CHAPTER 1
Peytral Road was a road amongst other roads in the countryside region surrounding Bardingville. And like any other roads in this region, there wasn't much to say about it. Grass fields, copses, and the occasional lone tree were all that could be seen for miles along the path. It was a mundane and peaceful landscape, but also a rather empty one.
Along the road, Applejack hauled a cart of apple pies for a delivery. She wouldn't have minded the uneventful journey if it weren’t for the fact that it was such a long walk.
A long, boring walk without much to say about.
Nothing at all.
‘It's so quiet, that's almost creepy,’ Applejack thought, just before her right ear raised. ‘Wait. Am I bein’ followed?’
She turned her attention to her right, but before she could react, a pony rapidly dashed out of the high grass from that direction. Before she knew it, the unknown pony stood just next to her, weirdly close. She noted that that stranger wore a long cloak with a hood that concealed their identity.
Applejack tried to exclaim her surprise, to shout at that cloaked weirdo for them to leave her personal space. But words wouldn't come out. She noticed that her legs felt weak and her vision blurred.
‘What the—,’ she thought as she looked down at her chest, which felt numb all of a sudden.
It was red. She couldn’t see any detail, but it was clearly red. The stranger had planted some sort of tool deep into Applejack's chest, and slowly drew it out.
‘Dang nab it,’ the farm mare cursed inwardly as her Stetson fell over from her head. Then everything faded to black.
****
Applejack awoke on the dirt ground, feeling overwhelmingly light headed. ‘Did I fall asleep on the road?’ she thought as she reminisced about her weird dream. Her eyes slowly peeled open, and she was immediately stunned at the sight of her own hooves, which she had to watch for a few seconds before she started to process things.
“Woah nelly! I lost mah melanin thingy!” was the first thing Applejack could manage to say.
While it was true that she was white as a sheet and even transparent, she quickly realized that the loss of melanin couldn't possibly be the only reason. She stood and looked down at the spot on the ground where she had awoken. Effectively, she found a white chalk outline where she had been laying.
“Yep. I s'pose I'm dead now.”
It was a hard concept to think about, but she tried to push the thoughts aside for the time being. Instead, she distracted herself by looking around, and sure enough there were guards and inspectors alongside yellow barricade tape mounted on cones all around the crime scene. None of them seemed to be able to even notice Applejack, which confirmed that she must've been invisible.
“They'll find that weirdo who got me,” she told herself. “I need to find my friends…”
Applejack trotted out of the scene, past a duo of inspectors who were seemingly on their lunch break, and literally through the barricade tape. Ignoring for the time being her form not being physical anymore, she went back down Peytral Road in the direction of Ponyville, where she had come from.
****
When Applejack arrived in Ponyville, the sky was covered in a large expanse of dark gray clouds. That didn't really surprise her. Covering the sunlight was a common funeral custom in those parts of Equestria, and the same was done the day of her own parents’ burial. The streets were empty, but that was to be expected too. Applejack being a national hero, it would make sense that most ponies in town would attend the funeral.
The ghost mare went directly to Sweet Apple Acres, where she knew everypony would be. And indeed, all of Ponyville was gathered around the northernmost part of the farm where her parents’ graves were. Her close family and friends stood in the front rows.
Everypony wore dark accessories. Apple Bloom hugged Big Mac and Granny Smith as tight as she could. Rarity's makeup melted behind her ebony veil. Both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie leaned on Rarity. Fluttershy's tears still flowed on her scarf, while Pinkie, who had a black balloon tied to her tail, maintained the bravest smile that she could through her sobs. Twilight Sparkle cried silently. Rainbow Dash was already out of tears, so she just stared down at her hooves and avoided the gazes of everypony else.
Princess Celestia herself was there, and she was the one who personally lowered Applejack's casket underground with her magic, just next to her father Bright Macintosh and mother Pear Butter's resting places. (Pear Butter's real name had been engraved underneath her alias “Buttercup” only recently.)
Applejack watched as the princess buried her casket in the earth.
Nopony noticed the presence of her ghost.
