//------------------------------//
// Ectoplasmic Fantasmic 
// Story: Let Us Have A Quiet Life Which Slowly Ramps Into Awesome Adventures 
// by cupcake 
//------------------------------//

        After weeks of blistering weather, a long awaited cool breeze blew over the three ponies as they rested on the back porch of their Victorian mansion. 
        “Applelack, you should have made that water feature a swimming pool instead of a frog pond.”
        “Y’all can swim in it. Just like the pond back when I was a filly at Sweet Apple Acres. The frogs don’t mind.”
        A frog in the pond with just its head poking out of the water gave them a blank look.
        “But the mud! And it isn’t very deep,” Aloise complained.
        “Can I even go swimming?” mused Ennuye.
        Applelack ignored them and lept into the pond to find relief from the heat. She swam lazily in circles, stirring up the mud as Aloise had predicted, but appearing pleased with herself. Aloise sat back for a minute with a petulant look on her face then cannonballed in, splashing Applelack with muddy water. Ennuye, not bothered by the heat, deigned to watch.


***


        An hour later, rinsed and toweled off, the three ponies sat around the dining room table making jovial chatter.
        “So then what did you do?” Ennuye asked, riveted to Applelack’s tale of how a series of events starting with a misplaced shovel on the Apple family farm resulted in Applejack and her in the next county scrubbing pink frosting off of pigs.
        “Well, you know pigs like to eat, and frosting, even frosting covering pigs is quite good as long as the pigs were ta have cleaned up first, so ah don’t know how much of that frosting we really cleaned up and how much ended up in someone’s belly!”
        “Wow, living on a farm sounds like a lot of fun.”
        “Yeah, it was... sometimes” Applelack responded, suddenly reminded of the less sweet parts of her past. “Hay, speaking of shovels, the shovel I use in the garden broke yesterday, it was too rusted, and since you’re the one with money, Aloise...”
        “Of course we can get a new shovel!” Aloise responded, shocked at her own negligence in not providing for her favorite gardener. “If you need anything else, just ask. Or, better yet, I’ll just put some money for you to budget as you need it. Well, actually, you might save yourself a trip since I thought I saw one in the basement when I was loading up the cellar last week.”
        “Why would there be a shovel in the basement? Aren’t the walls and floor finished?” pondered Ennuye.
        “Well, I’m pretty sure I saw one there, for some reason.”
        Applelack, ever the practical pony to use action to solve arguments instead of words, stood up and went to investigate. She returned presently, “well whadya know, there was a shovel in the basement, that’s kind of weird.”
Aloise considered, “I never thought about it before, but it is weird. I usually just get food and wine from the cellar and don’t spend much time down there, but if I recall correctly there is an unfinished section of the basement, dirt instead of paving stones.”
“You don’t think something is buried there?” said Applelack, her eyes growing large.
Ennuy’s eyes grew large in excitement instead, “aha! The first mystery of Lilac Mansion!”
Applelack looked askance at Ennuye’s transparent form floating above the floor, “only the first mystery?”
Soon, the three of them were tromping down to the basement with flashlights to shine into the corners where the few dim bulbs didn’t reach.
Aloise inspected the dirt section of the floor, “hmm.. looks like dirt to me.”
“Dirt you say? Well, I have just the thing to deal with that.” Applelack started digging up the earth with the previously recovered shovel.
Aloise raised one eyebrow and before Applelack had taken three scoops used her magic to haul large sections of dirt away at a time, much faster than Applelack could have managed even with her earth pony strength. The dirt was dry and came freely, small stones clattering on the flagstones that paved the rest of the cellar, and in just one minute a sizable hole had been created. Applelack and Ennuye scanned the hole quickly as the depths were revealed. Applelack's regard of the scene was nervous, but Ennuye looked on with a half crazed look, her curiosity greedy for satisfaction.
Suddenly, amidst the dirt, the light from the flashlight glinted off something  in the darkness. Bringing their flashlights to bear, the light revealed long white rods, and then what were obviously the bones of a pony as an entire ribcage was lifted by Aloise into the air.
        “Ennuye, what is wrong?” Applelack cried out.
        Nobody had noticed her fall, but Ennuye was no longer animated and resting on the ground on her back, eyes closed. Aloise and Applelack rushed over, the tools and the bones forgotten. Aloise failed to take Ennuye’s pulse as her hand passed through the prone pony.
“Look, Ennuye’s chest is moving up and down,” said Applelack, and it was, in a weird mockery of what a living pony would have to do to keep living, “and her eyes are moving. If she was a normal pony, Ah would say that she fainted.”
“But your eyes only move like that during that stage of sleep when you are dreaming,” said Aloise. “I wonder what she is dreaming about.”


