Ace trotted to his part-time job at Sweet Apple Acres, as an aid for Granny Smith while Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom were away, no one seemed to notice him anyway. Granny Smith seemed to often mistake him for Big Mac, usually asking him why he doesn't say 'Eeyup' how he does. There he was picking apple trees in place of Applejack's bucking, whilst she was Celestia knows where, with the other five. Some ponies passing by seemed to stare in wonder at Ace picking the trees, as if Ace wasn't there and the apples were being magic'd into a bucket from nowhere. He always wondered why somepony always seems to do that. It was night time anyway, Ace went to Granny Apple to make sure she didn't need anything before he went home. "No problems here, Mac. Say, don't you live here anyway?" She asked, confused.
"Um, I'm not Big Mac." Ace replied for at least the umpteenth time.
"All right, Ace Hearts." She said, clearly not remembering his name.
"Okay, see you tomorrow, Ms. Apple." He said over his shoulder.
As he walked home, Ace noticed only Applejack, her family, and her friends seemed to notice him. When he trotted over to the square Ponies around him jumped, as if he came from nowhere.
"Didn't see you get here."
"Ah...! Oh sorry, you scared me."
"Never seen you before."
Everypony around him acted so strange, as if he never existed prior to stepping on the square. He trotted home, quite annoyed no one cared about him enough to even acknowledge he ever existed. He cantered into his home, dwarved by Twilight's library. He decided to ask her and forget about it until morning. The next day he went to Twilight's library. He knocked on the door with his hoof, Spike almost answering the door immediately.
"Hey Ace! Need something?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah, is Twilight here? I need to ask her something." He nodded, a little disappointed.
"Thanks." He walked in quietly, Twilight reading a large book with a picture of a Draconequus on the page she was on.
"Twilight? can you tell me something?" He asked politely.
"
Yes, what is it?" She asked, closing her book.
"Am I... visible to other ponies?" He asked, awkwardly.
She looked like she never heard anything so stupid in all her life.
"Well, of course you are!" She said, shocked by how ridiculous the question was.
"If you come to the square with me, I can show you what I'm asking this for.
"Alright, lead the way, Ace." She said, standing up. They trotted to the town square. Nopony looked at him the whole way there, then as soon as he set foot on the square, everyone around him jumped.
"Where'd you come from!?"
"Didn't see you there, sorry."
"Oi, when'd you get 'ere?" Ace looked at Twilight.
"See what I mean?" She nodded, curiously.
"Hm... Try stepping outside the square, then stepping in again." He did so and yet again people jumped at his presence.
"Maybe the other five can see you?" He thought it sounded right. They went and got Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash. Twilight asked each one of them if they could see Ace.
"Applejack, can you see Ace?"
"Yup, 'bout as clear as a crystal!" She said.
"Fluttershy?"
"Yes, hi Ace."
"Rarity?"
"Yes, you do look like you could use an outfit, Ace."
"Pinkie?"
"Yeah, why haven't I seen you at any of my parties? Oh, I probably never invited you, silly me!"
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah. Why are we even doing this?" She wrote something down on a clipboard with her magic. Ace was confused.
"Ms. Apple and Big Mac seem to be able to see me too, although Ms. Apple usually mistakes me for Mac."
Twilight looked as if something was on her mind.
"Maybe we should go to Celestia for help?" Ace's face lit up at the mention of Celestia. He was instantly excited to see the princess.
"Sure..! I mean um, if she isn't busy..." He tried to sound discreet.
"Alrighty then, well then let's get goin'!" Said Applejack excitedly. The seven galloped toward her castle until they got to it, then politely trotted into her throne room.
"Your majesty, I have a friend here who seems to be invisible outside of me, my friends and the Apple family." Celestia examined the black-coated, red eyed unicorn.
"Hm... I'll call in a guard and see if this is true." A guard came galloping around a corner.
"Yes, your majesty?" He asked.
