Chapters Deep within the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle and her friends are gathered around a warm, crackling campfire in the middle of a chilly summer's night. The moon has risen, the eerie hooting of owls and rustling of branches and leaves helps set the mood for the scary story Rainbow Dash has been telling. The glow of the fire lights up her face, and her ominous grin as she reaches the climax of her story. The five of her friends are huddled close to each other for comfort as they shiver and tremble from fear, except for one: Twilight. She looks on unphased, without a single twitch or sign of fear.
"And so," Rainbow Dash proceeds with her story. "The filly galloped as fast as she could into the woods, but no matter how fast she was, she couldn't outrun the sounds of flapping wings chasing after her. A shadow loomed over her, and the creature landed before her, blocking her path. With nowhere else to turn, she froze in fear."
"Noooooo!" Pinkie Pie shouts.
"Yes, Pinkie! And the creature stepped toward her, taking its time as if to savor the moment. The filly fell down onto her back, and the creature's face was revealed by the moonlight. It was a pony, but his face was pale-white, and his eyes were blood-red. He smiled, showing off his long, terrifying fangs. The filly screamed as loud as she could, but nopony would come to her rescue this time. . ." Rainbow Dash backs away from the fire until she is completely shrouded in darkness. Everypony looks to each other, still frozen in fear.
"W-W-Where'd she go?" Applejack asks.
"I don't know, but I can't look!" Fluttershy whines as she hides her face behind her hooves. The fire is suddenly snuffed out, and everyone's hearts skip a beat as their eyes widen from shock.
"If this is another one of Rainbow Dash's practical jokes, it is most certainly 'not' funny!" Rarity declares.
"You can say that again," Applejack reassures.
"Why would I do that? Did you not hear me the first--"
"Never mind, Rarity!"
The breeze suddenly stops, and everypony is afraid to move a muscle. The sky has suddenly become crowded as thick, smoky clouds roll in to block out the moonlight. Alone in the darkness, the five of them grasp onto one another for some sense of safety with only the sounds of their own heartbeats.
"I can't take it anymore," Fluttershy says as he peeks out through the space between her hooves. "What's going--"
"HISSSS!"
"AHH!" The ponies scream in terror, bolting in every which direction to escape the horrid creature. Twilight, who's still sitting calmly in her spot sighs as she casts a spell from her horn to bring the fire back to life with a spark. The creature falls backward, rolling over in uncontrollable laughter. Everypony else peeks out from their hiding spots upon hearing the laughter, and find the creature to be Rainbow Dash herself.
"Rainbow Dash, are you kiddin'?!" Applejack asks angrily.
"That was, as I said earlier, not funny!" Rarity yells.
"Oh, come on. How could you guys 'not' have seen that coming?" Rainbow Dash asks.
Fluttershy pokes her head out from the bush she's been hiding behind, "I-Is it safe?" she asks.
"Yeah, it was just Rainbow Dash pullin' one of her usual pranks," Applejack informs with a disapproving look.
"You guys just gotta toughen up!" Rainbow Dash encourages. "I mean, just look at Twilight, she didn't even flinch!"
"That's because I wasn't afraid at all," says Twilight.
"Really? Not even a tiny bit?"
"That story was so grotesque and barbaric!" Rarity adds. "I don't see how no pony couldn't have even the slightest reaction."
"It's just because I know Vamponies don't exist."
"Are you sure?" Rainbow Dash asks dubiously. "There could be one . . . right BEHIND YOU!"
Twilight giggles, "Sorry, Rainbow, but make-believe monsters just don't scare me."
"What about ghosts?!" Pinkie Pie shouts as she jumps in from out of nowhere.
"Ghosts?"
"Yeah! Like the ones that go boooooo!"
"Out of all the different types of monsters that exist in fiction, ghosts are the ones I find the least likely to exist in reality."
"Well, then what do you believe in?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"I believe in science, and scientifically, there is no possible way that ghosts exist. There's just no proof."
"Ugh, talk about a stick in the mud."
"Come on, you girls don't actually believe in ghosts, do you?"
"Well," Applejack begins. "Sometimes the doors to the barn open and close all on their own, and I ain't got no reasonin' for it."
"That's just the wind, Applejack."
"Sometimes," Rarity starts. "I'll catch a glimpse of what appear to be glowing eyes at night!"
"That's just Opal. Cats' eyes just have that appearance when it's dark and there's just a tiny bit of light to reflect off them."
"One time," Fluttershy mumbles. "I was in my living room, and this big, scary shadow loomed over me. When I turned around, nopony was there!"
"Fluttershy, that was your tail; it's always been your tail."
"Oh . . . right."
"Pinkie? Any reason why you believe?"
"Sometimes I hear voices!" she says bluntly with glee, as everypony turns their attention to her all at once in confusion.
"Umm. . . What do they say?"
"Pretty much anything. We talk about the weather, what our plans are, our favorite sweets, favorite treats--oh, his favorite are the chocolate chip vanilla cupcakes!"
"Pinkie, it just sounds like you were talking with a customer."
"But--"
"Rainbow?"
"Oh, I believe in ghosts alright," Rainbow Dash confirms. "Whenever I go out on my nightly flights, I swear somepony's always following me. I can hear them, and sometimes I catch a figure before it vanishes behind the clouds."
"Okay, Rainbow, we're not moving into another scary story."
"I'm being serious!"
"Well, you know there's plenty of birds that fly around at night."
"A bird?!"
"And if you're going to say it's too big to be a bird, I'm ninety-nine percent positive it's just your eyes playing tricks on you."
Everypony takes a moment to ponder over everything Twilight has said, and they all lower their heads as they come to agree with her deductions.
"Well," Applejack begins in a defeated tone. "I guess all that does sound pretty reasonable."
"Yes, I don't suppose there's any arguing against it," says Rarity. "Thank goodness, because if a ghoulish creature was living in my boutique I wouldn't spend another minute in there."
"See? Now you all have nothing to be afraid of," says Twilight.
Just then, the fire slowly dies out. This time, everypony's reaction is much closer to Twilight's first reaction to the fire being blown out. None of them flinch, and are instead slightly annoyed by the happening.
"Oh, not again," Rarity whines.
"Rainbow, will you cut it out?" Applejack demands.
"It wasn't me this time!" Rainbow Dash objects.
"Girls, I think the fire just needs some more wood. We should go gather some."
All in agreement, they all go their own separate ways to forage for fresh wood to burn. Twilight wanders the woods without an ounce of fear despite being all alone. She is calmed by the sounds of the owls hooting and crickets chirping, as she knows it to be nothing more than harmless forest creatures. No misshapen bushes or trees are enough to trick her eyes into thinking it to be something out of the ordinary. She feels a sense of accomplishment after enlightening her friends to the truth. Now they won't mistake any of those ordinary things for evidence of the supernatural, and they can now rest easy. As Twilight relishes in her triumph, she loses her balance, and her body is sent tumbling down a steep decline she hadn't payed any attention to.
Upon reaching the bottom, her head knocks into a tree trunk. The pain almost forces her to stay on the ground as she rubs her head in an attempt to help ease the pain. Her vision is slightly distorted, and stars shimmer everywhere she looks. Something she isn't too sure is a hallucination or distortion of reality, is what appears to be somepony standing nearby, as though she had landed directly before their hooves. The darkness coupled with the obstruction of her view by the tall grass surrounding her makes it difficult to tell.
"Excuse me, Miss?" the stallion asks. "Are you okay? Looks like you had quite a trip."
Twilight chuckles nervously as she gets up from the grass still holding onto the top of her head, "Yeah, I just need to get back to my friends."
"Well, what's the rush? Maybe you should rest for a while longer before you hurt yourself."
"I suppose you're right. My name's Twilight Sparkle, and you are?"
With her vision now settling down, she's able to get a good look at the stallion before her. His coat of fur is a caramel brown, and his somewhat long, combed mane is of a much darker shade of brown. His face is innocent, and his smile gives off feelings of harmlessness.
"My name's Cracker Jack, my friends and I are camping out here tonight. I was just on the lookout for some firewood."
"Really? Me too!"
"Awesome! But . . . I'm a little afraid."
"Why?"
"Just being out here reminds me of something that happened to me not too long ago. You might think it's silly, but I swear I saw a ghost."
"Ugh, not you too."
"What do you mean?"
"I had this same conversation with all my friends back at our campsite. I had to explain to all of them why their 'supernatural' experiences were just everyday occurrences."
"So, you think you could explain mine?"
"I'm positive I could. Just tell me what happened."
"Umm, I don't know."
"I won't laugh if that's what you're worried about."
"Well . . . can you promise?"