****
Applejack had been seated in front of her tombstone for hours at that point. Everypony had returned to their lives already. The pegasi in the weather team slowly rid the sky of the clouds and let a few sun rays pass through, which highlighted the grave and the flowers that covered it between the shadows. On the tombstone was marked:
“Here lies* Applejack,
an honest sister and trusting friend.
(*Applejack wasn't a liar.)”
Applejack didn't feel like doing much but remain seated there in silence as she listened to nothing but the wind in her sorrow. She probably would have stayed like that all evening… if it weren't for a specific thought that suddenly crossed her mind.
‘Maybe… I should check on my body…’
So, she walked over to the grave and went down. She phased through the bed of flowers, phased through the layers of earth, and phased her face through the casket to have a look inside. She gaped in shock.
Instead of Applejack's corpse being there, there was a heavy-looking bag full of sand. Probably enough sand to mimic her weight.
“What in tarnation!?” she exclaimed. “Where's my body?”
Applejack climbed back out of the earth.
“Something fishy's goin’ on,” she said to herself as she squinted at the tombstone with suspicion. “I ought to have a word with that morty-whatever assistant.” She paused. “Well, I dunno if I can talk to ‘em, since I'm a ghost, but I'll try to get what I can get.”
Applejack, in need of answers, cantered to the Ponyville mortuary.
****
Applejack stomped furiously as she walked through the morgue's entrance door. It wasn't like her stomps made any noise or impact anyway, so she didn't care.
She first checked the freezers where the bodies were stored, to make sure that her own corpse indeed wasn't there. It wasn't a difficult task thanks to her being intangible; she just had to peek through the doors. She didn't find her corpse in any of them. She only saw two random old ponies who she didn't even know that well before they died. The sight made Applejack's anger turn into sorrow.
“May y'all rest in peace,” Applejack muttered, holding her Stetson hat over her chest in respect. She blinked in surprise. “Huh. I didn't notice I still got my hat.” She looked over her hat's new ghostly, transparent form in wonder. “How in tarnation does THAT even work?”
The ghost mare's wonders were interrupted by the shuffle of keys. She turned her attention toward the source: a slender, dirty gray-coated unicorn stallion of apparent Saddle Arabian origins who unlocked the door to the mortuary assistant's office.
“That must be the assistant,” Applejack said out loud as she replaced her phantom hat on her head.
As expected by that point, the unicorn didn't hear the ghost mare or even notice her presence as he entered the office. Applejack followed close behind him.
In the mortuary's office, there was a desk. On the desk were a placard with the name “Sarcophagus” marked on it, a small safe with a four-digit code, and a journal of some kind, which laid open.
“I shouldn't leave that there,” the unicorn, whose name must have been Sarcophagus, muttered to himself as he looked at the desk. Before Applejack could have a look at the contents of the journal's open page, Sarcophagus closed it and levitated it into the safe with his telekinesis. He then took out a new blank journal from one of the desk's drawers and opened it at the first page. “Better.”
Applejack observed attentively what the mortuary assistant wrote. It seemed to just be notes and records on the details about Applejack's death, which all seemed to be accurate, from the place to the time to the stabbing. There was nothing incriminating or suspicious that was written down.
“Which makes ya even more suspicious,” Applejack told Sarcophagus, not caring about him not hearing her. “How could ya know all that stuff if ya ain't even have my body?”
Sarcophagus, after he jotted down his notes, put down his pen and closed the journal. “That should do the trick,” he muttered to himself. “Now I'll just go home and sleep.” He got up from the desk and walked out.
Applejack was left alone in Sarcophagus's office. She phased her face through the safe on the desk to look at the journal inside. The journal was closed, so she tried to use her hooves to open it. It didn't do anything. Her hooves simply went through both the safe and the journal itself. And if she were able to open the book, it would still be too dark in the safe to see clearly.
“Horseapples,” Applejack cursed. She exited the safe and fell back on her haunches. She sat there, frustrated.
