Something Halloween

"Thanks again for coming this late," Anon was saying to the woman in the lift. Twilight Sparkle, who was standing behind him, just smiled.

The visitor raised up a hand and waved back. "Sure, no problem! Anything for 'Twiley'!" The nickname made the mare blush a little. It was something only Anon and Shining Armor were allowed to use, but he had once called her that by mistake in the doctor's office and the woman had latched on to it. It had become their little joke over the years.

"Bye, Amanda!"

The lift door slid shut and Anon turned around. Twilight shook her head and sighed. "Told you she wouldn't find anything."

"I still think it was a good idea. At least now we know it's not physical."

That much was true and Twilight was never sad to see the good doctor. She had tried to hire her for the Pony Society, but the woman had refused. Maybe it was time to try again. Their resident doctor, Dr. Bailey, was good, but he was no Dr. Hayes when it came to bedside manner.

It was painfully obvious that the former had come from a veterinary background, where the patients didn't usually talk, and the latter from human medicine, where they did.

"Movie now?" Anon suggested.

It was an almost perfect idea. Twilight only had one question: "You making popcorn?"

"Deal!"

Twilight hurried to the living room and took the best spot on the couch. It wasn't really cold in the apartment, but she wrapped a blanket around herself anyway, just for the look of things. In the other room, she heard the hum of the microwave and the first few pops of corn. It wasn't as good as the real thing, but both she and Anon were too lazy to make actual popcorn.

Now it was just a matter of picking out the movie and getting Anon to cuddle her while they watched. No hanky-panky this time, Twilight promised herself! Not until the movie was over! Well, maybe just a little hanky, but certainly no panky!

She giggled quietly to herself at the internal joke. "How's it coming along?" she yelled to Anon.

"Almost!"

"Good, what movie are we-" Twilight's muzzle clamped shut when she spotted the thing again. This time it didn't vanish. A woman was looking in the terrace window. "An-Anon..." she called with a voice that was suddenly weak and hoarse.

He didn't seem to hear above the popping and the whir of the microwave. Twilight swallowed, keeping her eyes on the apparition, and tried again. "Anon!"

He caught the urgent tone and came to look in the living room. "Everything okay?" When he saw her expression, the man rushed over but Twilight put up a hoof to keep him from blocking her vision.

"She's there again!" the mare explained quietly. Her voice was a lot calmer than she was expecting.

"Who?" Anon said, looking around. He glanced right at the terrace door, but didn't even pause. It proved that only she could see it.

"Woman in the window. I think it's the same one from last time."

Anon glanced at Twilight, then again at the sliding door. "Right now?!"

"Yes. Anon- she's not going away this time!" Twilight kept looking at the ghost, if that's what it was, and the thing was staring back at her. She was definitely looking directly at Twilight! The woman had a very light, white summer dress with short sleeves. If Twilight had to guess, she'd say it was an older style of garment, but she couldn't be sure. Human fashion had been a brief and unmemorable interest, years ago.

Anon stood up and walked over to the door, mindful that he didn't break Twilight's line of sight. He reached for the handle and looked back at the mare. She gave him a slight nod, aware of how her throat was constricting and her heart hammering. What would the woman do if the door was opened?

The glass pane slid aside and Twilight held her breath. For a moment she and the woman kept staring at each other, then the ghost stepped aside and out of sight.

"Wait!" Twilight called out. She jumped from the couch, ignoring the blanket which went flying, and hurried to the terrace. Anon stepped out just behind her, quiet, but tense. Ready to- what? Twilight guessed he didn't even know himself, but he was trying to be ready for whatever she might need.

"She's go-" the mare began, but then turned around and found the woman again. She was leaning against the railing, looking down at the street. As the pony watched, the ghost or whatever it was, lifted one leg and placed a bare foot on the lower bar.

Twilight's eyes widened and she gasped. "No! Wait!"

Anon stared at the spot the mare was watching, but of course he didn't see anything out of place. "What is it? What is she doing?"

Twilight didn't answer. She walked forward to the woman and stopped just a step or two away. "Please wait! Talk to me! Tell me what's happening! Why am I seeing you?!"

The woman, still gripping the railing, turned her head to give Twilight a faint smile. Then, too quickly for the mare to do more than twitch, the lady lifted herself up.