***


        There was once a little filly, born under the most auspicious of signs, with loving parents and the entire world her playground. She traveled frequently, and perhaps saw more of the world than her home town. Having most of her schooling done by private tutors, it was difficult for her to keep friends, which was why she always looked forward to the summer - when her and her parents would rent a large house in a quiet town and be together every day for up to a month. In her young mind, this month lasted forever, endless days in the summer sun and seeking shade in the garden, her parents watching over and friends in attendance. Over the years, spending whole days in the garden and across the countryside, she grew closer to these summertime playmates than anyone else in her life.


***


        It was cooling off as the evening was approaching, and three young ponies were relaxing under the shade of a tree next to a wide pond, one lazily swinging back and forth on the wooden swing. An earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus all friends, but with weak wings and an impotent horn all equals in their youth.
        “Hey,” mused one pony, a yellow pegasus filly, “what will it be like when we are older, do you think?”
        “I don’t know, I always wanted to own a book store, maybe in Manehattan...” the other filly, a unicorn with a brown coat, replied.
“We will always be friends, right?”
“Of course we will always be friends!” the brown filly retorted, but the yellow filly seemed unsure, and worried.
The third of the friends, an olive green earth pony colt, joined the conversation, “I know we will always be friends. We will always be in Ponyville together, and spend our summers next to this pond, and no matter what we end up doing, we will always be friends forever, Ennuye.”
This seemed to work for the yellow filly as a soft expression appeared on her face. “Oh, Comet!” She disembarked the swing, approached the brown colt lying on his back on the grass, and leant her muzzle in slowly.
The colt’s eyes grew large and he sat up quickly, pushing away the fillies face. He was suddenly ashamed of his strong reaction. “I’m sorry... I know we will be friends forever, but, just, not like that. I can’t!” The final words were delivered with his back turned, already galloping out of the garden.
This was all too much for a filly with little experience with relationships.


***


Ennuye paced her room. He was the only one she had ever loved, and he liked her already, right, so he could learn to love her too. It was only natural, she just had to make him see. She spent the summer following him around, appearing wherever she knew he would be, and being brushed off when she tried to start a conversation. Eventually she was rejected at doors; the whole town knew of their problems and her strange behavior, and they did not know how to deal with it, so slowly she was shunned.
At first it was the other adults, just not sure how to act around the distraught filly, and not wanting to impose themselves on what should be the domain of Ennuye’s parents, but Ennuye took this awkwardness to heart, and took it personally. But, she was fine, she still had her other friends. Until one day, when they were all hanging out by the pond again, without Comet this time, and Ennuye was waxing poetic about the style of his mane. Her friends were tired of it.
“Don’t you think we could hang out once and not talk about Comet? I mean, I think it makes him feel weird, even though he’s not here. I know it makes me feel weird.”
“What? What is between Comet and myself is just us, it doesn’t concern you, and when we are together and this silliness blows over then it won’t be weird at all.”
“But it is weird. You’re kind of weird and creepy.”
“That’s it! You’re all not my friends anymore! Get out!”
Ennuye kept yelling until the other ponies had disappeared around a turn in the road. Exhausted, she lay in the grass for minutes longer and then got up, washed her face in the pond to hide the tears, and went to the house for dinner.
“Oh, hello dear, dinner is almost ready. It is your favorite, fried alfalfa patties and corn on the cob. I thought we would put something extra special together for our last night in Ponyville this summer!”
Ennuye lashed out, angry at the events in her life which her parents were ignorant of and could not help. “No! I hate you! I want to stay here forever! I don’t want to live with you anymore!” She dashed to her room but returned later, skulking around the kitchen as she was hungry. Fortunately her mother had left the remainder of dinner on the counter for her, and she ate it cold.
In the morning Ennuye had to be dragged screaming to the car to get her home.