It was obvious: she couldn't investigate her corpse's disappearance if she continued to phase through every single physical object like that. She couldn't even turn the pages of a book in that position. But she couldn't give up. That murder couldn't have been random. Her body having been stolen and replaced by a sandbag was too strange. There was a truth in the story, and Applejack was going to uncover it. She would live up to her connection to the Element of Honesty… even if she were dead.
Applejack sighed. “I'm gonna need my friends’ help for that,” she said.
Author's Note
Hi! New story. I hope you enjoy it.
For this, I wanted to write something where the protagonist is undead, vaguely like Reaping Rainbow and The Sparkle Of Unlife. (You should read those stories too.)
CHAPTER 2
Twilight Sparkle was in her library as she reread the books that she already knew by heart. She turned the pages at an unusually slow rate. It was her way to cope with the loss of her friend.
Applejack's ghost had called her and tried to get her attention for a while already. It was no use. And even if she weren't a ghost, Twilight would still be too taken by her reading to pay attention to anything else.
“There must be SOMEthing I can do,” Applejack said. She scanned around the library for ideas. Her eyes stopped on one book titled Necromancy For Dummies on one shelf. It seemed to be in the ‘forbidden magics’ category. “‘Necromancy’ is like death magic, right?” she asked herself. “Maybe I could…”
Applejack went through the shelf and into the wall on the other side of it. From there, she took a deep breath and stretched her limbs, gestures that were only meant to prepare herself mentally, and started to push. She used all of her focus as she pushed against the book. She used all of her mind's energy to make her intangible form able to slide the book out of its shelf.
Eventually, after long minutes of struggles, Necromancy For Dummies moved half an inch out of the bookshelf.
Twilight's ear raised.
But she barely paid attention to it.
Unconsciously, without so much as a glance away from the tome she read, the alicorn used telekinesis to replace the book back in its shelf. It was as if Applejack hadn't done anything.
There was a loud scream of frustration that echoed through the Castle of Friendship, but no living pony could hear it. Applejack's despair remained silent to anypony but herself.
****
“Hi, Goldy!” Pinkie Pie greeted cheerfully. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. What do you want today?”
“Um… I mostly wanted to check on you,” Golden Harvest admitted. “Are you sure you're okay, Pinkie? I know you've been putting on a brave face…”
Pinkie's smile went from wide and excited to calm and collected. “I know we all miss Applejack,” she said, hints of melancholy in her voice. “But she would want us to keep going no matter what.”
Golden Harvest nodded solemnly. “You're right… She wouldn't want us to mourn all day.”
“Exactly,” Pinkie replied. Then she returned to her cheerful demeanor. “Now why don't you tell me what you want for lunch?”
Applejack was very glad to see that most ponies remembered her wish: for them not to let grief impede their own lives when she died. It was really moving.
But it didn't really help her in the immediate moment. She had waited for hours in Sugarcube Corner as she watched Pinkie Pie attentively and hoped for the mare's ‘Pinkie Sense’ to activate and possibly detect her presence. If Twilight couldn't help her with that specific situation, then Pinkie's strange powers probably could. Right?
But Pinkie had yet to show any sign of being aware of her presence. She had sold baked goods to various clients who came and went, and, all the while, nopony could see or hear Applejack. It all seemed like a lost cause…
Until suddenly, a miracle happened.
“Hi Applejack,” said a little filly's voice.
Applejack's head darted in the direction of that voice. She saw a lavender unicorn foal with a blonde mane, a big, innocent smile, and bright, unblinking, yellow eyes that stared right at her. Maybe right into her soul.
Applejack looked behind herself to make sure that the filly hadn't addressed somepony else, but there was only a wall in that spot. “Wuh– Ya can see me?” she asked as she turned back to the filly.
She nodded, still with a smile, and maintained eye contact. It was almost creepy.
Applejack wasn't too sure how to feel about the fact that a child she barely even knew was the only creature capable of noticing her presence. “Ya realize I'm a ghost, right?” she queried.
Another nod. Still smiled at her. It started to make Applejack feel uneasy.
“What's your name, sugarcube?” the ghost mare asked.
“I'm Dinky Doo,” she answered. “I think you know my mom.”
