Chapter 1: 7:00 PM - 7:10 PM
Chapter 1
7:00 PM
Ponyville Square
It was quite dark out. And quiet. Not a cricket chirped, even.
At least, it was quiet other than the pegasus and strange unicorn around me. The unicorn, tall, sickly green, had a crooked horn, seemed to be threatening the pegasus' life, for some reason.
I don't know why. And right now, I don't care. After all, there's nothing I can do about it. Because... well...
I'm dead. Simple as that.
I don't know who I am, but I think that griffon corpse was me. It makes sense; I don't see any other dead creatures around me, so I guess I really am that griffon. Or was, such as the case is.
A name sticks out to me when I see that corpse, though... "Gilda"... Was that my name...? Was I this "Gilda"?
It probably doesn't matter anyway. I'm dead, so there's really nothing I can do.
"Actually, there is."
Suddenly, the world around me froze, and turned all kinds of orange...
A voice? Who was that? And how did they hear my thoughts?
"There are no secrets in the Ghost World. By the way, that's where you're at right now."
There, the voice again. Where was it coming from? That dandelion, over there?
"Yes, I'm the dandelion!" The voice peeped again. "Now listen. I want you to reach out to me with your spirit."
Reach out? But I can't leave this corpse...
"How do I do that? It's not exactly easy to leave a body," I replied.
"Of course it is, when you're dead," the dandelion was speaking again, "Just imagine yourself hopping from object to object. In this case, hop from your body to that little rock next to me. Go ahead, give it a shot!"
Hopping from one object to another, huh? Well, if I still had my wings, this would be a piece of cake... Let's see...
From here to the pebble... I see. Alright... I'm at the pebble... That wasn't much of a jump. But now I'm a rock...
"Good. You're just getting the hang of it," the dandelion congratulated. It felt nice, but in the back of my mind, I feel... annoyed by this dandelion somehow... like I met it before... Did we meet when I was alive? I'm not sure...
"Alright. Now I believe an introduction is in order," the dandelion said, "My name is Flora Meadows!"
"I'm... Gilda. I think so, anyway..."
"Oh, so you remember your name! That's great!" Flora responded with glee. I'm still not sure how I feel about this whole thing. I guess I'll have to deal with it for the time being...
"So, Flora, what happened to me? Why can't I remember anything?" I asked.
"I don't know." Flora replied.
"You don't know?!"
"Of course not, silly filly!" Flora said, seeming somewhat amused, "I wasn't here when you died. I didn't see anything. However, I'm sure that poor pegasus could help you out... If you got her out of the jam she was in, of course!"
"How would I do that? I'm dead, in case you didn't notice!"
"That's nothing. After all, with death, you've been given a gift!" Flora sounded excited. I could almost see the smile on the flower she was possessing, "They're called the 'Powers of the Dead'. I call them 'Ghost Tricks'!"
"Why 'Ghost Tricks'?" I asked.
"Because 'Powers of the Dead' is too long, dull, and depressing to say in conversation!" Flora sounded irritated, though the hint of humor in the voice I heard up to this point was still there, "Oh, by the way, only a special few get them."
"A special few? Why?"
"You're asking the wrong pony!" Flora responded bluntly. I didn't have the time to argue with a talking flower of all things anyway... "Hey, you're a talking pebble right now, thank you!"
Whatever. I gotta save that pegasus. Now. But how do I use my "Ghost Tricks", anyway?
"Just possess whatever object or small creature you want to Trick, then enter the world of the living and do it!" Flora explained, "You have the ability to throw small things a short distance. In this case, you're a pebble. Start there. Throw yourself at the unicorn's horn!"
The unicorn's horn? Well, alright... Not sure why I have to do this, though.
Entering the living world, I threw myself at the unicorn's horn, just as Flora told me to.
"Ouch! What was that?!" The strange unicorn uttered in surprise.
The pegasus darted past the unicorn, who quickly recovered and set his sights on the pegasus again.
I then stopped time again by entering the Ghost World.
"What do I do now?!" I asked Flora.
"Well, you could throw yourself again..." Flora replied, "But now you've landed near something a little bigger! Try throwing that!"
Apparently, there was a core in the cat next to me. That cat was minding it's own business...
... Meh. Since when did I care about that? I literally can't remember, so...
I then left the pebble and possessed the cat, and entered the living world again. I then tossed the cat at the unicorn, surprising both, and allowing the pegasus to escape as the unicorn dealt with the cat. As he was doing this, I entered the Ghost World again and left the cat, possessing the fountain behind my body, of which the core was just barely within reach. Since this thing is so large, and planted into the ground, I couldn't possibly throw this thing anywhere, so... I suppose I'm a fountain for now.