Twilight giggles and playfully rolls her eyes, "Yes, I promise."
"No, there's a certain . . . special way you gotta promise."
"Ooookay, how do I do that?"
"It's a secret promise that only my friends and I know. Whenever we need to keep a secret, or swear to go through with something, we say it so we know that we mean it. I'm sure you and your friends have something like that, right?"
"Actually, yes! We do, and I completely understand."
"Perfect. Then can you just say the words: I, then your name, give up my ghost."
"Umm, it's a little strange, but okay. I, Twilight--"
"Oh! And uhh--raise your left hoof! You have to do that too."
While following his direction, she looks to him with an awkward glance and a raised eyebrow. "I, Twilight Sparkle, give up my ghost." Once the last word leaves her lips, she feels a bizarre sensation overwhelm her body. The world around her appears to be spinning out of control, making her nauseas and confused. The trees and grass start to melt and malform into peculiar shapes. The only thing that remains the same is Cracker Jack, who's smile has become much more dubious, and his eyes much less innocent than before. "W-What's happening?"
"Well, I was just about to tell you my story!" Cracker Jack then steps toward her. "I was wandering through the woods just like this, all alone." With a blink, the color of his eyes change to a glowing yellow. "Then I bumped into this peculiar stallion." The color of his coat of fur shifts to a pearl white, and his shirt morphs into a striped suit and red tie. With every word he speaks, his voice grows more raspy and demonic. "He was the only friendly face around, so I trusted him. Oh, what a mistake I had made." He smiles, and his clean, white smile has turned yellowed and ugly. His combed mane flares up into a crazy style, and turns from brown to a yellowish green. Twilight trembles in fear upon the completion of his transformation. She falls to the ground as he continues to loom over her with an insane look in his eye. She can almost see the treetops and moonlight through his slightly transparent body. "He then ripped the ghost right out of me, and--! Wait a minute. . . No, this story isn't about me. It's been about you all along!"
"No!" Twilight screams. "It's impossible! There's no such thing!"
"Are you sure?" The ghostly stallion grabs hold of Twilight's hoof, and holds it up close to her face where she finds it has somehow become just as transparent as him. In a panic, she examines the rest of herself, gasping and whimpering as she can clearly see through her own body. She then notices somepony laying on the ground beside her, a pony so identical that it can only be her own, lifeless body. "So, still don't believe in ghosts?"
The ghostly stallion laughs as Twilight desperately tries to make sense of all this in her mind, but the only signal coming from her brain is telling her to run. Fearing for her life, she turns and gallops as fast as she possibly can into the woods, screaming and shouting for her friends to come to her aid as the ghostly stallion continues to laugh and mock her in the distance.
"Ha-ha! Go ahead and run! We've still got lots of fun to have, you and I. . ."
Twilight gallops at full speed through the woods, screaming her friends' names as loudly as she possibly can. Her voice echoes throughout the forest, accompanied by the ghostly stallion's mad cackling. With all the adrenaline pumping through her system, she begins to feel the entire forest is closing in on her. The trees creak and crackle, and gusts of wind blow against her path. "I don't know where you think you're going, but you're not going to get very far," his disembodied voice taunts from seemingly every corner of the forest. Distracted by his voice, she comes to a complete stop before nearly crashing directly into a tree. "What's the matter? You a tree-hugger?" The stallion's head phases through the tree trunk, as Twilight reels back in surprise with a yelp. "Just go right through it! Come on, it won't hurt." Twilight whips herself around and takes off as the stallion continues to laugh from behind her.
"Somepony! Anypony! Help!" Twilight shouts.
"Twilight? Is that you?" A familiar voice calls from somewhere nearby. Twilight catches a glimpse of pink beneath the trees, and veers off her current path towards the source of the voice. "Follow the sound of my voice!" She bursts through a bundle of bushes, surprising Pinkie Pie as she jumps excitedly upon finding Twilight.
"Pinkie! It's you! Oh, thank Celestia."
"Uh, duh! Who else would it be?"
"Pinkie, there's somepony else in these woods with us."
"Oooo, that's great! I was just about to say we should toast some marshmallows after we got more firewood. They should join us! Or, if we're really-really-really-really fast, we can tell another story while we toast the marshmallows!"
"No-no-no-no, Pinkie, we can't."
"Sure we can! We just walk up and say, 'Hey, how you doin'?' and we bring 'em along for some sweet, squishy puffy goodness!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down!" Twilight presses her hoof against Pinkie's mouth to silence her, and urges her to hide behind the bushes. Twilight scans the vicinity for any signs of the stallion, but he is nowhere in sight. Relieved, but still on edge, Twilight also hides behind the bushes alongside Pinkie. "Pinkie, the pony in these woods isn't going to want to sit around the campfire for a story and some marshmallows. He's some kind of . . . I-I don't know what he is, but we can't trust him. We have to regroup with others and escape before he finds us!"
"Twilight, just take a deep breath. Are you sure you saw some super-strange pony?"
"For the last time, yes! He looked like a normal stallion at first, but then he changed right before my eyes! His eyes were all crazy and yellow, his mane was nappy, and his teeth were crooked and nasty! Not only that, but he sounded like a . . . like a monster."
"Well, that's not nice at all!"
"But it's true!"
"Now, Twilight, you know what they say. If you don't have anything nice to say--" Pinkie's pupils shrink, and her eyes glow brightly yellow. Her voice distorts and transforms into something much more sinister. "--Don't say anything at all! Haha!" Twilight takes a few steps back to take a defensive stance with her horn pointed directly at what she thought was Pinkie Pie. "You ain't got any more friends, Twilight." Pinkie wipes the pink from her face, revealing a pale-white coat underneath. "If I were you, I'd be a little bit nicer to me. 'Cause out here, I'm the only friend you got!" Pinkie pulls off her mane from her head like a wig, revealing a mossy green mane. Her muzzle fattens and stretches out to resemble that of a stallion's. A thick, long root bursts from the ground, and hanging off the end of it is the same striped shirt and black tie the stallion wore; which the transforming Pinkie casually pulls off and adorns. "So, what'll it be?" the stallion tightens up his tie. "Can I get an apology?"
Twilight focuses and concentrates, trying to send a beam of magic his way to defend herself, but she is unable to get it to work properly. "W-What the--?" She continues to try, but it's all in vain. Her horn sparks and fizzles, but fails to generate any sort of magic.
"Try all you want, sweetheart. Your magic won't work here."
"N-No! This is all a dream, it has to be!" Twilight fearfully backs away to get a safe distance from the stallion.
"Aw, come on. Is it really that big of a stretch?" The stallion's foreleg extends unnaturally to reach out to Twilight as she continues to back away. Baffled by the sheer anatomical impossibility of his leg stretching out so far, and frightened all at the same time, her only instinct is to turn and gallop blindly into the woods. "You've already tried that!" He taunts. Regardless of his warning, Twilight pushes forward whilst being chased by his hoof as it seems to endlessly stretch at incredible speed and length. Just when she feels she's about to be captured, his hoof is suddenly retracted back to him, and while she relishes in the fact that she's finally escaped, she can feel something tug at her back hoof. She loses her balance, and falls face first to the ground. She spits out a mouthful of dirt and grass, and checks her hind leg to find a strange, glowing, neon-blue chord shackled to her hoof that leads back deep into the forest.
"What's this?"
"Are you just about done?" The stallion asks, who has suddenly appeared right beside her.
"Ahh!" Twilight frantically scrambles to her hooves.
"Yeah-yeah alright. We had our fun, but let's get to the formalities now."
"F-Formalities? What are you talking about?"
"I'm talkin' about getting down to business, honey." The stallion reaches into his suit pocket, and pulls out a business card with his name. He holds it out for Twilight to take, who ever so cautiously takes it from his hoof. "The name's Eerie D'Leery, professional spirit, specter, apparition, phantom--you name it! Me? I prefer . . . ghost!" Lightning streaks across the night sky from behind Eerie, followed by a loud crash of thunder. "Gee, don't ya hate it when that happens?"
"Th-That's impossible! You can't be!"
"Oh, but I am, and you must be Twilight Sparkle, AKA, the non-believer."
Twilight shuts her eyes tightly, repeating a string of words to herself to hopefully wake herself up from this nightmare, "It's all a dream; it's all a dream; it's all a dream."
"Ugh, for the last time, this ain't no dream. I'd tell ya to pinch yourself, but that wouldn't really work since us ghosts don't really get to feel anything."
"Enough! Just let me go!"
"No-can-do!"
"And why not?"
"You didn't say the magic word."
"Umm . . . Please?"
"Huh, can't believe you got it on the first try! I still ain't lettin' you go though."