Dinky pointed a hoof toward the counter, where Applejack saw a gray pegasus mare, whose name she knew was Derpy Hooves, as she bought a batch of muffins from Pinkie Pie.
“So ye're Derpy's daughter, huh? I can see tha—” Applejack trailed off as she turned her attention back to Dinky, who still hadn't broken eye contact with her. That was definitely creepy. “Say… How can ya see me if I'm a ghost?”
“I just can,” Dinky said as she still smiled. It felt forced. “I'm a medium. I see ghosts all the time. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes I wish I didn't see them.” Her eyes twitched and slowly drifted in different directions like her mother's as she continued to talk. “They're everywhere. Sometimes they're nice. Sometimes they're mean. I learn new words from them. New concepts, like agony, or sadism. Sometimes I have headaches because every ghost around me starts talking at once. Ghosts don't see or hear each other. I see and hear everything. It's hard for me to sleep at night. Help me. H E L P M E—”
“Dinky, we're going home!” Derpy called to her daughter. She held a box of the muffins she had just bought.
Dinky blinked and her eyes slid back into their normal position. “Okay mom! Coming!” she replied, and she trotted after Derpy and out of the bakery. She hummed a little tune as she did so.
Applejack stood in place for a while, still perturbed by the filly's sudden rant. She shook her head and tried not to think about it. “Hey, wait up!” she shouted, then galloped after Dinky.
Silence fell as Pinkie Pie was left alone in the room. She thought about what had just occurred for a bit, then she gasped. “‘The Dinky Sense’ by M. Night Stallion!” she uttered suddenly before she chuckled. “Heheh. I get that reference.”
****
Applejack had caught up to Dinky and Derpy as they just arrived at their house.
“Dinky, wait!”
The little filly craned her neck almost mechanically to face Applejack and waved, still with the same smile as before.
“I, uh… I need some help with something.”
“Come in, then,” Dinky said as she invited the ghost mare to her home.
Applejack sat at the dining room table opposite Dinky Doo, who still eyeballed her. Derpy was also there. She had already started to eat muffins.
“Can she see me?” Applejack asked the filly, then pointed at her mother.
Dinky shook her head. She started to nibble at a muffin.
“But ya can see me.”
Dinky nodded. She swallowed.
“Does she know ya can see ghosts?”
Another nod. “She thinks I'm crazy because of it,” Dinky explained. She still maintained her grin.
Derpy swallowed a mouthful of muffins as she turned to her daughter. “Are you talking to ponies who aren't really there again?”
Dinky nodded. Oddly enough, she repeatedly stared at Applejack as she did so. Derpy patted her twice on the head before she returned to her lunch.
Applejack was glad that she wasn't hungry, because she would have had no idea how to eat as a ghost. She didn't really know how ghosts worked anyway. “What're ghosts exactly, even?” she asked. “Ya mentioned earlier that they don't see each other.”
Yet another nod from Dinky. “That's right. There are ghosts everywhere. Not a place isn't crowded by billions of them, and not even they know about it. They can't interact with or be aware of each other,” she explained. “Most of them don't even know they're ghosts.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Again, Dinky nodded. “You're only one of 4 and a half ghosts I've met who know they're ghosts. And, like I said, there are billions in each room, so you know it's rare.”
“4 an' a half?” Applejack asked confusedly. “Did ya meet a half ghost or something?”
“It's a long story,” Dinky said. Her eyes then slowly and ominously drifted on the side, to stare at a specific spot in a dark corner of the room. There was nothing of note visible in that spot, but Dinky eyeballed it as if. “I don't think I want to remember it.” She twitched a little, still not blinking.
‘That filly's givin’ me the jeebies, even though I'M the ghost,’ Applejack thought. She shivered. ‘I ought to focus, though.’
“A'ight, Dinky,” Applejack started. She brought the filly's attention back to her. “Ya think ya could help me with something?”
“Depends,” Dinky said as she stared at her once again. “Is it to talk with your friends?”
“Uh… yep! That's exactly what I want,” Applejack answered, slightly surprised at the correct guess. “How'd ya know?”
