Ghost Town

by Legioner8

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Mystery, Horror, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 1831

A series of letters sent by now missing student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle.

A series of letters sent by now missing student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle.

Featured on 06/04/22

Published 2022-04-05 23:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-04-05 23:20:00 UTC

Chapter 1

Dear Princess Celestia,

First of all, I would like to thank you once more for allowing me to stay in Ponyville with my new friends. And I assure you that I will give my utmost effort to study the magic of friendship.

Yesterday I finished moving the rest of my belongings from my home and the tower in your palace into the Golden Oak Library, and now Spike and I are ready to settle in.

Speaking of Spike, he was a great help during the move. Without his help, it would’ve been a real chore to keep track of all my books and research notes. As you know, I started calling him my Number One Assistant primarily to humor his desire to help me in my studies, but he took his new position very seriously, and in the last few months, I’ve grown to rely on him. He’s growing up to be a very responsible young dragon, and I am very proud of him, as, I am sure, you are.

Also, I would like to apologize for not coming to say goodbye to you personally, but I was sure that you would like to spend as much time with your sister as possible, and it seemed to me that it would be very tactless of me to take up your precious time.

Please send Princess Luna my best wishes. I hope her reintegration into society will be quick and easy. I can't wait to get to know her better. If she’ll want that, of course.

Anyway, you can expect my first letter regarding the Magic Of Friendship as soon as I am able to find a suitable friendship problem to study. I am so excited!

Best regards, your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Ponyville is such a quaint little town. I love it here!

I finally got into the rhythm of living in a rural area, and it’s so much different from the always hectic life in Canterlot. Everypony seems to know each other. They even treat me like a friend they knew for all their lives, which is a bit embarrassing considering that I still don’t know most of the ponies living here. And when somepony strikes up a conversation with me, I’m usually at a loss regarding who I am talking to.

The harvest season will begin soon, and since the earth ponies mostly populate Ponyville, almost everypony is busy preparing for it.

Applejack is probably the busiest of them all, getting ready for what she’s called an ‘Applebuck Season’. Now that the rest of the Apple Clan has returned to their own farms, it falls to the remaining three Apples to harvest every single apple in The Sweet Apple Acres. But unfortunately, AJ’s big brother, Big Macintosh, or Big Mac as everypony calls him, got his back injured and won’t be able to help with the harvest. And their little sister, Applebloom, is still too young to do a proper apple-bucking.

I am worried about Applejack, she’s already working herself to the bone, and it seems like she‘s too stubborn for her own good, going so far as to flat out refuse any offer to help her!

Well, I won’t stand idly by and watch her struggle! I already talked to the girls, and they all agreed with me. We are going to help Applejack, whether she wants it or not!

Speaking of my other friends, It seems that Pinkie Pie possesses a strange sixth sense that she calls ‘Pinkie Sense.’ At first, I was dismissive of that phenomenon but apparently, everypony in the town, and I mean every single one, is one hundred percent sure that it is real.

According to Pinkie, she can interpret her body's sudden twitches and movements to predict certain events in the near future. And lately, her Pinkie Sense was unusually active, but she cannot understand its meaning.

I am still skeptical, but I will look into that phenomenon after we help Applejack.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S.

I was wondering if you know anything about who was in charge of the Golden Oak Library prior to my arrival? Because so far, it seems like it was a community-run library, but it is too well organized to not have a dedicated librarian.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’ve asked around the town about Dusty Page, the previous town librarian you mentioned in your letter, but it seems like nopony I asked knows her. I assumed that she didn’t have many friends, but she must’ve visited at least some places in the town, like the market or the Quills And Sofas shop. But again, nopony there seemed to know who Dusty Page is.

How she managed to run the library without going out to buy quills is beyond me.

I admit, we, librarians, aren’t the most outgoing ponies, I would know, but that is ridiculous, even by my previous standards!

It seems to me that this pony has a major friendship problem, and I would like to help her in any way I can!

I am sure that my friends and I will be able to change her mind regarding her reclusive lifestyle. Maybe I’ll be able to plan some kind of party for her? That’s what the townsfolk did for me when I first arrived. Something like that, but not as loud and crowded. Yes, she might like that.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I went for a walk around the town to clear my head after a long night of studying, and I noticed something that now seems so obvious that I simply have no idea how I managed to not see it sooner!

