Crecious' Short Story Collection

The young mare stood in the attic, her flanks visibility trembling. She'd just heard a noise in her newly purchased home. This could only mean one thing. Specters.

"H...Hello?" She called. When she had viewed the house in daylight, the nice sunny days where everything looks it's best, concealing now the frightful unwelcomed guest.

Another creek ran a shiver down her spine.

Ivory Pot took a tentative step away from the sound. She was easily spooked and didn't like the situation.

Yes, she didn't know that there was a ghost in her new home, it could have been some colts playing a trick on her. That was a far more likely outcome than specters... She was just being an alarmist again.

Ivory was a divorcee, her husband had run off with a cute Saddle Arabian mare and left her with almost no money or possessions. Two years later, she was standing in this house with an intruder.

"C...Come out! I've got a bat!" Her wing closed around the bat she was pulling closer to her body. She wasn't going to play around. She was the owner of this house... And she would defend it!

There wasn't an answer, but the creek stopped. She let a breath out after a long moment. It seemed it was over. Whoever it was it didn't seem to either want to her hurt or be hurt. This suited her just fine and she moved back downstairs to the kitchen.  Back in the kitchen bathed in light she felt a lot safer now, she put a kettle on and put some loose leaf tea into a cup. An Oolong, good for calming the nerves.

The kettle whistled loudly and she lifted it up off with her wing, using the feathers as fingers to pour the boiling water out into her cup. The kitchen suddenly became filled with the floral smell of her cup.

She breathed it in greedily. This was what she needed. Maybe it was her imagination that was making her hear that sound before. Could it? She was the only one up there, she hadn't seen or heard anypony else.

The truth was, she did believe in ghosts. She'd experienced ghosts when she was a wee little filly but hadn't since. She always thought maybe it was just her imaginary friends, ponies she made up when she was lonely.

She sat with her cup and snuggled into a blanket on the couch. A plush, warm soft one, the kind you can almost melt into and sipped her tea.

"You wouldn't really hit me... Would you?" A soft voice said beside her ear.

She yelped and shot up, spilling hot tea all over the couch, herself and the blanket.

Her head whipped around as she looked for the source. Her wings were puffed out and her fur stood on end.

"Who said that!" She cried. "This isn't funny!"  She looked left and right, her eagle-like vision piecing the smallest parts of the room. Still, she saw nothing. Was it her imagination again? Surely.. But that voice had been so clear, so innocent. Like foals, scared and tentative.

When nothing else happened, she cursed under her breath as she looked at the mess she'd made. Rehydrated leaves were cast about the carpet and couch. It looked like someone had ripped a tree apart.

Sighing she went to the kitchen and began the long process of picking up, and drying the cloth.

Twenty minutes later, she'd made another cup, only smaller this time. Sighing to herself and casting a wary eye about. Just in case.

She'd finished her tea, and the empty cup sat on the coffee table in front of her as she began to nod off she was distinctly aware she was looking at something shimmering in front of her. An apparition she was sure was only in her half-waking dream. It was a little colt, who form was visible but seemed to shift and move like sunlight on water. Ripping and moving. Almost making Ivory dizzy.

She yawned, unalarmed. She was sure this was just a dream, and it'd be over in the morning.

Then that little voice sounded.

"Why are you so scared?..."

Her eyes opened up as she became more alert.

A piercing scream echoed through the house. Luckily, perhaps not for Ivory, she lived on a dead end street with no other houses within ear shot. Nopony would be coming to help her.

The little colt backed off, his eyes wide and ears plastered against his skull.

"I... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" He cried, trying to be over heard.

Ivory got ahold of herself a moment later and watched the colt with fear, astonishment and awe.

"Y...You're a ghost!" She pointed her mouth wide.

He looked at himself and shrugged. "Yeah, I am... I don't know how though..."

She watched him carefully. While he didn't look like he wanted to cause her pain, she still was wary. How else was she supposed to react? He was a ghost for Celestia's sake.

"Can you help me find my mummy?" He finally spoke, he shifted his hooves and looked embarassed.

"Why can't you find her?" She replied, curiosity filled her voice. She was not mocking him or declining his request.

No. She was bizzarly taken with him.

"I can't find her, and even if I could... She couldn't hear or see me, like you do."

A sudden lump formed in Ivory's throat. She was special and not in the way she'd always hoped.

No... This was something she wasn't looking forward to. With her ears pinned back, she sighed for the third time that night.

"Okay, kid. I'll help you."

His eyes widened again, not fear this time but admoration and longing.

"Thank you!"