Dinky chuckled. “It's obvious. Anypony in your horseshoes would want to speak to their friends and family,” she explained. Then she leaned in and whispered loudly: “I know how to make ghosts talk with the living.”
“Heard that one,” Derpy said as she ate her last muffin.
Applejack smiled optimistically at the unicorn filly. “Ya can really do that?”
Dinky nodded. “I know everything about séance magic.”
“That's great! Mighty thanks, Dinky!” Applejack exclaimed and stood up from her seat. “…whatever ‘say-ance’ means,” she added sheepishly.
At that point, Derpy was done with her lunch. “Please don't go harassing the neighbors with their deceased loved ones,” she demanded her daughter worriedly, as though it were a common occurrence.
Dinky just nodded. Her smile had never left.
****
“So ya said that ya and other ponies who can see ghosts are called ‘mediums’, right?” Applejack asked Dinky. The two were at the door of Carousel Boutique.
“Yes,” Dinky said as she pushed the door open. “I've never met one other than myself, however. All the info on them that I have are from folk tales and legends.”
“Y'all must be rare, then,” Applejack supposed. She and Dinky found Rarity inside the boutique, who cried over a framed photograph of the deceased mare.
Rarity put down the frame and turned to the filly who had just entered. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique… where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique…” she greeted flatly. Sorrow still filled her voice. She wiped some of the melted eyeshadow from her cheeks as she identified who she spoke to. “Oh, it's… Are you one of Sweetie Belle's friends?”
Dinky shook her head. “While my secret love/hate relationship with your little sister is worrying and probably should be talked about, that's not why I'm here right now.”
Rarity didn't know how to respond to the strange little unicorn, so she simply listened to her.
“I'm here because of your dead friend,” Dinky continued. “Applejack wants to talk to you.”
Rarity might have been stone-faced up until that point, but she broke down in tears once again at the mention of Applejack. “Get out,” she told the filly through sobs. “Just… get out!”
****
Applejack and Dinky Doo walked through the park toward the outskirts of Ponyville, close to the border of the Everfree Forest.
“Do your friends often kick ponies out of their shops?” Dinky asked, naively.
Applejack sighed. “Just… try to think twice 'bout what ya say to grievin' folks. They're havin' a hard time, y'know?”
“But what should I say, then?”
“Ah, I dunno.” The ghost mare shrugged. “I guess, like, just don't say something that might hurt 'em.”
“Got it,” Dinky said, though she looked like she hadn’t actually understood anything.
They arrived at Fluttershy's cottage. Dinky knocked on the door and, after a short minute, the door creaked a few inches open to reveal only half of Fluttershy's face in the obscurity. Her eye was still wet with tears.
“Hello,” Dinky intoned happily. “There's a murder victim who wants to talk to you.”
Fluttershy slammed the door shut and locked it. Her muffled weeps could be heard from outside for the next few minutes.
Dinky turned to Applejack, who looked at her with a mix of discontentment and bafflement. “What?” she asked the ghost mare. “I thought not mentioning your name might've not triggered that.”
Applejack was at a loss for words.
****
“Ya ever stop smilin'?” Applejack queried as they arrived under Rainbow Dash's cloud house. “I mean, it's good to be happy an' stuff, but it pro'ly ain't why ye're smilin' like that.”
“I have Wilson's disease,” Dinky explained. “My brain produces too much copper.”
Applejack felt bad for the filly. “Um… is it severe?”
“That was a lie, actually. I have no idea what's the deal with my brain.” Dinky looked up at the cloud house that floated over them. “How do you usually knock on Rainbow Dash's door?”
Applejack scratched her chin in thought. “Well, normally I get some pegasus or Twilight to do it for me… or Pinkie Pie. But I think we could try something else.” She looked around for a bit, and her eyes settled on a nearby trash can. “Here. Try usin' that.”
Dinky used her telekinesis to move the trash can next to her. Then she climbed on top of it.
“What're ya doin'?” Applejack asked.
Dinky just shrugged as she stood there, on the trash can's lid. “It's still too high. Can't reach the door.”