"Then what's it going to take for you to let me out of here?!" Twilight shouts impatiently.
"Well, I'm glad you asked. Grab a seat, darlin'! 'Cause you're gonna jump right out of it once I explain what I've got planned for you." Comfortable, red velvet chairs erupt from the soil beneath them. Eerie sits with his back straight as a plate of steaming cups of tea materialize in mid-air. "Would you care for some tea, Madame?" Eerie's voice suddenly changes to one that is more posh and polite. Twilight, without a response, looks on unamused by his offer. "Yikes, this must be your first date, huh?"
"Will you just get on with it already?!"
"Oh, right yeah." Eerie tosses all the tea and dishware over his shoulder where it shatters over the forest ground. "So, you don't believe in ghosts."
"That's right, because scientifically, ghosts cannot exist due to--"
"Please, save the technical mumbo jumbo for somepony else. I could care less if whether or not 'you' believe. I'm not here to prove to you that we ghosts exist so you can learn that not everything can be explained by science, and the moral of the story being that you should always keep an open mind, because that's just a little too cliché for me."
"Oh . . . then, what 'do' you want?"
"You and I are going to play a little game. If you win, I'll let you go back to your body and frolic with your friends in the world of the living. If you lose, then you have to stay here for the rest of eternity, and work for me." After hearing the stakes, Twilight tenses up in fear as the anxiety boils inside her. "You see, all this is like a business for me. I scare one pony, then that pony believes in ghosts. That pony tells some friends, family members, and just like that, I've got me some more payin' customers. I go and scare them, then they pass it on. So on and so forth. The more that believe, the happier I am. Now, one little pony like you not believing doesn't hurt me none, but when FIVE ponies all of a sudden stop believing, then we have a problem. I can't have ponies like you ruining my livelihood, Twilight."
"Then what do I have to do? Just tell them I was wrong?"
"Oh, no-no-no, that would be way too easy. We're going to do this my way. Literally and figuratively."
"I don't understand."
"In order for you to win our little game, I want you to scare one--just one--of your friends."
"Wait . . . that's it?"
"Yup! So what do you say, not a bad deal, eh? Although, there is a catch; you do have a time limit."
"What?!"
"That's right; you heard it here first! You're time's been ticking the second you gave up your ghost. The longer you take, the weaker the connection you still have to your body gets. Hence the tether keeping you and your body linked." Twilight looks down at her hoof, and notices the glowing chord has disappeared. She reaches down and accidentally makes contact with it, causing it to flicker in and out of existence. "If I were you, I'd get a move on before it's too late."
Twilight jumps out from the chair, "So, what you're saying is: I didn't have a choice at all!"
"Ya see? I told you you'd jump out of your seat!"
"All of this is nonsense! This is all just one big nightmare, and I'll be waking up any minute now."
"Well, if you're so sure it's a dream, then why not play along? Come on, even in a dream; they're still your friends, right? Wouldn't you want to do all that you could to be with them again?" Twilight ponders to herself for moment, looking down at her partially transparent body as she starts to consider what Eerie is saying. In a jovial manner, Eerie stands beside her, puts his hoof around her shoulder, and brings her in closer. "I mean look, I'm all for you just sitting around and running the clock. I've been doing this for centuries, and I could use a new recruit. But if you really care about your friends, then at least give it a shot. You're going to have to learn the ropes one way or another, so why not make the most of it and go down swingin'?!"
Twilight pieces her thoughts together, and finally succumbs, "Fine. . . I accept the challenge."
"Wooh! Finally! Sheesh, that was like pullin' teeth. Alright, then let's get to it!" A thick, smoky fog suddenly rolls in, enveloping the two of them until their entire bodies are obscured. "Okay, Twilight. It's showtime! Haha!" The fog whirls around them like a twister, blowing all sorts of debris into the air. With a strike of lightning, the two of them vanish, and the game finally begins.
The fog clears, and the winds settle. Twilight opens her eyes to find herself in a completely different part of the woods, and Eerie is nowhere to be found. "Hey! Hello?" Twilight shouts. "Where am I?"
"Where in the hay is all the good firewood?" Applejack asks as she approaches Twilight.
"Applejack! Thank goodness I found you! You need to listen to me, there's--!" Before Twilight can finish her thought, Applejack continues straight ahead, phasing through Twilight as if she were nothing more than thin air. Twilight jitters and trembles from the strange sensation that ran up her spine as Applejack proceeds as though nothing had happened. "W-What the . . ? A-Applejack, wait!"
"If I were you I wouldn't waste my time," says Eerie who is leisurely leaning against a tree. "They can't hear you, see you, or feel you."
"This can't be. . . Well, if that's all true, then how am I supposed to scare her?"
"Gee, for a know-it-all, you've really got a lot to learn."
"I never said I was a know-it-all! I base all my assumptions on factual evidence!"
"Alright, alright, don't get your tail in a twist. Sure, you can't interact with her 'yet', but you can still play around with what's around you. Watch." Eerie points his hoof to a small stone resting on the ground, and levitates it up into the air without even touching it. With one quick flick of his hoof, the rock flies off into a nearby bush as the rustling sound catches Applejack's attention.
"Hello? W-Who's there?" Applejack asks nervously. "Huh, darn forest critters."
"See? Now, if you want my advice, ease them in to the scare. Start off small, then build it up to the grand finale! The more fearful they get, the more real you get, if you catch my drift. Once you manage that, just give her one big scare, and you win."
"Alright, let's just get this over with."
"Ooh, you sound pretty confident! I can't wait to see this play out."
Shaking off the noise as it's most likely just woodland creatures scampering about, Applejack continues her search for firewood, keeping her eyes out for any stray, dry branches that could feed the fire. She scours the forest floor, hunching over to get a closer look as to not pass by an opportunity. Finally, she spots a perfect branch to begin her bundle. "Ah-ha! This one looks mighty right," Applejack proclaims. She reaches out for the branch, but it rolls, seemingly on its own, away from her. It stops a short distance away, as wind starts to pick up from behind Applejack. She steps forward and reaches out for it once more, and it rolls through the grass again, this time at an abnormally high speed as the winds grow stronger. "Huh. . ? Get back here you!" Applejack chases after the branch through the woods, determined to capture this pesky stick. She dives for it, but lands with a thud as the branch lifts off the ground and jumps into a thicket of trees. Applejack holds onto her hat as the wind threatens to blow it right off the top of her head, then hears the beginnings of strange creaking sounds. All around her, the trees lean and bend, closing in as the branches reach out to her resembling thin, boney claws. "What is goin' on?!" Applejack swats at the branches, breaking some of them into pieces. With her view unobstructed, she can see a vague silhouette from between the trees moving about, followed by a haunting howl from the wind. "What's that?! Who's there?!"
"Come on, just a bit more," Twilight mutters to herself from behind the thicket of trees.
"Wait a minute. . ." Applejack takes a moment to think to herself. "Oh, what am I thinkin'? Like Twilight said, with all this wind goin' on, I bet that's all this is."
"Wait what?!"
"Oh well, I better just turn around and look for some firewood elsewhere."
Applejack, shrugging off everything that's transpired, leaves the thicket of trees to continue her search. Twilight, with her jaw hanging and the branch in her hoof, looks on in disbelief of what just happened. The wind settles down as Eerie walks up to Twilight with a puzzled look on his face. He waves his hoof near Twilight's face to evoke a reaction, but her wide eyes refuse to even blink.
"Yeah, not a good start, but I'll give you an 'A' for effort!" Eerie congratulates.
"I-I don't understand!" says Twilight. "She blamed all that on the wind?!"
"Sure sounds like a reasonable explanation to me. I guess scaring your friends ain't gonna be as much of a 'breeze' as you thought!" Eerie bursts into laughter, delighted by his own pun as Twilight turns to him with a blank, unamused expression. ". . . Yikes, tough crowd."
"Applejack's strong, I guess I should've guessed she isn't as easy to scare as I thought."
"Well, if I were you, I'd go for a different approach on the next one. Speaking of which. . ." Over their heads, Rainbow Dash zooms across the sky.
"But how am I supposed to follow her?"
"How am I supposed to--You're a ghost! All ghosts can fly." Eerie demonstrates by effortlessly lifting up off the ground, and hovering in mid-air. "See? Nothing to it. This is a dream, right? In a dream, you can do whatever you want. All ya gotta do is think hard enough about it." Twilight sighs, setting aside all logic, and plants her hooves on the ground. She takes a deep breath, and focuses. She imagines herself as weightless as the air she breathes, repeating a sequence of words.
"Light as a feather. I . . . am light as a feather," she mutters.
