Princess Twilight Sparkle lay in bed awake with the sheets pulled tightly around her. Every light in her room was turned on and she had cast several light spells to supplement them.
It was supposed to have been raining, but at her royal command, she had the very thought of that weather delayed indefinitely. The night and the castle were terrifying enough without the additional ambience.
A horrible moan wailed through the halls outside Twilight’s bedroom. One that only she could hear despite its regular occurrence the past week since Dash had died.
The lights flickered and warped continuously to cast terrifying shadows upon the walls. Even her magical ones.
And always there was that wailing. That horrible, horrible wailing.
All four legs quivering, Twilight hid herself under her covers and, at the same time, berated herself for doing so. Eighty-six years old and still scared of ghosts. If word ever got out, the press would never let it go.
“…light…”
Twilight just barely made out the semblance of a word and went rigid. It was finally confirmed. The ghost was coming for her.
“…Twilight…”
It was closer now, as if it were coming from within her very room.
Twilight built up what little courage she had and pulled back her covers just enough to peek out and reacted instantly.
She teleported in a Faraday cage she had conjured earlier in the day, held it aloft exactly where she thought the ghost was, and prepared for the worst with a teleport spell ready to be triggered to get her anywhere else but here.
The lights stopped flickering. At least they did outside the metal construct. Inside, the light was as chaotic as ever. However, without the constant strobe effect in the entire room, Twilight’s eyes were finally able to adjust and she gasped as she saw what was inside.
“Rainbow Dash! Why? How? W-What do you want?”
The ghost of Dash sighed. Twilight was struck dumb by the sudden change in mood, though the lighting did not change..
“Hey, Twi. This was such a good prank, and you just had to go and ruin it like that. I mean, I literally had to die to do this.”
“W-What? Did you–”
“I didn’t commit suicide, Twi. It was just old age. Some of us aren’t immortal princesses after all. How are the others doing?”
“…Just fine…” Twilight managed. She also managed to slightly loosen her magic’s grip on her blankets and let her unfinished teleport dissipate.
“Makes sense. I mean, it’s only been a week. Right? I didn’t suffer some sort of time distortion from being dead, did I?”
“Noooo,” Twilight said, unsure if she should be uncomfortable or terrified anymore. “It’s only been a week.”
“So what is this thing you’ve got around me anyways?”
“It’s… It’s a Faraday cage. With all the lights flickering, I knew the gh– I mean, I knew you were interfering with electromag–”
“Spare me the science stuff, Twi. It’s not any more interesting now than it was last week.”
“Fine,” Twilight pouted. “It’s a metal sphere that keeps you from flickering all the lights under the same principle as a microwave. I’m a bit surprised it worked so well.”
“There. Was that so hard?”
“Well, I am talking to a ghost.”
“Details.”
“So” – Twilight tried to find some more sensitive words but came up empty – “why are you a ghost? And how did it happen?”
Dash shrugged and said, “Dunno. I just woke up like this. If fiction and movies are anything to go by, it’s cause I had something I always wanted to tell you but never did. You see–”
“Whoa, Dash! Stop! Desist!”
“What? Why?” Dash asked, cocking her head to the side.
“If you think you’re here because you never told me something, I shouldn’t have to tell you not to tell me that! You’ll really die then, and…I don’t think I could take that again.”
“Oh. Right. That kind of sucks though. I mean I really want to tell you. I’ve got this urge.”
“Well don’t. You’re not an alicorn, but you might be able to stay with me forever like this.”
Blinking twice and looking away, Dash whispered, “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“In fact,” Twilight said, not having been paying attention, “I could save everypony that can develop a regret! Just think about it, Dash! Nopony would ever have to say goodbye again and presumably you don’t need to eat or breathe so it’s not even a strain on our resources! Can you still use your magic?”
“Um… No, not that I can tell.”
“Hmm… Maybe you have some sort of ghost magic to learn instead. You’re floating though, so you can still fly at least.”
“I did float straight through your door. And I can’t seem to stop making the lights go all wonky.”
Twilight let out a little squeal of excitement. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun! A whole new branch of magic to figure out! And a whole new type of life too!”
“Yeah, that’s nice and all, but do you think you could find a way to make me solid again? It’s pretty boring just floating around slowly and listening to ponies and stuff.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. You’re projecting an image of yourself, so I should be able to come up with a solution that binds a ferrous metal to your image with magic. It should be easy. Just a reapplication of–”
“Twi! Science stuff! Stop!”