“I was thinkin' ya could, like, use the lid or something to—”
Applejack trailed off as she watched Dinky use all of her might and energy to levitate the lid with herself on top of it. The filly put so much strength into her horn in order to accomplish that feat that it shined brighter than an industrial lamp. Applejack wasn't a scientist, but she knew that a unicorn who lifted their own weight without years of practice could result in the explosion of their horn. And it did look like Dinky was going to explode from the surge.
“Um, maybe ya shouldn't—”
Dinky didn't listen to Applejack as she was too focused with her maintenance of the telekinesis spell on her platform. When she finally arrived at Rainbow Dash's front door, she struggled to lift her hoof to knock.
“Y'know I was actually thinkin'—”
As she ignored the ghost mare, Dinky powerfully hit the door once. Twice. Thrice. Each knock was very loud and could be heard all across town, but so was the noise of her horn as it flickered from the ridiculous output of energy. Everypony in Ponyville felt the shockwaves she emanated.
Once her knocks were finished, Dinky used what was left of her strength to slowly and safely lower the trash lid back to the ground. As soon as it touched the ground, she let go of her telekinetic grip and her horn ceased to glimmer like a supernova. She huffed and puffed as she was sweat profusely.
Applejack just looked at her in worry and shock. “I, uh…” she stuttered. “I was thinkin' ya could… throw the lid up there, like… just the lid… to bang at the door.”
“Good idea!” Dinky exclaimed as she suddenly recovered from the effort of earlier. She then jumped off the can's lid and effortlessly launched it upward with her magic, directly aimed for Rainbow's door.
At that moment, Rainbow Dash had just come out of her home to see what all the bustle was about. She took the metal lid right into her face. Her scream of pain was only a quarter as loud as the knocks had been.
****
“So, what's the deal, squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked. She was still in the process of recovery from her headache. She wasn't in a good mood at all.
“I need to talk to you about something important,” Dinky said. She tried to show her most serious face, which was difficult due to her permanent smile. “Please, promise to believe in what I'm about to say.”
The rainbow pegasus rolled her eyes. “Alright. I'm listening.”
“Thanks.” Dinky took a deep breath to prepare herself before she continued. “It's Applejack. She wants to talk to you.”
Rainbow's pupils became as small as pinpricks when she heard the name. “I'm sorry, what!?” she exclaimed. She stared at Dinky in disbelief.
“Just… let me explain, alright?”
Rainbow wanted to express something in protest, but she had no clue as to what to say. So she just sighed and gave in and let the filly continue.
“I am what some ponies call a ‘medium’. I can see ghosts and communicate with them,” Dinky explained. “I also know a spell that can allow a ghost to take over my mind to talk to you more directly.”
“Look. It's not that I don't want to believe you,” Dash said, flatly. “But what really proves that you aren't just playing some game and wasting my time?”
On cue, Dinky closed her eyes and lit her horn. When she reopened her eyes a few seconds later, the irises had changed from yellow to Applejack's green. Her smile also faded to a more neutral expression.
“Howdy, Dash,” Applejack said through Dinky's mouth. It sounded perfectly like the country mare's speech mannerisms, despite how the voice was the little filly's. “It's been a while.”
Rainbow Dash just stared at her as she tried to process what happened in front of her. Unable to stand, she fell on her haunches. “AJ?” she mumbled in stupor. “Is that… Is that really you? Are you… a ghost?”
Applejack sighed. “I know ye're gonna get stubborn an' ask for something only I could know, but we ain't really got time for that, so I'll just reveal one of your secrets.” She cleared her throat. “On the night of Winter Wrap Up, about two years ago, I saw ya—”
“ALRIGHT! Alright! I believe you! Just… please don't,” Dash interrupted in distress.
“Good,” Applejack said. “‘Cuz I need ya to gather the girls now. We got a murderer to find.”
Author's Note
Holy moly! This story got featured less than a few hours after I released the first chapter! Thanks everyone!
Now I'm still a debutant writer, so don't expect consistant chapter releases. I want to take my time to make something decent.