To her disbelief, she watches as her hooves lift up off the ground. Distraught and in a panic, she yelps while frantically flaring and kicking her legs as she continues to float higher. Amidst all her attempts to somehow gain control of the situation, her body flips and twirls in every which direction. She can feel herself getting dizzy as, from her perspective, the world won't stop spinning. After managing to stabilize herself, struggling to keep her balance like a young foal just learning to walk, she smiles and nervously laughs as she then swoops through the forest. She flies between the trees, cheering with joy as she soars up into the sky. Eerie looks on from below, wiping tears from his eyes. "Ah, there she goes. My little angel's finally got her wings." A long, crooked tree branch lowers to him with a white hanky on its end. "Oh, thanks, pal!"
Twilight slows to a stop high in the sky, calming down from all her fun until she spots Rainbow Dash. "Ugh, how is finding firewood this hard?" Rainbow Dash complains. "All I need are some sticks lying on the ground. I thought looking from up here would make this easier, but it's not." Noticing her opportunity, Twilight quickly conjures up a plan.
Rainbow Dash stops to flutter above a promising clearing down below. "Hmm, maybe there's--" a noise from behind catches her attention, and she turns to see that one of the little clouds appears to be slightly disturbed. She shrugs off the noise and looks back down to the clearing. ". . . Some firewood down--" again her train of thought is cut-off by the same sound, and she notices that a cloud much closer looks as though something has disturbed it. "M-Maybe there'll be something else up ahead." She nervously chuckles as she disregards both the noise and the possibility of firewood below, continuing her search. However, the sounds continue, and every time she looks back she is unable to see what's misshaping the clouds. She picks up the pace, flapping her wings faster with every passing second, but the dreaded feeling that she is being followed constantly looms over her. Making quick glances back, she catches glimpses of some sort of dark figure stalking her before ducking back into the clouds. Her anxiety builds to a boil, until she comes to a complete halt, fuming with anger. "That's it! Who's there?!" The figure hides behind a lonely cloud, and in a determined rage, Rainbow Dash approaches it, angry, but wary. "I said . . . who's there?!" She splits the cloud apart with her hooves, and is stunned to see something resting on the small tuft of cloud remaining. An adult goose raises its head, and honks once its eyes meet Rainbow's. She smiles, and laughs at the revelation. "Ha! Just a goose! I guess Twilight was right all along!" She laughs her fear away, and leaves the cloud to continue her search for that firewood.
"What?! A goose?!" Twilight shouts with displeasure. She looks down at herself, and finds that she has indeed taken the form of a goose. She presses her wing against her forehead, baffled by her transformation. "This isn't what I was hoping for at all!" She then helplessly sighs. "What am I doing wrong?"
Back on the ground, Eerie topples over in joyous laughter. "Ha-Ha! Oh, this is just too good! If this keeps up, she won't have a chance at all!" As he revels in the progress of his dubious plan, his body is suddenly shrouded by a thick cloud of fog. "Uh-oh, this is bad." The cloud swirls around him, and teleports him to a large room, illuminated by the moonlight shining through a glass pane in the ceiling. He finds himself standing on a dark blue rug that extends across the room and to a throne atop a short stairway. The princess sitting in said throne looks to him in anger, as he looks to her with a foolish grin.
"Eerie D'Leery," she addresses sternly. "What mischief are you causing this time?"
"Princess Luna! Boss, hey it's good to see ya."
"Do not play games with me, Eerie. I've sensed an increase in activity in the Everfree Forest, paranormal activity to be precise."
"I mean . . . are ya sure it's me? I think it's a little unfair that I'm accused right off the bat."
"You must take me for a fool. I'll have you know now, you are sadly mistaken. I watch over Equestria through the night, and I am aware that Twilight Sparkle and her friends are spending it camping in the very woods that I sensed this disturbance."
"Alright, so what if it's me? I'm just having a little fun. That's all!"
"What you call fun could be dangerous to somepony else! I hope you haven't violated our contract, because if I find that you have, you know the consequences that will befall you."
"I-I swear I haven't gone back on anything! Scout's honor!"
"I should hope so." Princess Luna uses her magic to grab hold of Eerie's tie, and drags him closer so that she can glare directly into his eyes. "For your sake."
The fog once again shrouds Eerie, sending him out from Luna's throne room and back into the forest. He falls to the ground, then quickly stands and dusts himself off. With a face so smug, he finds humor in Princess Luna's attempts to frighten him. "Pfft, even if she did find out, she wouldn't be able to do anything to me. I'm in the clear." With her head hanging low, Twilight, still in the form of a goose, flutters down back to the ground to meet Eerie. "Ah, if it ain't my fine, feathered friend! How'd it go up there?"
"I just don't understand. This isn't even close to what I had in mind!" Twilight explains. "There has to be something I'm missing."
"Well, if I were you, I'd figure it out quick. Remember, you've only got three chances left."
Twilight looks down at her avian body, and sighs in defeat, "If I'm going to win, I can't keep going in blind."
"Hm? And what do you mean by that?"
"You're a professional, right?"
"A professional? That's what the card says, but honey, I'm the best in the business."
"Then--and I hate to ask--could you maybe . . . teach me a thing or two about this whole 'ghost' thing?"
"Oh, Twilight, I thought you'd never ask!" With a wave of his hoof, Eerie turns Twilight back to her original self in a puff of smoke. "And all this time I thought you were going to let your stubbornness get the best of you! Yet here you are, crawling to me for guidance."
"What? I'm not--"
Eerie hooks Twilight by the neck with his foreleg, bringing her in all giddy with excitement, "Never fear, my little protégé! I'd be delighted to share with you some tricks of the trade. I hope you're ready to take some notes, because class is about to start! You know what, I've got the perfect book that'll break this down easy for ya."
"There's a book for this?"
"Uh, duh." Eerie stomps one hoof on the ground, opening up a fiery pit. Flames pour from it as what sounds like a demonic choir hums a haunting melody. Twilight jumps back, keeping a safe distance from the flaming fissure.
"W-What happened? What's that?"
"It's my private study! Sure the neighbors are a bit noisy, and my heating bill is through the roof, but it's just so homey! Anyway, I'll be back in a jiff. Don't you go running off now!"
Eerie jumps into the pit, and the ground instantly reforms. Twilight approaches the spot, cautiously poking at the grass where the pit formed. "This dream just get's weirder and weirder." She then finds a light fog whisking around her hooves, and within moments, she is slowly engulfed in it. "W-What's happening?!" She panics, but is unable to escape the fog's clutches. Shutting her eyes, she waits for it all to end. As quickly as the fog encompassed her, the fog dissipates, and the air settles.
"Twilight!" Princess Luna calls from atop her throne.
"P-Princess Luna?" Twilight asks, carefully opening her eyes. "Princess Luna! Oh, thank goodness! Then this means I really am dreaming! Phew, I was actually starting to believe all this was real."
"I'm sorry, Twilight, but this is no dream."
"Say what?"
"Listen to me when I say that what you're experiencing is real, and it appears I am far too late," she says with a somber look.
Twilight's eyes widen with shock, as her 'dream' theory comes crumbling down along with every ounce of confidence she once had. By the look on Princess Luna's face, she can feel the seriousness of her situation escalating. Suddenly, the stakes become clearer, and what she had treated as a nonsense dream, has quickly become a horrible reality.
"W-What do you mean? Too late for what?" Twilight fearfully asks.
"Eerie D'Leery, he's done this to you, hasn't he?" Princess Luna asks. "I had no idea this was even possible. However, it appears you're still tethered to your body. Perhaps there is still something that can be done. You must tell me, what sort of game is this miscreant playing?"
"He . . . He told me that I have until sunrise to scare one of my friends, otherwise, I-I'll be a ghost. . ."
"Forever; I see. He's truly outdone himself this time, and if he thinks there will not be consequences with this, he is mistaken. He's most certainly violated his contract with this. . . I hope."
"Contract? What's going on?!"
Princess Luna stands up from her throne, and briskly steps down the carpeted stairway to meet Twilight. In the center of the room, a large, crystal ball sits comfortably on top of a concrete column. The tip of Princess Luna's horn glows a bright white, and inside the ball, a scene begins to play. Twilight approaches, mesmerized by the glow and colors emanating from within the crystal ball. "Long ago," Luna begins. "Eerie D'Leery was once a normal pony such as you and I, but an evil wizard cursed him, and trapped him in the spirit world. He was corrupted, and tormented the lives of anypony he came across to feed off their fear. As time went on, he grew more and more powerful, and his reign of terror seemed unstoppable, yet he yearned for more. He desired a fear that would quench his thirst, so he aimed for mine. He tried and tried, but he could not get me to scream nor tremble. I stood up against him, and in that moment, he lost majority of his confidence. Against me, he was weak and powerless, but I was willing to offer him a chance to change. He accepted, and I had come up with the perfect deal." A long scroll poofs into existence, so long that it droops to the floor. "I wrote out a contract, listing every boundary and limitation I could think of that he must follow. Otherwise, I'll ensure there won't be an ounce of fear for him to feed off of. In exchange, I've agreed to allow him to roam freely and live off the fear that he needs, with much restraint. However, it must not have been as concrete as I had hoped."