"You saved the pegasus pony!" Flora cheered, "I knew you could!"
"Thanks, I think," I replied, "But now what?"
"Now, you go find out about yourself!"
"Myself?" I asked.
Suddenly I remembered... that I remember nothing. I don't know who I am. All I know is that my name is Gilda, and I'm a dead griffon. Even that's a question mark, at the moment.
"Yeah, yourself!" Flora repeated excitedly, "There's going to be so many weird things going down tonight! No time for parties, even though I love parties, they're so much fun, but the point is that you gotta go get yourself together, because it's kinda important, and it will solve all the mysteries tonight!"
My head was spinning. She spoke so fast, I almost wanted to tell her to shut the heck up. Imagining myself running in place was all I could do to keep up.
"Well, if you say so..." I responded, "But now my only lead has run off."
"Oh, that's okay, just use that fountain to get to her place! I'm pretty sure she's going there."
I can follow the water? In the plumbing? This is news to me... Okay, I guess I learned a new Ghost Trick... Time to put it to use...
7:05 PM
???'s House
I arrived at the sink... Interesting entry point. Well, beggars can't be choosers. That said, I immediately entered the Ghost World and started making my way around the house.
I saw a young unicorn filly sitting in a sofa. The pegasus had not made it home yet. So I waited in a blender.
I didn't have to wait long, though. The pegasus burst in through the front door, and immediately went about as if nothing ever happened. I noticed her eyes were a bit... odd. Maybe she just forgot her life was in danger...?
"Hey, you!" I shouted as she passed by me in the blender. At least, that's what I thought I did. Apparently, the dead don't have real voices...
The pegasus ignored me, of course.
"I need to talk to you!"
No response.
Why won't she respond...?!
I decided to try turning on the blender, but I found I couldn't do that. So I possessed an egg nearby and threw it at her, quickly hopping out right before the launch using the Ghost World. Now I was a box of muffin mix. Great.
The egg landed on her cheek, and she turned my way, looking confused. I called out to her again, but she didn't hear, again. She cleaned the egg off with a towel and went on her merry way, apparently putting things together for making muffins. Realizing I was the box, I hopped out and possessed the blender again.
Suddenly, what appeared to be a concentrated green magic blast shot through the window, and struck the pegasus in the head. Panicking, I went into the Ghost World, and sure enough, she died instantly.
What do I do?! Flora never told me what to do when this happens! And this pegasus is my only lead to finding out who I am!
But wait... a core? This one's glowing a different color from the usual core... I suppose I should try possessing it, and see what happens.
And so I did...
What I found was a blue flame. A blue, silent flame. Was this what I looked like immediately after dying...?
"Hello?" I asked the flame.
No response.
So the dead remain unresponsive at first... Sounds about right. It did seem like it took me a while to wake up to the scene surrounding my corpse, after all...
So... Now where do I go from here? Is there something I can do?
"... Rewind time..."
What was that voice? Did Flora follow me somehow...?
"... Change fate..."
... Well... Rewinding time and changing fate... Sounds like something out of a storybook... And I can do such a thing, apparently... Alright, I'll give it a shot. See what happened to her.
7:03 PM
4 Minutes Before Death
???'s House
I watched the scene once over. The pony was in a mad rush, heading for her home. When she made it inside, she apparently forgot her life had been in danger. She started making muffins. Then the egg I threw at her landed on her, she looked confused, and then went back about her business. Then disaster struck. This was all in four minutes...
I had to rewind time again, and start messing around. Upon rewinding, I had to wait about 2 minutes for her to arrive. One more minute, and the egg hit her. I left the soul that I was possessing, which was where her corpse was in the present, and possessed the blender. At the last second, I threw the blender at the pony, hard. It knocked her out of the way of the shot. Her fate was changed, but not averted.
"What's going on?"
A voice? Right now?
"Oh, hello! My name's Derpy Hooves!" The ghost of the pony I was in the middle of saving had introduced herself.
She's awake...? And she remembers who she was...?
"Uh, hello. I'm Gilda."
"Gilda? Nice to meet you!" Derpy replied, "Say, what happened to me?"
"Well, apparently, you died," I told her, "I'm here to save your life. It seems you're the target of the day; everypony seems to be coming after you for some reason."
"Somepony's after me? Are we playing tag?"
"Um... No, not exactly," I answered, "Look, I gotta save your life right now, so if you don't mind, I'm going to do it. I have questions for you after this... if I get to ask them."
"Okay!"