"Can you see a black-coated, red eyed unicorn before you?" she inquired.
"No, your highness, is he a missing prisoner?"
"Nevermind, you can go." He left, wondering if his princess had gone mad.
As he did this, he phased directly through Ace. Ace jumped back, worriedly. The princess was shocked. In fact, everypony was shocked, including Ace. Twilight wrote something down.
"Ace, something might be seriously wrong with you, we should go back to my library to look up what it is."
The seven left the castle, five of them returning to their homes.
Ace and Twilight walked back to the library to get to the bottom of this. They arrived in the afternoon, Spike eyed them worriedly. The two of them looked as if they saw a ghost.
She opened a book titled 'Magical exceptions and other curiosities' and flipped to a page with a large label that read 'Selectively Intangible Entities'. Twilight looked over at Ace worriedly.
"It says here you're permanently intangible to other ponies aside from elements and their family." Ace's eyes widened at this notion. Then he looked out the window at the hundreds of ponies he'd never get to meet.
"B-but, how would that work? D-do I really exist then?" He asked, as if pleading.
"Well it also says you don't exist physically, but on some magical level."
He looked at his hooves, horrified. What could this mean? Why did this happen to him? Why could he never fully exist? He returned home, now knowing that he could never fully experience life like a normal pony should.
He continued his life normally the next day, although no one ever met him. No one saw him, no one could see him.
He wondered if he'd ever meet anyone he could love. He wondered if he even COULD love.
Author's Note
Hope you guys like the story so far!
Ace woke up in his house, all seemed normal.
Then he heard that something. He got out of bed, and galloped down the stairs. Somepony was in his house. Didn't they know he was here?
"Why are you in my house?" Ace said halfway confused and halfway frustrated. The pony jumped at his voice.
"T-they didn't tell me this house was haunted!" The mare dashed out of the homestead, terrified.
"Well that solves that." Said Ace to himself mostly. He trotted tiredly out the door and into Sweet Apple Acres. He checked if Granny Smith needed anything, and went to work picking the apples off the trees with his magic. As he did this, he thought some more about his new self awareness.
"Am I even a unicorn given that I'm intangible? Am I even a pony?" He thought.
"What am I?" He finished picking the trees for the harvest, checked if Granny Apple needed anything else and went to Twilight's library. Spike greeted him like how he usually did, let him inside. Twilight was asleep at a table littered with research papers, some tea from Sugarcube Corner and a quill dipped in an ink vial. Ace trotted over to the papers, and read some. An unsent letter read:
'Dear Celestia,
Today it has come to my attention that my friend, Ace Sparks is apparently some kind of ghost. I will try to find some way to fix this.
Yours truly,
Twilight Sparkle.'
He read an unrelated, crumpled up letter.
'Dear Celestia,
today I learned- Never mind, she isn't going to read this...'
She woke up.
"Oh, hi Ace... Didn't expect you here today."
"Do you still think of me as a pony?" He said, clearly upset by the letter. "Or am I just some kind of ghost, a thing..?" Twilight's eyes widened, surprised.
"Well, of course I think you're more than that!" She stated quite loudly, surprising Spike, making him jump. "That's just a simple letter!" She said, using magic to put it in an envelope and seal it. "I've been trying to find a solution to this problem," She continued, "I've figured out something, I've figured out a kind of... suit that covers your full body, so everyone can see you." She was about to continue, but then Ace interrupted her.
"A mask? No thank you." He said, almost instantly rejecting the thought. "But thanks for the consideration." He was about to go home, when Twilight noticed something. Ace was just trotting out the door.
"Um, Ace! wait!" she called. Ace turned to look at her.
"What?" He inquired. She pointed a hoof at him.
"You're glowing blue!"
"I am?" He looked at his hooves, it was true! They were glowing! "Does this mean that ponies can see me?" The glow turned green. Twilight noticed the change in color.