"This . . . really isn't a dream," Twilight says, baffled as she skims through the long list of limitations on the scroll.
"I wish it was, Twilight, but if scaring one of your friends is the only way he'll relinquish you back to your body, then that's what you'll have to do."
"B-But isn't there something you can do?! Couldn't you cast a spell to send me back?!"
Princess Luna regretfully sighs, "I'm afraid not. My magic won't be of any use, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything I can do. I'm going to scour this contract to see if there is anything I can use against Eerie in this matter. In the mean time, you must do what you can to best Eerie at his game."
"I . . . I don't know if I can," Twilight somberly turns away. "I've already tried scaring Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and I couldn't even get them to jump."
"Twilight, this is exactly what Eerie is counting on. He's hoping on breaking your spirit--no pun intended--and you cannot let him win. A failure or two doesn't mean you should lose confidence in yourself. Pick yourself up, go out there and get that scare. For your friends."
"You're right. I can't just give up on them." Twilight lifts her head confidently. "Eerie D'Leery won't win; I promise."
"That's the spirit--also no pun intended. Now, go, and show him you won't go down so easily."
Twilight is engulfed by the fog, and is transported back to the same spot in the woods before she was summoned by Luna. As the fog clears, Eerie pushes up the ground like a trapdoor, giddy with excitement to see Twilight as flames roar from behind him. "Whew! Sorry I took so long," Eerie apologizes as he climbs out from the ground. "Housekeeping never puts things back the way they should after tidying up the joint." Eerie slams the trapdoor shut, once again becoming part of the ground leaving no trace of it behind.
"You have housekeepers?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure, they've all got eight legs and live off of molten lava and snakeskin, but they get the job done! Anyway, this is the book I was talkin' about." Eerie holds out the book for Twilight to examine the cover and read the title.
"Haunting . . . for dummies?"
"You betcha! This little gem will be perfect for a beginner ghost such as yourself. So, let's get crackin'. This'll be very simple, you'll see!" Eerie flips through the book until he spots just the lesson he's looking for. "Ah-hah! Ethereal transformation and morphing. Clear your head of all things other than what you will yourself to be, and do not be distraught or distracted during the process, otherwise it will fail. So, go ahead and try to turn yourself into a . . . a cockroach!"
"Ick, a cockroach?" Twilight squirms. "That's disgusting."
"Oh, get over it. They're delicious, full of protein, and they make great pets! Now, go!"
"Alright, here goes." Twilight shuts her eyes, and in a flash, she transforms.
"Well, good try, but you've already done the goose thing."
Twilight looks down at herself to find that she has in fact taken the form of a goose once again, and is angered. She repeatedly shuts her eyes and continues to try and morph into a cockroach, but only ends up becoming nothing but different species of birds. Her heart races from stress, unsure of what's keeping her from bringing that image of a roach in her mind into reality. "Come on, bird brain!" Eerie teases. "Don't you wanna scare your friends?! At this rate, you might as well forget about 'em!" In that moment, Twilight realizes what's holding her back. If she's going to succeed, she must ignore that looming thought of never being with her friends again. She takes a moment, wiping her mind clear of all thoughts and worries despite Eerie's constant badgering. "What's the matter? Giving up already? Ugh, and I thought a teeny tiny pest would've fit you best!" In another flash, Eerie gasps at the sight of Twilight. She crawls up a tall piece of grass, and twitches her long antennae. "Huh, well it's about time. You were really starting to bug me, but let's see you do it again. How about a pony that isn't you?!" Instantaneously, she turns into a pony that looks absolutely nothing like her. She raises an eyebrow, cockily glaring at Eerie. "Heh, don't get too comfortable, sweetheart. We're not quite done!"
One transformation after another, and lesson after lesson, Twilight suddenly succeeds with flying colors. Eerie observes as Twilight flies through his lessons as though her ghostly instincts have instantly kicked in. Whatever he throws at her, she manages to pull off. It gets to the point to where Eerie closes the book, tosses it over his shoulder. "Well, I think you're ready to start doin' some 'real' scaring!" Eerie rushes to her with a diploma in his hoof, and places a graduation cap atop her head. "This is the proudest moment of my life!" Eerie flashes a camera in her face, disorienting her. "I know it was a rough thirty minutes, but you made it! Have you picked out a college yet? No? Good. You think I'm bad? Those college professors give me a run for my money! Hence why I never went to college, and look how good I turned out! So, how do you feel?"
"I feel . . . spooky."
"Ha! Then let's get a move on!" Eerie stomps his hoof on the ground, and roots burst through the dirt, wrapping around their legs and pulling them down into the ground. They are spit out into a different part of the forest, and both land face first into the grass. They rise up, and Twilight spots Pinkie Pie hopping through the woods just a few meters ahead. Twilight turns to Eerie accusingly, to which the offended Eerie looks to her in innocence. "What? It's not me this time; I swear!"
"Alright, good. Now, how should I approach this? I'm not too sure what Pinkie's afraid of. She is the one who taught us to laugh at our fears after all."
"Twilight!" Pinkie shouts, waving directly at Twilight.
"Hold on, Pinkie! I'm trying to think of how to scare--w-wha--?! She can't see me, right? I thought you said--"
"Twilight, there you are!" Pinkie scampers with excitement towards her and Eerie. "Have you had any luck with the firewood? I've been looking, but I keep thinking about those ooey-gooey marshmallows back at camp! It's like they're calling my name!"
"P-Pinkie . . . you can see me?"
"Uh, duuuuh! Of course I can see you! Oh! It looks like you've met my friend, Eerie!"
"YOU'RE FRIEND?!"
"That's right! I tried to tell you about him, but you wouldn't listen. He's the one I always talk to when you guys aren't around! What are you doin' here, Eerie?!"
"Oh, just helping your friend out with her firewood hunt," says Eerie. "She looked like she was having some trouble, so I figured why not lend a hoof?"
"Aw, that's so nice of you!"
"NICE?!" Twilight shouts flabbergasted. "Pinkie, he's a--!"
"He's a real hoot! I know! It's a lot of fun having him around in the bakery!"
"Speaking of which," Eerie starts. "I just thought of a new joke! Would you like to hear it?'
"Would I?! Lay it on me!"
"What do you call a unicorn with two horns on Hearth's Warming Eve?"
"Umm, I don't know! What 'do' you call a unicorn with two horns on Hearth's Warming Eve?"
"A reindeer!" Both Pinkie and Eerie burst into laughter, as Twilight can suddenly feel her sanity slipping from the sheer absurdity of seeing the two of them gleefully laughing coupled with the poor quality of his joke.
"Eerie! Mrs. Cake and I are gonna whip up a whole new batch of chocolate chip vanilla cupcakes tomorrow! Are you gonna be there?"
"Sounds like a plan to me!" says Eerie. "I'll see ya there."
"Sweet! Well, I'd better get back to getting that firewood! See you guys later!"
"Pinkie, wait!" Twilight calls out, but Pinkie takes no notice as she dashes away with full speed. Confused and baffled, Twilight looks to Eerie in disbelief. "H-How . . ?"
"Hey, I never said 'nopony' could see you. Pinkie just happens to have a uh . . . a gift. If I were you, I'd pass on scaring this one. Trust me, I've tried. She is one tough cookie!" Eerie laughs, but Twilight is not at all amused.
"Alright, Eerie, get it out of your system. I've still got Rarity and Fluttershy left to scare, and I'm not going to lose."
"Oh, with an attitude like that, I sure hope you don't. Otherwise--" Eerie leans closer, and a snake-like tongue pokes out from his crooked smile, "--you're going to be very disappointed when you do."
