Ghostly Spells of the Weekend
Spike listened to the chirping of the morning birds as he danced merrily down the hallway of Twilight’s castle. Grinning, he shuffled his feet as he moved to the left and then to the right as he went down the hallway. He took three quick steps forward and then held his claws in the air above his head in a dramatic pose as he slid to a stop. Slowly, he snapped his fingers to test the acoustics of the hallway. With a smile, he nodded to himself as the fingersnap made just the right amount of noise. Lowering his claws, he started snapping in a rhythm and began dancing again.
“Oh, this morning is quite dandy!
Duh duh duh, duh du du duh duh!
With some Nightmare Night’s candy!
Doo duh doo duh, duh duh duh-duh!”
Spike suddenly stopped and looked at Starlight Glimmer’s door when he heard familiar sounds coming from within. As he turned his head to hear the sound better, he could hear a low moaning that came from inside Starlight’s room. As Spike walked closer to Starlight’s door, the sound became louder and more fearful. With a worried look, Spike sighed and walked over to the door, no longer dancing happily. “Starlight, wake up!” he yelled as he knocked loudly at her door. “You’re having another bad dream!”
The sounds inside Starlight’s room stopped, and then Spike could hear hoofsteps getting nearer to the door. Spike stepped backwards to let Starlight open the door, and when the door opened, he blinked twice and gasped. Starlight’s ears drooped down at the sides of her face, her mane was more tangled than a box of Hearth’s Warming decorations, and her eyes were bloodshot. “Oh, wow, Starlight...you look more tired than you did yesterday morning.” Spike and Starlight started walking towards the castle’s kitchen. “Are you sure that these are just bad dreams? You’ve been having nightmares ever since you returned from Zecora’s a week ago.”
Starlight slowly nodded. “Yeah, these are just bad dreams,” she said. “Raindrops and I...had a Nightmare Night that was much more scary than we had originally planned.” She looked over at Spike, and as he opened his mouth she quickly said, “And before you ask again, the answer is still no. You don’t need to know the details of what happened.”
Spike folded his arms across his chest. “Aw, come on! There just has to be a good story,” he started to say before his eyes opened widely. “Er, uh, I mean we can’t help you if you don’t tell us,” he finished with a sheepish grin.
“It’s nothing; I’ll be fine,” Starlight replied as she shook her head. “So, what’s for breakfast this morning?”
Spike lifted his eyebrow in a knowing expression, but said nothing about Starlight changing the subject. “We’re having pancakes, hay bacon, and toast this morning.” Spike looked back and forth before leaning closer to Starlight. Whispering dramatically into Starlight’s ear, Spike said, “And... I opened a bottle from Twilight’s stash of the good syrup.”
Ever since its discovery two years ago, syrup from the Bog Maple tree has been highly coveted all throughout Equestria. The taste was rather unique, and almost everypony that tried it said that it was quite delicious. Bog Maple syrup could only be made in small batches because of both the difficulty in harvesting the sap, as well as the limited areas that the tree would grow. Because of the small amounts available, Bog Maple syrup was very expensive...to the point that pancakes became a very fashionable dish for important royal meetings and elite social gatherings. When the phrase “And later, we shall have pancakes” was said, it would cause great excitement in a room.
Starlight blinked in surprise and quickly closed her mouth that had been hanging open. She could see that Spike was taking a chance of getting in trouble with Twilight, and appreciated the gesture. She knew that the others were concerned, but didn’t realize just how much they cared about this. Reaching over with her hoof, Starlight pulled Spike into a hug. “I’m sorry for making you worry, but everything is ok. I really appreciate the gesture, though, and will try to remember that I have friends again who worry about these things.” She leaned over and when her mouth was close to Spike’s ear, she dramatically whispered, “Let’s go get some before they disappear!”
Starlight and Spike grinned at each other and ran down the rest of the hallway, into the kitchen, and then jumped onto the seats at the table.