"Um, I have something to tell you. You're not my friend anymore." She said. Ace's glow changed from green to red.
"What?" He asked.
"Not really, just testing a theory." She continued. "It seems you glow a certain color in accordance to your emotions!" She observed. "I only said I wasn't your friend to test it, sorry!"
"It's fine." He said, still slightly confused. "Anyway, I'm going to go see if this glow is visible to other ponies."
"I'll come with you." She said.
He trotted to the square to test the glow, everypony around stared at him, confused.
"What is that?"
"What's the glow about?"
"Are my glasses broken, or is that a glowing green silhouette?"
Ace decided he'd speak. He walked to a box and stood on it, for a better profile among the crowd. Then he spoke.
"Everypony, you may not know me, but I have been here for quite some time... My name is Ace Sparks."
"Now, before everypony here freaks out, let me explain." More passerby looked his way. "I am apparently some sort of manifestation of magic in the form of a pony, with the personality and figure of one, too..." They all fell silent, save for a few clearing their throats."At least that's what I've been told." Everypony stared at him, listening intently. "I feel emotions, breathe air... Like any other normal pony, But I am intangible to ponies who don't know me, and yet I'm real to friends and family..." A filly pointed him out to their mother, the mother telling them that it's rude to point. "With the help of Princess Celestia herself, and Twilight sparkle, along with some other ponies, you know who you are... And now, You all know me..." He stopped glowing, yet everypony still looked at him. Could they still see him? he cantered to the left, then to the right. Eyes still followed him, he must be visible! He felt ecstatic. Some colts and fillies raced over to him and looked up at him.
"How did Twilight Sparkle help you, mister?" one asked.
"Well, she reassured me to go out and talk to all of you after noticing that I glowed..." Ponies kept coming to ask him about what happened... For the first time, he felt like he knew the town. Twilight galloped over to him and hugged him tightly.
"Ace, that was such a great speech! Did you come up with that on your own, on the spot..?" She asked, astonished.
"Well, not exactly... He continued. "You see, when nopony knows you for a few years that drag so slowly when you have nopony to talk to... You kind of make speeches due to a lack of other things to do..." She nodded. "It's getting pretty late out, see you tomorrow." Ace said over his shoulder. And so he went to his home and took a well deserved rest, tomorrow was going to be big.
As Celestia's sun rose, Ace woke up, got out of bed, opened the door, and at his doorstep there was a lot of gifts. A cake from the Cakes, an invitation from Pinkie Pie, a letter from Fluttershy, a book from Twilight titled 'Friendship is Magic' a record from Vinyl Scratch. Ace brought them all in, and read Fluttershy's letter.
'Dear Ace,
Now that Everypony knows who you are, they'll probably all greet you to the town. I already knew you, but then, I felt as if I barely did.
I heard your speech, and I'd like to know if you'd want to come over for a tea party.
Your friend, Fluttershy.'
Ace felt happier than he had felt in quite some time...
He went to work at Sweet Apple Acres. When he was just about finishing up his work, Applejack came cantering over to him. "Howdy, Ace, Ah heard yer speech back there, it sure was somethin'. Ah got you this basket 'a some apples you picked."
"Thanks Applejack, You guys really helped me back there. I don't know what I'd have done without your help..." He blushed. After a pause, she smiled. "Hey, how's about a buckin' contest." She asked. "Whoever knocks down the most apples wins." Ace smiled as well.
"Sure." They went to two trees adjacent to each other. They started bucking the trees as hard as they could, Applejack winning, quite obviously.
"Wellp, ya lose." Applejack stated the obvious.
"Eeyup." Big Mac said, passing by.
"Why don't ya go to the square, 'Ahm sure there's something to do over there, Ah'll handle the buckin'" She drawled.
"Alright," Ace said with a jokingly suspicious tone. He cantered over to the square.
The entirety of Ponyville was gathered at the square, welcoming Ace into the town.