Rarity wanders the forest in her desperate search for firewood, doing her best to steer clear from large clusters of thorny bushes, or just about any form of plant life as the feeling of filthy branches rubbing against her gives her chills. However, she finds herself sinking one of her hooves into a soft patch of mud. "Ugh! Ew-ew-ew-ew!" She whines as she wildly flares her hoof to rid it of the cold, disgusting muck. "That does it! Next time we go camping, I'll be sure to pack my galoshes." A breeze whisks by her face, and a twig snaps somewhere in the distance drawing her attention. She checks her surroundings, but doesn't see anything that could have caused the noise. She shrugs it off, as she knows just about anything could have caused it. Just as she's about to turn and continue her search elsewhere, she notices a set of hoofprints in the dirt that don't belong to her. Another twig snaps, and Rarity cautiously and curiously approaches the source of the sound whilst avoiding having to walk in the dirt. "Fluttershy? Is that you out there?" Rarity can feel something tickling her shoulder, and she dreadfully takes a glance to see a brown, hairy spider glaring directly back at her with it's eight, big eyes. Rarity shrieks, and blindly gallops into the forest. "Ah! Get it off; get it off; get it off!"
She trips over a root that's grown up out of the ground, landing with a thud. She groans as she lifts up her head, noticing the mess her mane has become. "Oooh, no! Now, there's dirt all in my mane!" Rarity cries. "How much worse can this night get?" Suddenly, a growl erupts from behind a mass of tall grass. Through the darkness, a pair of sickly green eyes open up and stare at Rarity with murderous intent. Rarity gulps, and her lip trembles as she is frozen solid in fear. The beast lurking behind the grass sticks one of it's legs through the blades, digging it's claws into the dirt. The rest of the creature emerges, revealing its mangy, pale skin, so oily that it glistens in the moonlight. Its pointed ears twitch, and appear to have been bitten by perhaps another creature it had gotten into a quarrel with. It snarls as it shows off its nasty, pointed teeth, and globs of saliva drip from its mouth. "O-Oh, dear. . ."
"Wow, that's pretty disgusting," says Eerie who's looking on from behind a bush. "If a little spider is enough to freak out this pony, she just might have this in the bag."
The creature roars, and Rarity scrambles to her hooves in a panic. "Ah! This is horrible!" Rarity shouts.
"No way! Did she actually. . ?"
"You poor thing! You look terribly sick!" Rarity pats the beast on the top of its head, as it looks on in confusion. "It's a good thing Twilight reassured me the glowing eyes in the dark was just Opal. Otherwise, I would've ran for the hills at the sight of you! But you're just a poor, ill creature! Not to worry, I know just the pony who can help you. Just wait here." Rarity smiles as she reassures the beast, then turns to retreat back further into the woods. "Fluttershy! Where are you, darling?!"
The beast takes a seat in the dirt, and transforms back into Twilight as she hangs her head low in sorrow. Eerie jumps out from the bush he was hiding behind, and walks up to Twilight bursting with laughter. "I don't believe it! I was starting to think you had that one, but looks I should've known better! I mean hay, that little spider did a better job at scaring her, and it wasn't even trying!" Eerie laughs, but it starts to dissipate as he notices Twilight isn't reacting. "Hey, aren't ya gonna tell me to shut up or something? What's your deal?"
"I don't understand," Twilight mutters. "I . . . I thought for sure it was going to work."
Eerie's eyes awkwardly dart around the forest as he uncomfortably tugs at his collar. "Well, you were close. I'd give that a solid nine outta ten!" He congratulates as he pulls out a white card from his suit with a big, red nine plastered on it. Twilight looks up at him, then back down to the ground without a single sign of anger or irritation. The card combusts into a flame, then into a pile of ashes in Eerie's hoof. "Hey, what's your problem? Are ya gonna be a sad sack from here on out?" Twilight only sighs in response. "Come on, aren't you gonna bark at me some more? Where'd all that confidence go?" Twilight stands, and Eerie is baffled by her depressed expression.
"I only have one chance left, and I need some time to plan it out. If I fail, then . . . I guess you win." Twilight walks passed Eerie, looking for a place far away to collect her thoughts.
"Yeah, well . . . don't forget, you've only got 'til--!"
"Sunrise. I know."
"R-Right! So don't waste all your time sulking! I'll be here waiting, and if you don't show up in time, game's over!" Twilight disappears into the woods, leaving Eerie in an annoyed state. "Ain't no point in giving up now! Ya almost had it. . ! Ahh, what do I care?" Eerie turns, and paces in a circle as he waits. Twilight finds herself a nice open space, then crumbles to the ground. She buries her head beneath her hooves, sobbing from defeat.
"W-What am I going to do?"
"You're not going to quit, that's what." Twilight lifts up her head, and finds herself back in Princess Luna's throne room with Luna looking down at her, concerned, but with a smile.
Twilight springs up, "Princess Luna! Did you find anything in the contract?!"
"Well . . . I've read it through from top to bottom, and I've found nothing that condones what he's done tonight. He's thought this all through very carefully. The only way I could fix this is if I wrote out an entirely new contract, and obtained his signature, but I don't foresee him voluntarily signing any time soon. Not to mention there just isn't enough time for me to rewrite the contract."
What little glimmer of hope Twilight has grasped onto, has slipped from her hooves just as quickly. "That's it then. I've lost."
"What do you mean? Last I checked you still have one more chance."
"It doesn't matter, I never had a chance at winning. I understand everything now. Why he chose me, and why he set up this whole charade of having me try and scare my friends. He knew I wouldn't be able to succeed, and it's all because I undid my friends' fears with my explanations. No matter what, I'm going to lose, and he's only playing this game to entertain himself. Fluttershy's the last chance I have, and I'm sure Eerie isn't worried at all."
"Twilight, just because things appear bleak doesn't mean they have to be. There is a way out of every situation, you just have to be willing not to give up in order to find it. Eerie D'Leery has thought his plan through very well, that much credit I can give, but he's still got one weakness I've noticed over the years."
"Oh, really?" Twilight sniffles. "W-What's that?"
"Being one of the only ghosts in the spirit world, he's developed quite the ego, wouldn't you say?"
Twilight snickers, "Well, that's obvious."
"Believe me when I say that just because that's who he appears to be on the outside, doesn't necessarily mean that's who he is on the inside. So, listen closely, because I've got a few ideas for you to turn this game around." Twilight's eyes light up as Luna leans in closer to whisper in her ear. As Luna feeds her her thoughts, Twilight can feel any stress and self-doubt wash away.
Back in the forest, Eerie impatiently continues pacing the ground, grumbling to himself, "What's taking her so long? She needs to speed this up, so I can claim my prize! Then, I'll congratulate myself on a job well-done! Ain't that right, Little D'Leery?" Eerie whips out a hoof-puppet of himself, listening for a response. "What do you mean? I'm not hiding anything!" He looks to his puppet again, as it looks back with its dead, googly eyes without a response. "Bah, you're talking a bunch of nonsense! Since when did you become a counselor?!" Eerie shakes the puppet a bit, and the googly eyes jiggle ever so slightly. "Do you kiss your Mother with that mouth?! No, you calm down! You think I got problems? Well, yeah, and you're one of 'em!" Eerie strangles the puppet with both his hooves, violently shaking it around as it crazily wiggles in the air.
"Eerie D'Leery!" Twilight stomps, holding her head up high.
"I was not strangling my puppet!" Eerie proclaims, hiding his puppet behind his back.
"Umm, sure--but I'm ready for my final challenge!"
"Well, it's about time! Say, why are you all confident again all of a sudden? Am I being punked?!"
"Not at all; let's do this." Eerie is mystified by Twilight's shift in tone, and although he's more than happy to get things rolling again, he can't shake this uneasy feeling.
Rarity hurriedly guides Fluttershy through the woods, describing everything that she saw in a panicked breath. "You had to see it, Fluttershy! This poor dog . . . cat . . . creature was just wandering about, and its skin was so sickly pale!"
"Oh, my!" says Fluttershy. I hope it isn't as bad as you're saying. If it is, I might have to bring him back to my cottage to nurse him back to health." They both arrive at the location where Rarity had encountered the beast, but the creature is nowhere to be found.
"This is the spot!"
"Hmm," Fluttershy investigates the area, checking behind the grass searching for any signs of the beast. "Umm, Rarity?"
"What is it? Is it back there?!"
"No. Actually, there's nothing here at all."
"Then it must've moved on to someplace else!"
"But Rarity, I'm not even seeing any pawprints."
"What do you mean? I saw it dig its claws into the dirt right--!" Rarity points and looks to the spot where the beast dug its claws, but finds it to be undisturbed. "--there. . ."
"I'm sorry, Rarity, but I'm not seeing any hair either. Cats and dogs that are under a lot of stress or are ill usually shed fair amounts of hair. Now, I'm not saying you didn't see anything--"
"It was right there!" Rarity shouts hysterically, rattling Fluttershy's ear drums. "It was drooling and mewling!"
"I believe you, and we'll keep looking. I just think it's weird that it didn't leave any evidence behind, not even a scent. Maybe we should get the others to help us look?"