"NO!" Twilight rushed forward and made a grab for the woman. Ghost or not, she couldn't let someone just throw themselves from a high building! Her hooves passed right through the vision and in her shocked surprise Twilight lost her balance and smacked right into the metal bar. The impact made her head ring, but she picked herself up and leaned over, dreading what she would see on the street below.

Anon was immediately by her side and gripping around her barrel. Maybe he thought she was going to jump too? To her immense relief, there was nothing. The street, far below, was clear. There was no body, no blood.

"She's- she's gone," the mare said and sagged.

Anon lifted her up from the railing and, arms trembling a little from exertion, carried her back to the apartment. "Come on, let's get you inside," he said.

Twilight just hung there limply, mind burning with questions. She was obviously seeing how people died, but were they real people or just her imagination? The fact she couldn't touch them supported the latter explanation.

Why would she imagine people dying?!

She had to find out more!

"I- I need to check old newspapers..." the mare said, more to herself than to her companion.

She was hardly aware of being placed on the couch. She didn't see Anon go back to the door and slide it shut to keep out the chill. She did, however, feel his arms wrap around her and Twilight was grateful for that.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" Anon said.

The mare suddenly noticed he was shaking, and not just from exertion or cold. He was staring at her with wide, worried eyes.

"W-What's wrong?" She felt her muzzle, fearing something was wrong with her face now.

"That's the exact spot Rarity tried to jump over. Don't you remember?!"

It was!! Twilight whimpered and put her hoof over her mouth. Was there some significance?! Was she seeing places where ponies died - or almost died? Did the woman, somehow, represent Rarity? She would have preferred not to think about that painful bit of her past, but maybe she should, just this once. Rarity was okay now, it was important to remember that, but at some point her friend had been hurt enough to seek... another way out. Was Twilight's imagination showing her that memory she'd tried so hard to repress? But why turn Rarity into a human woman?

It still made no real sense, but that couldn't have just been a coincidence, could it?

"I wasn't going to jump," she said quickly. "I wasn't going to jump! I just saw the woman jump over and I went to see-"

What had she expected? A mangled body on the sidewalk? The mere thought was enough to make Twilight shudder.

Anon felt it and held her tighter. "Good. But maybe don't chase ghosts. This was the second time today!"

"Second time?"

"You ran across a busy intersection, Twilight. You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Were these hallucinations, or ghost, or apparitions, whatever they were, trying to get her killed? It was a chilling thought, especially if she considered it was her own mind doing it to her.

"I g-gotta write that letter to C-Celestia," the mare mumbled. The sooner she got the counterspell, the better. "Can you look for, uh, for this?" Twilight asked, distracted. "I mean- if any woman jumped from this balcony? Her dress looked old, so maybe a few decades ago?"

That made her pause.

"How old is this building anyway?"

"I think it was originally built in the sixties, but it was since refurbished."

"That sounds about r-right," Twilight mumbled. "Could you look it up, please? A-And there was that disco-man at the intersection. I didn't look at the street name."

"I think I remember where. I'll check it on Maps. Okay, anything else?"

Twilight almost shook her head, but then she remembered the little girl. "A little girl, across the street from our office. Head injury, I think. She also had an old fashioned dress..."

Maybe she was seeing deaths of people from the past. The thought was thoroughly chilling and Twilight didn't like it one bit. She didn't want to see people die everywhere she looked!

Still, knowing it - at least having some theories - was helping. This was just another problem for her to solve. She'd figure it out. The mare looked at Anon, who was watching her with concern, and smiled at him. With him beside her, she would figure it out and solve it.

It took some effort, but she wrenched her mind from the dark place for long enough to stand up on the couch and give the man a big, warm kiss. "Thanks. I know how weird this is. I guess you were right."

"Right about what?"

She almost rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Right about this spell being dangerous. I don't understand- the book didn't say anything about this, but I guess you were right."

She had to give Anon credit, though. He didn't look even slightly smug, just worried for her. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out," he echoed her own thoughts.

"One more kiss," Twilight pleaded, "then I'll go write that letter."

"And I'll go do that research," Anon promised. He put his hands around her barrel and drew her in.

It was amazing how therapeutic kisses were, Twilight thought as they parted. She was even smiling to herself faintly as she levitated over some paper and a pen. She thought for a moment, but the start of the letter came almost automatically: 'Dear Princess Celestia...'