*-*-*-*
Starlight Glimmer leaned forward and was about to take a bite of her pancake when she noticed something unusual on her plate. She stopped eating and looked down, and as she put her fork back onto the table, the syrup on the half-eaten pancake began to form letters. “Uh…” Starlight said as she backed away from the table.
“What’s going on...are you ok?” asked Spike from across the table. Upon seeing that Starlight was staring at her plate, Spike jumped up from his seat and ran around the table to stand beside Starlight. “Are you doing that?” he asked as he turned his head to look at Starlight.
Shaking her head, Starlight replied, “No, it’s definitely NOT me!” She backed up a few more steps and stopped when she hit the kitchen wall.
Spike leaned closer to Starlight’s plate. “Whaat?” he said as he put his claw on his hip and raised an eyebrow. “Starlight, why do your pancakes say ‘I’m So Sorry’ on them? And who is doing this?”
Right in front of Spike’s eyes, a piece of toast started floating above the table. Small pieces were slowly ripped away, until the toast was vaguely unicorn-shaped. The toast began floating around as if it was walking around on the air.
“Oooo, I’m a ghost,” said a voice at the other side of the table. “A toast ghost! A toast ghost who has been at the table for a very, very, very long time, but one who did not see any other toast ghosts her age for a very long time.”
Two pieces of hay bacon started floating above the table, and then they slowly moved towards the toast ghost. The three pieces of floating food started moving in a peculiar way, and Starlight immediately recognized the movement that the toast and bacon were making.
“Our toast ghost was so excited to see new friends!” the voice continued narrating. “She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to get new friends right before Nightmare Night. She could show them Ghostville, and they would play and have fun, and be the best of friends.”
The floating food fell to the table and stopped moving. “But,” said the ghost in a subdued voice, “they didn’t want to play. And our toast ghost,” the narration paused a moment to allow for the voice to sniffle, “lost her temper. She did mean things and tried to hurt her new friends. She...she...she...I,” said the voice with another sniffle, “I’m so sorry!” The voice stopped talking and started to softly cry at the other side of the table.
Starlight heard a cup fall onto the floor and looked over to the side of the kitchen to see Twilight Sparkle standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Is this true?” Twilight asked. “Is this what happened last week? It’s no wonder that you’ve...been…SPIKE, IS THAT MY SYRUP?”
Spike quickly looked at Starlight Glimmer and winked his eye that was on the side of his face that Twilight could not see. He looked back at Twilight, struck a jaunty pose, and said, “Eeyup!” He slowly reached down to Starlight’s plate, stuck his claw into the the syrup, and then licked his claw. “Mmm, tasty!” Soon afterwards, he stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry. With a giggle he quickly ran out of the kitchen.
“Aargh!” yelled Twilight as she quickly gave chase to the fleeing dragon. A few moments after leaving the kitchen, she ran back in and stomped her hoof twice. “Friendship lesson!” she said loudly before turning around again to chase Spike.
“Um, what just happened?” asked the voice in the kitchen.
The corner of Starlight’s mouth lifted a little as she answered her guest. “It looks like Spike saved us from a lecture from the Princess of Friendship, and also gave us some space to talk things out.” She looked over at the empty doorway. “He’s a surprising little dragon. Sometimes he’s your usual foal, but there are times when he shows amazing maturity for his age.” Starlight looked back towards the table, and saw that the unicorn ghost had revealed herself. “So, about last week…maybe we could have spent a little time together, but you have to understand that we weren’t quite ready to be ghosts yet and were a little scared.”
The ghost slowly nodded. “Yes, I can see that now. I should have been more understanding and kept control of my temper. I...was lonely for so long, and am really sorry for what happened last week.” The ghost looked over at the doorway for a moment and then looked back at Starlight. “He’s going to be ok, right?”
Starlight chuckled, and nodded. “Yeah, don’t let Twilight fool you...this is just a game that they play. Normally they’ll chase each other around the castle for a while, and when she finally ‘catches’ him she gives him a big hug and then tickles under his arm for a few seconds. Who knew dragons were ticklish underneath their arms?”