"Good idea! We should all regroup. Funny, it's been a while since we last saw Twilight. I hope she hasn't gotten lost. Or worse! What if she's being chased some horrible monstrosity, or even a . . . a ghost! She'll ruin the manicure I gave her earlier this morning!"
"You . . . you really think there could be a ghost out here?" Fluttershy tenses up at the very thought of the possibility.
"Maybe not just one, but two! Can you imagine two ghosts running amok in these woods?!"
"I . . . I don't want to."
"Oh, it would be dreadful! Thank goodness for Twilight. If it wasn't for her, I'd be trembling at the thought of being chased by ghosts in the middle of the woods--all alone--at night!"
"W-W-W-Well, it's a g-g-good thing we're not alone."
"That's right! We always have each other."
"As long as the three of us stick together--"
"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean three?"
"Well, there's you, me, and Mister Spider."
"M-Mister. . ." Rarity looks down, and is greeted by what appears to be the exact same spider resting atop her shoulder. "SPIDER!" Rarity jumps and gallops blindly into the woods, screaming at the top of her lungs. Fluttershy watches as Rarity vanishes, and listens as her screams diminish until only the chirping of crickets remain. "R-Rarity?"
Fluttershy creeps through the woods, afraid that even the slightest sound will alert something lurking within the forest. However, she can't shake the feeling that something already knows where she is, and is just waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. Twilight, who's following closely behind Fluttershy, is mentally preparing herself with a long sigh to help ease her nerves. "Well, here goes nothing!" says Twilight. Eerie watches from afar, still a tad baffled by Twilight's behavior, but not at all worried. Twilight stands up onto her hind legs, and spreads a pair of large bat-like wings that grow from her back. The gentle, violet shade of her irises change to a crimson red, and her eyes become crazed. Two long canine teeth pop out from her mouth, and she lets out a loud hiss. The shadow looms over Fluttershy, freezing her in place.
"W-What is that?" Fluttershy nervously mutters. Out from a patch of grass, a brown snake slithers out, and crosses Fluttershy's path. "If that was the sound, then what is . . . no, no, no." Fluttershy shuts her eyes tightly, trying her best to compose herself. "It's just my shadow; it's just my shadow." The relentless trembling in her legs stops; she looks over her shoulder, and gasps. A smile spreads across her face as she finds nothing standing behind her. Happy and brimming with confidence, Fluttershy scampers off into the woods to rejoin with Rarity.
"Oh, no! I think that means I've lost!" Twilight over-dramatically shouts.
"Umm, yeah," says Eerie, approaching Twilight. "I guess ya did."
"I'm so devastated! Now, I'll be a ghost forever!"
"That's . . . right. You know, this ain't really playing out like how I imagined."
"Oh, this is horrible!" Twilight crumbles to her knees. "Whatever shall I do?!"
"Alright, you're starting to weird me out, and that's saying something."
"Please, Mister D'Leery, give me one more chance!"
"One more chance? There ain't nopony left for you to scare, sweetheart!"
"Wrong. There's you."
"ME?!" Eerie bursts into an uncontrollable laughter, as Twilight looks on with a smug grin on her face. "You? Scare me? Oh, you really are too much! Listen kid, I haven't been scared of anything for centuries. You'd just be wasting your time."
"So, since you're not at all worried, do we have a deal?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll humor you." Eerie nonchalantly closes his eyes and casually crosses his legs. "Give it your best shot, kid."
"EERIE D'LEERY!" an ominous voice roars, echoing throughout the forest sending a jolt through Eerie's body. Dark clouds gather above Eerie's head; thunder crashes and lighting streaks across the sky. The clouds part slightly, allowing a ray of moonlight to shine through, along with the silhouette of an all too familiar figure. Princess Luna flutters down to the ground, glaring furiously into Eerie's fearful eyes.
"P-Princess Luna? B-Boss! What in the name of your sister are you doing here?" Eerie nervously chuckles.
"Did you not think I would catch on to your scheme? I knew you were up to no good, but this is beyond unacceptable!"
"Well, I'd hate to break it to ya, Princess, but there ain't nothin' wrong with what I've done. I've had plenty of time to read through that contract a hundred times over, a pretty boring read if you ask me, but nowhere does it say I can't take another pony's spirit without their permission. She's the one who gave up her ghost, and I'm just reaping the benefits."
"And yet, after a hundred times, you still didn't read carefully enough."
"Beg your pardon?"
Princess Luna uses her magic to poof the contract into existence, and allows the scroll to droop and open up along the ground. "Section four, article C," says Luna. Eerie pulls out a magnifying glass from his suit pocket, one so large that there's no possible way it could have ever fit in his pocket. He hovers it over the article, and reads aloud the text.
"I, Eerie D'Leery, will also never--under any circumstances--trick slash convince any pony, griffin, yak, dragon etcetera into relinquishing their own spirit. Otherwise, it will be in violation of the contract--now wait a minute!" Eerie tosses away the magnifying glass, flabbergasted by the words that had just left his mouth. "That's impossible! I would have remembered seein' something like that! This can't be the same contract!"
Luna levitates the contract, showing him the bottom section with the dotted line where his signature would be. Surely enough, Eerie sees his very own writing scribbled across the line the exact same way he wrote it all those years ago. "That is your signature, is it not?" Luna asks.
Eerie backs away, as a feeling of dread washes over him, "I-I don't understand. This can't be happening!"
"And since you've violated your contract," the scroll then ignites, and turns to ash. "You must be prepared to face the consequences."
"Oh, come on, boss! This was just a little practical joke is all! I wasn't 'really' gonna keep her captive, I mean come on! What kind of ghost do ya take me for?"
"Soon, there won't be an ounce of fear for you to feed off of, and you'll become nothing more than a bad memory!"
"W-What?! No, please, don't do this!" Eerie falls to his knees, groveling at Luna's hooves. "I messed up, I'll admit it! I shouldn't have done it! I'll send her back right now, and this won't ever happen again!"
"I've had enough of your games, Eerie. This all ends now."
"Please, what do ya want me to do?! Beg? Alright, I'm beggin'! Just give me another chance!"
"Before I erase you from Equestria, tell me, do you feel scared, Eerie?"
"Am I scared?! Yeah, I'm scared! What else am I supposed to feel, huh?!" Princess Luna grins, then chuckles. "Hey! What's so funny?" Her chuckles turn to an uproarious laughter, disturbing Eerie even more so.
"Then it looks like I've won." The storm clouds disperse, and Luna shrinks down to the size of an average pony, transforming back into Twilight. Eerie's eyes widen as he checks nearby where Twilight was once standing, but finds that she of course isn't there any longer.
"H-How did--? Y-You just--! No! This ain't how this ends!"
Eerie stomps his hoof onto the ground, creating a series of cracks and crevasses that spit out roaring flames. The moon turns from pure white to blood-red, and as the forest is now washed over with crimson moonlight, Twilight stands her ground. "You think you've won?!" Eerie's voice distorts, and echoes throughout the forest. "You haven't!" Eerie's body elongates, and a long, colorfully-striped, forked tongue slithers out from his mouth as he shows off his jagged teeth. "You're in my world! Where I make the rules!" Another set of legs grow from Eerie's sides, and he approaches Twilight like an insect. Roots break out from the ground near Twilight, and wrap themselves around her hooves. A new pair of eyes open up in the center of Eerie's forehead, and he stares intensely at Twilight who still is unalarmed by this series of events. "You're the one that's afraid! Not me! And you're going to be trapped here forever no matter what you do!"
"Sorry, Eerie, but I'm not afraid," says Twilight. Eerie sucks back in his tongue, stunned by her calm nature. "You're the one who's really afraid. You feast off of other ponies fear, and not only could you not get any of it from my friends, you'll never get any out of me." Eerie's body shrinks, and his newly formed limbs and eyes retract. "But I don't think you're evil, you're not even close." The moon returns back to it's natural, heavenly glow, and the roots release Twilight's hooves. "You think you only wanted me to work for you, become your servant to help spread your reign of terror, but that's not really it, is it?" Twilight steps toward Eerie, who has returned back to normal size, and is clearly agitated. "You taught me your ways; you encouraged me when I was down. Deep inside, you wanted to see me succeed. You won't admit it, but after being alone for all these years, you just needed a friend."
"Nooooo, shut up, shut up, shut up! Please, save the friendship spiel for somepony else, huh? Sheesh, at this point, keeping you here would be more of a punishment for me!"
"Eerie, just set aside the ego for a minute. I can help you. We all can."