Grumbling and burning in her indignity, Twilight said, “Fine. But you have to be my experimental subject. Otherwise I’m not going to get anywhere with this stuff.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” sighed Dash.
“Oh! Do you ever get tired?”
“Not really. I don’t seem to mix well with bright lights though. If you had made this room any brighter, I might not have been able to come inside.”
“Interesting… I don’t think that will be a problem after we get you a solid form, but it’s certainly something deserving further study. Anyway, if you don’t need to sleep then let’s get started on an all-nighter. Meet me down in the lab and I’ll go bother the kitchen staff for some coffee.”
“And that concludes my presentation on preserving life after death,” Twilight finished.
“Finally!” Applejack shouted. “I ain’t no Rainbow Dash, but that was darn near ready to kill me twice over.”
“Hey!” Dash shouted and turned to Applejack. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Before Applejack could respond, Twilight said, “Hey, have you two ever heard the phrase ‘silent as the dead?’ Keep it down.” Turning back to her audience, Twilight asked, “Questions?”
The audience was still dumbfounded as they had been since the presentation began. In addition to a variety of leading scientific and medical experts, also present was Celestia, Luna, Cadance, a very aged Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and a select few other friends from Ponyville and around Equestria.
Cadance slowly raised her hoof.
Twilight, having already braced herself for Cadance, said, “No, I cannot bring Shining back. He is…gone.” Seeing Cadance on the verge of tears, Twilight added, “So far as I know. I have not exactly ruled the possibility out, given that I have confirmed some sort of life after death, but I can’t make any promises.”
Nodding weakly, Cadance leaned into Celestia for comfort.
Another hoof raised in the back.
“Yes, Doctor Charts?”
“Is this really…natural?”
Rolling her eyes, Twilight answered, “This is hardly the place to discuss philosophy, doctor. However, I would point out three things to you.
“First of all, I am personally very happy with the situation. As are Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I am afraid that…Rarity and Pinkie Pie did not make it…but they did try.”
Clearing her throat and blinking away a tear, Twilight continued, “Second, this is a natural process. As far as we know. I do not discount some grand magic laid upon the world in the days of yore or other such mechanism, but I have no evidence for it. These two died natural deaths and naturally became ghosts.
“I have only augmented their ghostly form with a physical one. It does not let them feel, taste, touch, or use any of the non-classical senses, but they can see and hear. I believe both are the result of ghost magic since they do not naturally seem to be able to interact with the world in the ‘classically tangible’ sense.
“Third, if you think synthetic things are lesser than natural things or should be shunned, I suggest you stop using your chair.”
A nervous laughter echoed around the room. Still, any kind of laughter was better than the snickering from before the presentation at a princess taking ghosts seriously.
Twilight was tempted to say, “Who’s laughing now?” but instead opted for, “Any further questions?”
“Um…Twi?”
Turning around, Twilight asked, “Yes, Dash?”
“Could we say a few words?”
“…I guess so.”
Dash and Applejack stepped forward and Twilight made room for them center stage.
Dash nodded to Applejack who then said, “Right, so there’s one warning we reckon y’all might wanna know before you leave here. Twilight here mentioned that the only way to go about ghostifying yourself that we know of is to find yourself something or somepony to pine over real hard. There’s two ways to go about that.
“First, you can find something to regret that you’ll never be able to get over. I’ve got one of those kinda regrets. My Granny Smith was long gone before I shed the mortal coil and I should think I’m not gonna be seeing her again. Doubt she’d wanna come back even if we found a way to pull her from the æther.”
“Or,” Dash said, taking up the conversation, “you can have a regret like mine. Something I could resolve in a snap at any time. Twi’s really thick–”
“Hey!”
“–and also very good at playing dumb, so as long as I don’t blab to her face, I’ll probably be fine. But it’s still nerve-racking to be on the edge of real death all the time. So if you want to stick around forever, pick something hard to resolve.”
Taking the conversation back, Applejack finished, “And if you want to have the option to pass on permanently, pick something easy.”
“But either way, why don’t you guys go out there and start regretting your lives?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, stomping her hoof.
The mare in question floated out a window as quickly as she could, shouting, “I have only one regret!”
Author's Note
Written during a thunderstorm and a power outage!