***


Ten years later, Ennuye had blossomed into a fine young filly, and everyone she knew had high hopes for her future. Her friends looked up to her, her parents were proud of her, but inside she felt empty. Her high school graduation had been two years ago, and unsure what to do with her life, having no interest in anything, she languished in her childhood bedroom. She had not seen her friends since they all went to college, for the shame of it, for them to see what had become of their cherished star.
What to do with her life? She almost wished her parents would throw her out, just to make her do something, anything, to get a hold of herself. But not really. She did not want to get a boring job, any job. She wanted something amazing, something worth doing. But what? It had been two years and she had done nothing but exist. She laid on her bed and thought back to her youth, nostalgia glossing over the worst of it and emphasizing the best parts - the countries she liked best to travel in, certain friends, her summer trips. Ah yes, her summer trips to Ponyville. That small backwater town held her fondest memories, but was it even on the map? Could she find it again? Ennuye had mostly forgotten the circumstances of her departure, and only remembered the best times of her youth as she planned her trip. She did not want to involve her parents, no, they provided for her, but never provided what she really needed. She couldn’t rely on them. Aha! Ponyville was on the map, and it was a simple train ride to get there. She packed a small bag; she would leave in the morning. Her parents wouldn’t notice, probably not until the late evening, since they weren’t used to her getting up before noon.


***


I always loved this garden, Ennuye thought, wandering through memories come to life, feeling better already just with the change of location. It had been easy to break the lock on the garden gate - apparently no one was living in it that summer. She wound round the paths in reverie, still not sure what to do with her life but feeling like maybe everything would be all right. Yes, up ahead would be the pond, and the swing. She rounded the corner.
There was the pond and the swing, just as she remembered. And there were two ponies there. Two ponies about her age. Wrapped in each others’ embrace. About to kiss. She thought she recognized them.
“...Comet?” Ennuye ventured.
They had not seen each other since that awkward summer, and to Comet it was like a ghost had come to haunt him. He bolted down the trail. Being now a mature pegasus and not an earth bound filly, Ennuye could easily catch him. She took off in one bound, Comet’s capture only impeded by the dense brush of the untended garden slapping Ennuye in the face and the winding paths retarding her flight speed. Every time she got close he would throw something from the ground into her path, making her blink and slow down to remove the dust and dirt from her eyes.
“Wait!” Ennuye called, but the pony had already turned the corner into the far edge of the garden, where the natural granite of the area remained exposed. Ennuye then recalled something else from her youth, a small cavern in the rocks that they used to play in, whose entrance was hidden from all sides. But Ennuye knew where it was. She dashed forward with renewed vigor.
Ennuye came around a large stone, almost colliding with Comet who was there waiting for her. She suddenly pulled back and stopped. He was strong and youthful, with well built muscles. Ennuye felt herself falling in love again.
“No, you wait,” Comet challenged. “Why did you come back here? After so much time?” He pounded the wall of the granite enclosure with his hoof. His expression quickly turned from one of anger to fear and concern as the rock slid. Rocks were no match for earth pony strength, and Ennuye and Comet could only stand in dismayed shock as the massive piece of granite fell, covering the few feet in less time than either could react except to gaze into each others’ eyes, one of shock and disbelief, the other pleading and apologetic. The last image burned in Ennuye’s mind was of Comet’s face leaning towards her, concerned. He really did care, she thought. Then darkness.


***


        “I can’t believe we have to do this again,” a high pitched voice said. “Can’t we just quickly cover it again?” the voice pleaded.
        “No,” came a stronger voice, Comet’s. “If we bury her in the garden again the animals will just dig her up again. We didn’t bury her deep enough. If we get caught, that is it, honey, that is the end - for both of us! This is the only way.”
        “But still, breaking and entering, on top of all this already...”
        “Ha,” the deep voice scoffed, “this is nothing compared to what we have done already. Hand me that shovel.”


***


        Aloise was chattering nonstop, “should we get a witch doctor, a priest, another ghost? Who can possibly help Ennuye!?”
        Applelack called from where she was standing over the supine ghost. “Aloise, come quick, her eyes have opened!”
        Aloise tried to shake Ennuye’s shoulder with no luck. “Ennuye, are you all right? What happened?”
        Ennuye calmly looked around, trying to reorient herself. Suddenly her eyes focused, looking directly into Aloise’s. “I remember everything.”
        Aloise was taken aback, this was not the tone she expected for such a revelation. “Oh... that’s... that’s good, isn’t it?”
        Ennuye sank even further, dipping slightly into the ground.
        Applelack decided to give a try. “Is there anything we can do for yah? Are these here your bones? Do you want to talk about it? I think talking about it always helps, and we’re here to listen.”
        Aloise brightened, with an idea, “hey, Ennuye, why don’t we give you a proper burial, in the garden, with a ceremony and gravestone and everything. Would that be all right? We can’t just leave your bones here in such a disrespectful manner.”
        Ennuye let out a long sigh.
        Aloise and Applelack shared a look, they both had interpreted the sigh the same way - they should do the ceremony.