"No, thanks. I know what I am; I know what I want, and I don't want no friend, got it? Look, we made a deal, and you beat me. Woo--yay--we're all impressed. Now, get out of my sight." Eerie then raises his left hoof. "I, Eerie D'Leery, hereby give you, Twilight Sparkle, back your ghost." The glowing tether clamped around Twilight's hoof appears, and she feels it starting to pull. "Can you make me one more promise? Don't ever call me your friend." The tether forcefully yanks onto Twilight's leg, bringing her to the ground and dragging her across the forest floor. Eerie watches her scream and yelp as she vanishes behind all the flora, and he notices a thick fog rolling in to surround him. "Oh boy, here we go again." The fog whirls around him, consumes him, and he disappears from the forest.
"Twilight, you alright, sugarcube?" Applejack asks.
"Follow the sound of my voice! Step away from the light!" Pinkie urges.
"Darling I know you can hear us! Snap out of it!" says Rarity.
Twilights eyes creep open, and she is met with all five of her friends looming over her in worry. Their faces are all instantly overcome with relief once their eyes lock with hers. Twilight quickly realizes she's still in the forest, in the exact same spot where she first encountered Eerie. "Finally, you're awake!" says Rainbow Dash. "How are ya feeling?" They all help Twilight to stand, as she is overwhelmed with a sudden headache.
"Easy now, looks like you took quite a fall," says Applejack.
"H-Huh?" Twilight murmurs. "What's going on? What happened?"
"Darling, you're a mess!" says Rarity. "You must've hit your head pretty hard."
"You were unconscious," says Fluttershy. "Thank goodness we found you, we were wondering where you went. Are you feeling okay?"
"Other than a splitting headache, I'll be okay," Twilight assures.
"We really shouldn't have split up," says Applejack. "Next time we'll all stick together so that this don't happen again."
"No, no, it's my fault. I got too distracted after I discredited all your fears, I guess I kinda started developing a bit of an ego. I didn't mean to sound like such a know-it-all." Twilight's ears droop, then lowers her head in shame.
"What kinda nonsense are ya talkin' 'bout?" Applejack rests her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I'm glad you told me that all I was bein' afraid of was the silly, ol' wind. Made everything a lot less scary for me."
"It's not like I was ever scared," says Rainbow Dash. "Buuuuut I am happy that all this time it was probably just some birds or whatever."
"Knowing that those eyes I sometimes see in my home is just Opal, really puts my heart at ease," says Rarity.
"Thanks to you, Twilight, I'm not afraid of any shadows anymore! Not even my own," Fluttershy confidently assures.
"Well, I still hear the voices, but I ain't scared of 'em!" Pinkie declares.
"Trust us, you don't gotta be sorry for nothin'," says Applejack.
Twilight's ears perk up, and she follows it up with a smile. "Thanks, girls. It really means a lot." Twilight chuckles from a sudden thought. "You know, I had one crazy dream."
"Oh! So did I!" Pinkie shouts, jumping up and down with excitement. "It's funny because I don't remember ever falling asleep or waking up, but you were in it, Twilight!"
"Really? What happened?" Another surge of pain rushes through Twilight's head, causing her to moan in agony.
"Maybe we should save it until we get back to camp," Applejack suggests. "We weren't able to find any firewood, but bundlin' up in the sleepin' bags should do just fine."
"Fluttershy and I were unsuccessful in our firewood search as well," says Rarity. "However, we did get a bit sidetracked."
"Oh, maybe Twilight's seen the animal, Rarity," says Fluttershy.
"Animal? What animal?" Twilight asks rather impatiently.
"Never mind, I guess you didn't. We can continue the search later, right now we need to head back to the campsite. You need to rest," says Fluttershy.
Something falls from Twilight's mane and into the grass. She stops, and the others curiously stop as well to see what's holding up Twilight. She looks down, and spots a little, white card resting between the blades of grass. Her horn glows, and she lifts the card up using her levitation spell. Upon reading the card, she's at first tackled by an instant rush of anxiety, but it fades away almost just as quickly. "You alright, Twilight?" Applejack asks.
Twilight grins, "It's nothing to worry about." She holds onto the card, and they all continue their trek back to the campsite. Twigs snap, and nearly unidentifiable silhouettes move between the trees surrounding them. However, they all look at the scenery with new eyes. Now able to keep their wild imaginations under control, then are now able to distinguish between what's strange, and what could obviously be caused by a very normal occurrence. All of them wander the woods with their heads held high, and chests puffed, as they relish in their newfound confidence. However, something still seems to be bothering Twilight. Seemingly out of nowhere, a thought pops into Twilight's head. She hesitates, considering how the others might react from such an out-of-nowhere question. However, it's something she feels she just has to ask. "Hey, girls. I've got a bit of a silly question. If ghosts were real, would you want to . . . be friends with one?"
"Heck yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouts, pumping her hoof in the air. "Having a ghost for a friend would be so awesome! Going through walls, scaring other ponies, and did I mention going through walls?! Like, come on, how cool would that be?"
"A ghost?" Rarity asks flabbergasted. "Huh, I can't say I've ever given it any thought."
"Is it a mean ghost?" Fluttershy asks.
"Not at all," says Twilight with a giggle. "Sure, the ghost might seem mean on the surface, but underneath, the ghost is completely harmless. For all you know, the ghost could be one of the nicest ponies you've ever met."
"Aww. In that case, yes I most definitely would!"
"Well, I do suppose it could spark up some interesting conversation," Rarity adds. "I would have to agree with Fluttershy!"
"My answer's still--heck yeah!" Rainbow Dash reaffirms.
"If ya ask me, ghost or not, everypony deserves a chance at friendship," Applejack advises. "I'd be willin' to give it a shot. How's 'bout you, Pinkie?"
"Me? I don't even have to think about it! Because I'm already--!" Pinkie's mouth is hurriedly covered by Twilight with a big, nervous smile on her face.
"B-Because you're already in agreement with everypony, right Pinkie?" Twilight stutters with a wink, and Pinkie cooperatively nods her head.
"Why do you ask, Twilight?" Applejack asks.
"I guess I was just making sure you girls were thinking the same thing as me."
"Hey, when we get back, who's still up for toastin' some marshmallows?!" Pinkie eagerly asks the crowd, and they all agree in joyous unison.
Eerie D'Leery, standing shamefully in the center of Luna's throne room, rolls his eyes as he listens to her much expected droning and scolding. "You've crossed the line, Eerie," Luna antagonizes. "What you've done today doesn't even measure up to any of your previous offenses, and that's a strong statement. I'll admit, I am partially at fault. I was beginning to think you had turned over a new leaf, but how wrong was I? From now on, there won't be a single solitary moment for you, as I will be keeping an even closer eye on you than ever before."
"You might not wanna do that literally, Princess. You're not gonna like what you see," Eerie chuckles.
"I already don't like what I see, so keep your childish comments to yourself." Luna rolls out the new contract to Eerie, and levitates a feather quill for him to sign with. "Please, sign on the dotted line."
"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill." Eerie snatches the quill from the air, and begins writing out his name as directed.
"So, what did you learn from all this?"
"That you're a real thorn in my side," Eerie mutters under his breath.
"Eerie!"
"What?! Was I supposed to learn somethin' from you?"
"Not from me, from Twilight."
"From Twilight? Ah, jeeze, I learned somethin' alright. I learned she's way more annoying than I anticipated. Ugh, and that friendship speech. What does she think I am, twelve?" Eerie grumbles as he finishes up his signature.
"You certainly have the qualities of one."
"Ooooh, nice one. See? Childish comments feel pretty good to say, don't they?"
"Eerie, you should seriously consider letting friendship into your life."
"Life? What life?"
"Enough quips. You can't hide behind this façade forever, Eerie."
"Trust me, Princess, I'm not hiding from anything." The quill lights up, engulfed by a green-ish flame. Eerie drops it to the floor, and stomps on it, turning it into a pile of black ash. "If there's nothing else, I'd like to be excused."
"I was once in your place, you know? I too felt like the entire world was against me, but the magic of friendship showed me otherwise." Fog rolls in, shrouding Eerie as he looks on unamused. "Ponder over it, Eerie. Perhaps you can take the time I know you'll spend reading this contract a hundred more times, and use it think about what I've said."
"Sure thing, boss." Eerie sneers.
Eerie is teleported back into the forest, and dusts himself off, "I won't have to read it a hundred more times," Eerie says aloud to himself. "Because I've already got my next plan all figured out, and this time . . . I won't lose." Eerie laughs as he stomps onto the ground, bringing forth an eruption of green-ish flames that engulf his body. He sinks down into the ground, and the flames die out without having burned or charred any of the grass or other neighboring plant life. Eerie's laughter resonates through the forest one last time, until it is peacefully quiet once more.
To Be Continued.