I possessed some objects and made my way out the window. There was another unicorn, of the same kind as the one earlier, outside. Were they working together...?
I saw an active sprinkler near the unicorn, though it didn't appear to be spraying him. Remembering the trick, I went back into the house and tried to use the sink.
It barely worked. The drip from the sink let me through. I guess this means inactive water devices don't let me pass in the past. Or something like that.
Reaching the sprinkler, I then threw it at the unicorn, who got all wet and panicked, running away, seemingly confused as to what just happened. Can't say I blame him. It's not every day a ghost plays a trick on you, Let alone throws active sprinklers on you.
Well, that takes care of him... I suppose I just saved Derpy's life.
"Aww, he's all wet!" Derpy piped in, "Just like when Dinky used to accidentally spray my muffins with sink water."
Um... what...? Nevermind...
"... Anyway, I think you're safe for the time being... Can you answer my questions yet?"
"I'm not sure... I can't remember everything..."
That's surprisingly easy to believe, out of context...
"Alright... Let's just get back to the new present, then..."
7:08 PM
Derpy's House (Exterior)
I was left in that sprinkler I threw earlier. It's no longer active. I guess the ponies who were running it had turned it off.
I traveled back to the house. There was Derpy, alive and well. But when I entered the Ghost World, I saw a core on the living body where there wasn't one before. This was quite strange... I guess I'd better give that core a try. So I hopped in.
"Oh, it's you again! Hello!" Derpy greeted me, "Would you like a muffin?"
"Uh... No thanks," I declined the muffin. Those things are no good to me anyway... "So, are you okay, now?"
"Oh, yes yes yes!" Derpy replied cheerfully, "That horrible death is gone, and I can continue making muffins!"
Then it occurred to me; she remembered that we met earlier. She even remembered her death!
"Wait, how did you remember you died??"
"Um... I don't know..." Derpy said, "I've never died and been revived before. But seeing you work was fun!"
I'd... hardly call that "fun"...
"Okay, okay..." I started, "So... I had this question on my mind this entire time... I want to know if you know who I am, and what happened to me."
"But I don't..."
She doesn't...? This is news to me...
"What do you mean?" I asked, "You were there when I died, weren't you? I helped you get away from the first one of those unicorns, in fact."
"That was you?"
"Yes..." I hesitated, "I... also threw that egg at you."
"... Oh, so you were the one responsible for that..." Derpy suddenly had a glitter in her crossed eyes, "I was wondering who threw it at me! After seeing you work, it makes sense now! Hahaha!"
Well, it's good that she can reason things out... I guess. I gotta say, she's a bit odd. But that can't be helped.
"Do you really not know what happened? Anything you can tell me would be helpful."
"Well, I remember seeing you a few years ago... But other than that, I know nothing," Derpy began, "When I saw you tonight, you seemed to be sleeping so peacefully... And then that mean unicorn showed up. But you showed him!"
I wasn't sleeping... Well, technically I was, but... Argh! Why am I thinking about this?!
So, she's not as significant as I thought... Or maybe she is, just not in the way I'm thinking. Whatever the case is, now that I know this trick with the time travel, I've got a visit to pay to the town square...
I have to have a chat with "Flora Meadows". And I gotta see about saving my own life, too. I get the feeling things are only going to get stranger from here on, however. I still don't have any answers. I don't know who or what my leads are.
Who am I, and why did I die?
Chapter 2: 7:15 PM - 7:30 PM
Chapter 2
7:15 PM
Ponyville Square
I made it back to the fountain I left in. Sure enough, Flora was right where I left her, dancing that dandelion like she didn't have anything better to do.
"Oh, you're back!" Flora greeted me, "How did it go?"
"That pegasus didn't help at all! I didn't find anything out!"
"Really?" Flora asked in surprise, "That's too bad. I could have sworn she told you that she knew you a year ago. Oh well... So why are you here? Did you learn something useful?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Something you didn't tell me I could do earlier!" I replied. I can think about the significance of that year before now later.
"I didn't? But I'm sure I told you about it..." Flora said.
So that was her, after all...
"L-Look, just, let me save myself! Four minutes before death, you know? I don't have time to wait around!"
"B-But..."
Before Flora could respond properly, I ghosted to my corpse, which was not taken away yet, thank goodness. I then re-entered the living world...
Nothing happened. At all.
"You can't save yourself from death..."
"What?!"
I felt myself getting frustrated. Did I seriously come here for nothing?!
"I was trying to tell you that, you silly filly!" Flora said in her typical humorous tone, "If we could, don't you think I would have done that for myself already? Use your head! Like this!" And then she accelerated the dandelion to the point in it's lifetime where the seeds are ready to fly, and the wind blew them all away.