Ponyville is smaller than it seems!

I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me.

Ponyville looks like a small town with all its houses and businesses, but in reality, many of those houses aren’t occupied. They are furnished and look like the residents simply went out for a bit, except there never were any residents, to begin with.

I talked to my friends about my observation, and, to my surprise, it turned out that I was the first one to notice it, despite them living in the town for years!

Rainbow Dash said that she doesn’t really concern herself with the goings-on ‘down on the ground’ as she put it. Too preoccupied with her training to join the Wonderbolts one day.

Rarity believes that she simply forgot about it and eventually got fooled by the town’s atmosphere. But she thinks that it is ultimately a good thing. Everything has to have something special about it, and she sees Ponyville’s false houses as an intriguing art project.

As for Applejack, she simply didn’t even notice. After all, it is quite difficult and stressful to run the whole orchard all by herself. I am honestly glad that we managed to convince her to let us help her from time to time. I have no idea how she managed before that.

Later that day, I ran into Mayor Mare and asked her about the empty houses. The reality turned out to be a lot less artistic than Rarity thought, although it took Mayor some time to remember the details. Apparently, her predecessor was expecting a demographic boom and thought it would be a great idea to construct more houses than necessary and get them furnished, so the future residents could just move in and start living, except that never happened.

I recommended Mayor Mare to hire a good real estate company and run an advertisement campaign. After all, it is so much living space that simply goes to waste. She agreed with me and joked that I should consider going into politics.

Can you imagine that? Me in the politics? Now that would be interesting.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S.

Apparently, somepony known as The Great and Powerful Trixie snuck into the town last night and parked her wagon in front of the library. Nopony in town knows where this Trixie might be, but I presume that she is getting ready for something big. I saw some fliers scattered around, advertising the most extravagant magic show, and I must admit that I was intrigued. I love Ponyville, but it lacks when it comes to the magical arts, so I am excited to meet a fellow mage!

*All contact with Ponyville was lost a week after the last letter was sent. Princess Celestia dispatched the special investigation team. The investigation team found the following letter in the mailbox of the Golden Oak Library.*

Dear Princess Celestia,

I must admit, I don’t think I thought that through when I asked for your permission to stay in Ponyville and learn about the Magic Of Friendship.

I mean, this is practically a ghost town. I don’t think I can learn much about friendship here. Friendship requires ponies - I like privacy, but that is too much, even for me.

How you manage to convince everypony to hold the Summer Sun Celebration here is beyond me, but that’s why you are the Princess, I guess. You know how to get things done.

Rainbow Dash agrees with me that this place is a dump (her words, not mine), but at least she can practice whatever she wants, the few ponies that live here don’t mind when she crashes into the empty buildings.

So I was thinking, maybe I should go back to Canterlot? And take Dash with me. After all, she is my best friend; I can’t just leave her.

You know, there is one thing about Ponyville that never stops to amaze me, and that isn’t how the town looks almost normal, despite its lack of population. No, it’s the Ponyville Postal Service. I have no idea how they do it, but they always manage to deliver my letters to you so fast! I may as well be the only pony who writes letters in this town, but it is still quite a flight from here and to Canterlot. I even joked that Rainbow is secretly a postmare, but she says that she’d never do something so uncool as mail delivery.

I’ve been engrossed with my studies as of late. So much so that I didn’t even notice how messy the library became. Seriously the whole place looks

hElpHelpheLpmEiTtoOkhiMohCelestiAitTotoKhimItatEhimAndIWatcHedaNditSmileDitiSSingiNgagaIn like there was a fight or something!

And it looks like I left a candle burning on a shelf, and now it and all the books there are charred beyond repair. Fortunately, the tree has a fire-resistance enchantment. Otherwise, the whole place could’ve burned to the ground!

This is so embarrassing. I am a mess.

Maybe I should hire an assistant?

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

*The contact with the investigation team was lost after two days. A massive shield spell was used to create a Ponyville Exclusion Zone.*

Author's Note

A huge thanks to Pomp-neigh for proofreading this story!