The ghost’s mouth started to smile as she began to giggle. “Oh, my, it must be fun living here.” The unicorn ghost blinked with sudden realization. “I never told you my name, did I?” She watched as Starlight thought a moment and then shook her head. The unicorn ghost smiled and raised her hoof to her chest. “Could we start over? My name is Pearl.”
Starlight thought about how Twilight and her friends had accepted her and gave her a second chance. She looked at Pearl and nodded. “My name is Starlight Glimmer,” she said with a smile, “and we may already have something in common.” Starlight took a deep breath, and started her tale. “When I first met Twilight, I was running a town of ponies that I had convinced to give up their cutie marks…”
*-*-*-*
Starlight closed the door to the castle and then walked down the street with Pearl. “And then Sunburst returned to the Crystal Empire with the mystery items he bought during his visit. Well, that’s my story. Neither of us is perfect, but we’re both trying to be good.” Starlight looked around at the various ponies that passed and saw that very few reacted to a ghost walking down the street. “Um, Pearl, I have a question.”
“Is it about other ponies not noticing me walking down the street with you?” said Pearl as she looked over at Starlight.
“Yes, it looks as if not many can even see you. It’s only a few that...watch out!” Starlight yelled as she noticed that Pearl was about to run into a street sign.
Instead of hitting the sign, Pearl walked right through it, slowed down, and looked back at it. She looked back at Starlight with a sheepish grin. “Would you believe that I used to run into street signs years ago? I would get focused on what friends and I were talking about that I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” Pearl sighed and then continued. “And to answer your question, not many ponies will notice that I’m here. Some will notice right away, but others...you need to get their attention first. There are also a few who are not able to see me no matter what I try.
Starlight quickly applied hoof to forehead. “So you’re saying that most ponies are seeing me talking to myself.” She looked at Pearl as she thought a moment and then nodded. Starlight shrugged. “Eh, I’ve done worse. At least it wasn’t a villain’s monologue.” She looked at Pearl and they both started giggling.
Starlight and Pearl resumed walking down the street, and as they turned a corner, Starlight asked Pearl, “So, what do you want to do? We might be a little limited in what we can do together, but I know we can find things to do.”
Pearl smiled. “We don’t need to do anything special, what we’re doing right now is making me very happy. It’s been so long since I had somepony to walk around with and share a conversation.”
As they walked, Starlight noticed a poster on the bulletin board in Ponyville’s square. “I know! I think I have an idea of something we’d enjoy, and we should be able to make it in time if we hurry. Let’s go!” Starlight started walking fast in the direction of the town’s stage. Pearl followed her, and when they arrived at the stage there was just enough time to choose a seat before the play started.
The Ponyville school was performing an original comedy that was written by the students. Starlight and Pearl smiled at how cute the students looked in their costumes, and laughed along with the audience when the students acted out jokes and funny situations. Towards the end of the play, Starlight looked over at Pearl and saw a smile that would make Pinkie Pie proud. And also...a tear?
“Pearl, are you ok?” asked Starlight as she leaned closer.
“Yes, I’m ok,” said Pearl. “I’m just really happy right now.” Pearl leaned closer to Starlight and put her front leg around Starlight like a hug. She lowered her head as if she were resting it on the side of Starlight’s neck. “Thank you,” she said before slowly disappearing.
Starlight watched as Pearl vanished. “Pearl?” she asked the empty space. “Pearl, are you still here?”
“Dearie, that was a nice thing you did for her,” came a voice from behind Starlight. “You helped her move on. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Starlight said and turned around. She jumped in her seat when she saw who was standing behind her.
“Would you mind giving another pony a helping hoof?” asked an elderly, transparent, pony.
Author's Note
This is a work of fanfiction (unofficial stories that lovingly borrow characters/settings, written by a fan of the show) - please do not confuse this with the the show. This story takes place in a somewhat alternate universe.
I do not own the characters or setting of the FIM universe - they belong to Hasbro. Please support them by purchasing their products (collectibles, videos, toys, etc.) - they are available at many physical stores as well as online.