"Um... Sure. Right," I responded. I was furious at how I was apparently not able to save myself, but I guess I can't be helped. Looks like I'm stuck like this for the rest of my "life", in a manner of speaking.
"Don't feel bad, Gilda!" Flora tried to cheer me up, "At least there's lots of good you can do while you're like this, and you can even find out who you were along the way!"
"I guess..."
Well, if I'm going to find out anything about myself, I suppose I'd better ask Derpy about what she knew about me from a year ago. I'm not sure why I didn't do it sooner, but then again, I had saving myself on my mind.
I made the jump from my body to the fountain. But before I left, I saw some wavy energy coming from this thing while I was in the Ghost World. Was this here the whole time? What in the world is it?
"Hey, Flora?" I began, "What in the world is this stuff, anyway?"
"Oh, that? It's been there the whole time. I'm not sure what it is, myself."
I see, so it's a big mystery at this point to even her, the one who otherwise seems to know everything. Great. Just perfect.
I said my goodbyes and took the fountain to Derpy's house, without any intent to return to see Flora again.
7:20 PM
Derpy's House
When I arrived at Derpy's kitchen, there was nopony there. Derpy had left, and she took her little unicorn with her. Guess she didn't want to stick around after what went down earlier. So I started searching the house to look for clues, jumping from one object to the next.
I made it to Derpy's bedroom, and boy, was it a mess. I could have sworn everything that was supposed to be right-side-up is now upside-down. Was it this way all the time, or had somepony come in and made it the mess it is...?
One thing is certain, however: I can't find any leads by hanging around. I'd better have a look at some of the stuff thrown all over this place.
I make my way to a piece of paper on the floor and give it a read. Seems like it's something to do with her occupation as mailmare. Must be her cre... creden... proof of her job.
I note the address of the post office and make my way back to the kitchen sink, where I use it to go to the post office.
This is my only lead to her location, if anywhere at all... And it's looking like she might be in trouble again.
7:22 PM
Post Office
Upon arrival at the post office, at a drinking fountain inside, I find an unfortunate scene.
Derpy? She's alive and well. Her foal, on the other hoof...
Derpy herself is not happy at all. She's been driven to tears. I can't say I blame her.
The post master was nowhere to be found. I guess it's his night off.
But why was the little one attacked? Wasn't Derpy the target...? If she was, why isn't she dead again, as well?
I knew I wasn't going to get the answers I needed, staying at this drinking fountain. It's time to have a look around.
Before talking to Derpy, I checked around to see if the foal's killer was anywhere in the building. He (or she) was not. I then took a look outside a window near the newly departed. A flower vase was helpful enough to give me someplace to see outside from. Strangely, there was no hole in the glass, unlike what happened last time. Derpy will have to get that fixed when she gets home...
Either way, the killer was not outside, at least not anymore. I suppose I'll have to ask Derpy what happened. So I made my way back to her, and began conversation.
"Where have you been??" Derpy was still breaking down. I guess I would be, too, if my offspring just died right before my very eyes, "My little muffin won't wake up...!"
Does she know her little "muffin" is actually dead...? "What happened here?"
"I don't know..." Derpy sobbed, "It all happened so fast. Another one of those mean ponies showed up out of nowhere and shot my Dinky with magic, and she just fell over... That meanie just ran off...!" She started crying again.
"Hey, hey, I'm sorry for your loss, but right now, I need your help. Again," I told her, then explained that I wanted to hear about how she knew me one year ago.
"But what about Dinky? Aren't you going to save her?!" Derpy was still crying.
"W-Well... I..."
"Please! I-I'll try to remember what I knew about you, if you just do this one thing!"
"But... I..." I thought about it for a while. Realizing I probably wouldn't get anything out of her when she's like this, she most likely wouldn't talk to me ever again if I refused, and I'd never find out who I was, which would make the past half hour meaningless.
"... Ugh... Fine..." I relented, "She'll be back with you before you know it... I guess."
Derpy's tears of sadness quickly turned into tears of happiness, "Oh, thank you, thank you!"
When I left her mind, Derpy turned to the corpse of her filly. "Don't worry, muffin! Gilda's going to help you! I know she can!"
Well, I'm not sure she can hear you yet, but... Alright, here goes nothing.
Into the corpse.
The blue flame of the filly's unconscious spirit was before me. I decided to let it rest for the time being. There's really no point in aggravating it.
I suppose it's time to go back in time, four minutes before this filly's death.