***


        It was early afternoon when the materials were prepared for the ceremony. Aloise and Ennuye stood at the head of a rectangular hole in a secluded corner of the garden. Applelack had tastefully decorated the area into almost a shrine, with purple and yellow flowers surrounding the gravesite in multiple tiers, and a painted wooden marker standing temporarily for the gravestone which had not been able to be obtained on such short notice. Aloise played a simple piece on the viola while Applelack marched in a wooden box containing the bones. The box deposited, the three stood in a circle around the hole. Applelack officiated.
        “Well, we don’t really know where she came from, or her parents, or whatever. But what little we knew of her was good.”
        “Yes, she was a good pony,” Aloise concurred.
        Ennuye stood in silence.
        That being enough ceremony for Applelack, she threw the first clod of dirt over the box. The three worked together to fill the hole and tamp the dirt down, then walked single file to the porch where they shared their usual wine and reposed for the evening.


***


Ennuye skulked around for weeks, catatonic. Ennuye was a changed pony. No longer chipper and accepting of everything that has happened to her, she moped all the time and wandered about inconsolable and depressed, not wanting to do anything. Nopony knew what to do with her, and as all offers of help were rebuffed and no information was offered by Ennuye, eventually the three friends adopted silence.
Eventually the forthright Applelack couldn’t take anymore. “What happened to your flibbertigibbety ways, Ennuye? Why won’t you even talk to us? I understand some time to grieve, but it’s been weeks!” Applelack approached Ennuye and stretched out her forelegs, but unable to give her a hug, not even extend that minimum of camaraderie and friendship due to Ennuye’s incorporeality, Applelack became frustrated and wandered off to the garden to diffuse her emotions with yard work.
        For weeks, Ennuye would lounge around, not doing anything, really, just staring into space, appearing in random places, the other two ponies running into her as she floated through walls and floors. But she finally opened up a little.
“Being dead sucks. I can never touch people, you know? I cannot even deal with this.”
So shocked by the sudden revelation, Applelack, who was in the room, couldn’t even respond. But she was better mentally prepared the second time.
“All right, I’ve been doing nothing for a month, time to get on with my life,” Ennuye offered, “but what is the point? I will be around forever, I have nothing to do, no rush, no motivation.”
“Well, let’s look up your parents, relatives,” said Applelack.
A few phone calls were made to city offices, and it was determined that both of her parents had died long ago. She had been a ghost for too long. Ennuye wanted to give it up, but Aloise made a trip to Ennuye’s home town to search the library for local news articles - hoping to find obituaries, something to give Ennuye a small connection to her former life.
“I don’t know if these makes me feel bad or good,” said Ennuye, “finding out they were so distraught over my disappearance, which means they cared about me, but they were sad, and finding out they became so happy with the children they adopted, that they seem to have abandoned and forgotten me, but at least they were happy.”
“What about yer other relatives, or meeting your adopted sisters?” asked Applelack.
“No, I was never close to any of them, or never knew them, actually, and it would just be weird and freak them out. Better off letting them never know. No, I am all alone in this world now.”
“Now don’t say that!” Aloise chastised, “you know we’re here for you.”
An effort was made to find her old friends from Ponyville, but it was difficult because it was just too long ago, and she only ever knew their first names. They could have been found, but Ennuye insisted they leave those trails alone as well.
Eventually Ennuye started feeling better, she began to hang out with her two friends, almost as before but never as chipper. She would shoot the breeze, share drinks in the evening, help Applelack in the garden, and at that time took up painting. One day she finally shared the story of her death, and Applelack and Aloise listened quietly for the entire recounting. Unable and unsure of what to say, they were both silent at the end. Ennuye filled it.
“I just want to die.”
Both of her friends were taken aback.
“But you cannot die, you are already a ghost,” said Aloise.
Applelack took a more practical approach, as a pony well versed in what can go wrong in a pony’s life. “What can we do to help you move on?”
“I don’t know,” Ennuye said quickly, blushing.
Then, “well, I think. You know every ghost has their one thing, the reason why they cannot leave? I think in order to move on I need to be loved. Not my parents. Not you fillies. You know what I mean. I need love, but it is hopeless. No one will ever love me.”