side. In all this took roughly three seconds.
“Whoever you are, will you please stop-” She neither saw nor heard the sound of a pony escaping through the front door, and as her eyes scanned the floor her heart sank. Just the clocks, the tea sets, the furniture and drapes, but no heckling trickster trying to jostle her mane a few days before Nightmare Night arrived. The store was completely empty. The familiar tingle of the bell over the door put Shady’s attention back on the door.
“Hello miss? I hear you sell antiques?”
______________________________________________________________________
The next few days brought slow but steady business. Shady managed to put the finishing touches to her show room and move all the clutter away. And she made a few substantial sales on quite a few expensive objects. All in all things were going splendidly and Shady noticed that her anxiety over the mysterious spectre that haunted her peripherals was slowly fading into the background of daily life, though it never truly left her thoughts.
3 Days Until Nightmare Night.
Shady felt her knees weaken, and If it were possible for a pony to lose their complexion, she’d have gone from pink to ash gray in under five seconds. The Amber brooch had returned upon its usual pedestal, though the box was no longer there, the brooch sat alone on the same little table. Shady stopped what she was doing and ran to fetch the morning paper, smoothed it out and scanned the obituaries, knowing it was futile but driven by an uncomfortable fear. It wasn’t until moments later that she realized her search was pointless, she didn’t know the pony she had sold the brooch to. For all she knew he lived anywhere between Manehattan and Dodge Junction. But what could be happening? Surely there was an explanation!
Shady went back over to the brooch and picked it up, staring at it intently before glancing around the store room.
“If this is a joke then it isn’t a funny one!” she shouted as she began a rushed search throughout the store. Somepony’s idea of a joke, taking advantage of her paranoia like this. Shady ran upstairs and checked her only upstairs window. Locked. Good and bad at the same time.
Who had been inside her shop during the open hours who would just leave the brooch and leave without saying anything? And why? But at least she was certain no one was sneaking it while she was away.
Or worse, while she was asleep.
“I’m not keeping you.” Shady said to the brooch. Feeling a bit silly for doing so but completely serious in her intentions. She exited her antique shop, flipping the sign to let customers know she’d be back in fifteen minutes. Then she started running down the sidewalk, looking for a place to throw the thing. No place close that was for sure. And while she couldn’t go too far, she knew it had to be someplace where no pony could just pick it up.
“Hello, Miss Shady. Nice weather we’re having!” said a business pony who was washing the front of his shop with a bucket and sponge. A strange thing to say given the cold air and the rustling wind.
“Um, yeah, very nice weather!” Shady said from across the street. Then she noticed the water running off the washed window. Down the wall, over the sidewalk and over the curb. The water’s final destination being the storm drain.
Yes, the drain, perfect! But not that drain, its too close! She didn’t want this strange piece of jewelry anywhere near her.
She traveled down several more blocks before entering the theater district. From there she picked a storm drain, didn’t matter which, and tossed the brooch down the dark horizontal opening. She made sure nobody had seen her and listlessly returned home. Tired from the long run but thankful to be rid of that cursed brooch. Now Shady felt even a bit silly. A cheap brooch with a curse? How silly! But....she felt much better with it gone.
.