7:16 PM
Four Minutes Before Death
Post Office
Taking it from the top, I found that the assassin that attacked our little filly was in the building, hiding behind the postmaster's desk. Another green unicorn... How many of these are there, anyway??
At any rate, for two minutes, our victim didn't arrive. On that third minute, Derpy and her foal entered the building, believing they were safe. The assassin listened to them talking, presumably to confirm his target, then came out of hiding and fired his magic blast. From what it looked like, he aimed for Derpy, but missed and hit the filly, instead. The replay stopped with a shocked expression on his own face, with one on Derpy as well, but with tears welling up in her case.
I'll be honest, this was not what I expected. But at least the solution seems simple enough. I think what I have to do is knock out that pony before Derpy and her daughter get there...
So, I rewind time again, and start working my magic. First thing, I possess an inkwell that was on the desk... Can I knock somepony out with one of these? Probably not, it doesn't look big enough. I move to a big book instead. Upon doing so, I launch it up, over the unicorn's head, and it lands on it. Hard. The unfortunate unicorn was out cold. I knew that this way, at least the filly I was saving wouldn't end up dying, but then Derpy might actually die instead, should he wake back up in the present... Trouble with this situation, however, is that I can't throw ponies around like I can with small objects or creatures...
Ah! An idea! The inkwell! Let's put that to use!
I rewind time one more time. This time, I realize that the key is not to knock this unicorn out, but to make it so that he can't shoot either Derpy or Dinky. This means I'll need to blind him with ink.
It's the first minute. I quickly take possession of that inkwell, and throw it in the air, like I had done with the book, then I possess that book again, knowing that the inkwell will be no good to me any longer after it hits. This time, it lands on the unicorn's head and shatters, spilling ink all over his face. He panicked, and started trying to find his way around. He eventually crashed his way out the window I looked outside earlier.
Breaking windows must be a thing, tonight... I should be glad I don't have to pay for 'em.
On top of that, it seems I have averted somepony's fate again... Back to the new present. To Derpy Hooves.
7:26 PM
Post Office
When I came back to the present, Dinky was alive and well, and Derpy was no longer crying like she was earlier. In fact, she had this confused expression on her face, as she was examining the broken window. I went to her.
"What happened here?" She asked me.
"Oh, that... Yeah, somepony went out the window... I was kind of responsible for that," I replied. It's enough she remembers her own death, but does she remember her daughter's?
Speaking of which, when I was ghosting, I didn't see a core on the little filly. It must be because she was still unconscious as I was doing the work to save her, because Derpy regained her consciousness while I was working, but she didn't... This ghost stuff is confusing.
"So, can you tell me about me?" I asked Derpy.
"Oh, uh... Sure, I guess... What do you want to know about?"
"Just tell me what you knew a year ago."
"I knew you a year ago?" Derpy asked.
"Uh, yes, you said as much last time..."
"Oh! That's right!" Derpy laughed innocently, "Um... Let's see... Uh... Hmm... Actually, I didn't know much about you, even then. I heard from some pony at Sugar Cube Corner that a griffon named 'Gilda' was being a real meanie... You are a griffon... and your name is 'Gilda'... But you can't be the same Gilda, can you? That would be silly, you saved my life!"
She's right... I don't think I could be that Gilda... though something in the back of my mind says I know her... Why would I think that? That other "Gilda" sounds like some complete jerk! I don't know anypony like that, do I?
"Um... Thanks, Derpy. For telling me," I said, "I'll keep looking for more information... I'll see you around."
"Oh, you're welcome, Gilda!" Derpy said cheerfully, "Oh, would you like me to keep a lookout for you? I think I might be able to help you with your memory!"
Honestly, I don't think I want her help. But considering that I'm otherwise alone in this, I don't see how her assistance can make anything any worse for me.
"Sure..." I answered hesitantly. There's gotta be a catch... "Is there something you want me to do while you do that?"
"Umm... Well, finding out the cause of all these attacks would be nice..."
"Done. I was thinking about finding that out, anyway. After what I've seen tonight, I think they might have been responsible for my death," I stated.
"Oh, alright. I'll start looking, then!"
"Alright. Take care, Derpy."
I leave her mind and go back to the fountain. Keeping in mind what Derpy told me about this jerk who shares my name, I went to this "Sugar Cube Corner" she mentioned. I got this odd feeling somepony I didn't like is going to be there...
Green unicorns everywhere, aiming to take out an innocent pony. A griffon that shares a name and species with me, and turned out to be a jerk. There's something strange going down tonight... The mysteries are adding up, one by one.
And I'm going to crack every case before dawn. Because that's what I must do to unravel the Mystery of Me.
