"Alright, so here's the story," the cyan mare began, the fire blazing behind her as she started explaining her and her fellows' presences, "We were asked to do this to a thousand ponies, a THOUSAND ponies, and as it just so happens, you were our final one, so all we have to do to be free of our ghost forms is to show you the 'good times' visions." she stood up, flaring out her wings before being stopped.
"Wait, what do you mean the 'good times' visions?" Sparkle asked in confusion.
"Alright, here's the story from the beginning, we were created by Saint Nickels, a sainted business pony who once held the Element of Harmony known as generosity, now, among his friends Gorge Washing of honesty (and cherries, and leadership), Michael-Jacks of kindness (and creator of many child-related laws), Jef Done-Ham of laughter (his first name is an old word for puppeteer), 'Master Chef Pity Offerer of the Navy' Jacques Worsheveti, a bearussian/prench soldier and bearer of loyalty, and Gendelf the Grey of magic, anyways, these five always called him Saint Clause, because back then 'clause' meant 'really fat', and through their casual teasing Saint Clause threw himself into working on going above and beyond his element's requirements and started the whole 'giving gifts' thing, because he started it on Hearth's Warming," the pink mare paused for a breath, as she had said all of that in one go.
"What does this have to do with you three coming here again?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well squirt," Aurora took the reins of the conversation again, ignoring the orange pegasus' glare of extreme anger, "Allow me, so Saint Clause was doing his thing, being awesome and going fast, like me, but unlike me, he was very precisely giving gifts, when he noticed that an awful lot of ponies were on the 'naughty' list, many more than he could bear to see, so he found the three most naughty ponies in the world, and that was us three. Now of course, our names as living ponies didn't fit the 'ghost' thing," she paused to breathe before continuing.
"So he took me, the new Aurora Pass, once the most ill-trusted pony in the world, ill-trusted because I was incapable of understanding my job at a basic level, yet I had managed to lie my way to the Captain's position, he made me the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Past, because my past achievements and experiences, things that I couldn't do or see anymore, were the very things that, by clinging onto them, were making me act the way I was in the present, so thus I was, Aurora Pass, the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Past," she finished, bowing her head as her body was encompassed in cyan energy.
"OOH OOH, me me me, my turn, so I, Passion Action, was too caught up in the 'now' that I made a lot of mistakes that made a lot of ponies mad at me, but I didn't think back to what I could have done to make them act this way, or towards the future to think up how to make them stop, I just did what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to do was retaliate, so I started being a really big bully myself, taking every single opportunity to belittle and insult every single pony I met, just to make myself feel better about what they had done to me, I was too busy do MY thing that I didn't notice they had stopped doing THEIR thing, and so Saint Clause, with his magic he had learned from ol' Gendelf the Grey, turned me into a ghost and tasked me with showing ponies 'both the good and bad things that come from living in the now', and my name was changed to Passion Action, because it fit my new job!" she exclaimed, having managed to say all of that in a single breath.
"Right, my go, so I was having a good life as a young mare, youthful energy still ran through me, occasionally enjoyed a few vices, y'know, drinking, smoking, earning a few dozen extra bits from some gambling. So I was living on a farm with my parents, this was actually after the cherry farm from Gorge Washing had been replaced with apples, after his death, so I was never looking out ahead, and one day, WHAM, I was pregnant and my parents were dead. So I keep on keeping on, trying to make due with what little I had left, it was actually a long time after that when I was made the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future, Saint Clause was so generous, he waited until my son, Acorn Seeds, was legally old enough to live on his own, then I was whisked away and made a ghost. From then on, I've been in this gig with Aurora and Passion, scaring naughty ponies straight for the past century, ponies like you, who don't care about what tomorrow brings as long as today is alright," the orange mare told her story, tears freely flowing as she thought about her child, left without a mother to help him survive.
"So, that's our stories, and now here's the kicker, since you successfully took our lessons to heart and changed your ways, we will show you visions of the good things in life, future, present, and past, you've developed memory problems, so this is even better, first up is the future, the good future," Aurora gestured a hoof for Red to start.
All of the other ponies watched in awe as the air took on an orange hue, and Sparkle was gifted a vision of good things to come.
She saw herself and Scootaloo, a series of clips, each about five or six seconds long, showing many happy years of life ahead.
According to her new visions, if she continued down this path of harmonious living, she would have many happy years ahead of her.
She saw herself, her daughter, even some grandfoals and great grandfoals.
It ended with a much longer clip, the last year of her life, Scootaloo had become old and gray, the pegasus' children were aging well, her great grandchildren were still young, perhaps mid-to-late-twenties.
"I hear that I've a double great grandfoal here, please, let me see her," the old and dying Crepuscularity asked in a gentle, yet gravelly voice.
"Here she is," the earth pony great granddaughter-in-law said, lifting a tiny unicorn foal to the greatly-loved matriarch.
She was so small, so precious, so cute, she looked almost exactly like Crepuscularity, except the stripes in her mane were azure and magenta, like the colors of the earth mare's mane.
"Hello little one," the white maned unicorn gently greeted the foal, who cooed in response and 'boop'ed her great-great-grandmother's nose.
"Hehe, my my you're quite the cute one, you look so much like me, it's crazy, what's your name?" she asked, her ragged voice low and still gentle.
"Her name is Dawn Twinkle, we named her after you when we saw how much she resembled you," the father of the foal informed, smiling to the older unicorn as he wrapped a foreleg around his wife, flaring up his magic and fixing a few loose hairs in his daughter's mane.
It showed the extremely elderly mare, never leaving her spot in her bed, playing with her half-pint lookalike, yet through all the wrinkles and sagging skin, she was smiling, and she was happy.
The next clip showed her tombstone, which read:
Crepuscularity Sparkle
979 AN - 1079 AN
A good egg and a great pony.
Owned all, loved all, and loved by all.
A true and honest friend, a benevolent boss and philanthropist, a wonderful and caring mother,
An unforgettable legacy.
Rest in Peace and Happiness
The lavender mare let out a few tears of joy at this vision of a wonderful and long life.
"Now then, the good things in the present, what your contributions today are doing already," Passion announced as she took over with her pink aura.
This time, she was met with images of many smiling faces, the faces of those present, then the many orphans and the families she had given them, everypony was happy, they all were smiling and laughing, the foals already felt at home, and the homes already let them into their hearts.
It was short, sweet, and to the point, many ponies had been dredged up from the brink of destruction, and everypony had been united under her in prosperity.
"Alright, now for something special, your memory problems made you forget this, but I think you'll like it," Aurora announced as she got onto the metaphorical stage, the air bathing itself in cyan color.
Sparkle was greeted by an image of herself, younger, before the incident with Seasonal's death, it was a beautiful night out, however the night didn't even hold a candle to her wife, who looked like she had stepped out of a masterpiece.
The memories came flooding back, it was on this night, a few days before the work really picked up, that the two mares decided to try out a spell that Crepuscularity had found.
It cut ahead to the aftermath of the spell, and she saw what she must have been blind to miss, Seasonal was pregnant with Crepusculariity's foal, she could see the small form getting bigger with each passing second, before the hard part came up.
Seasonal was at the hospital, alone, after offering to her unicorn wife to come with her, but the stupid lavender mare was too busy organizing brushes, combs, and money, to come with her.
The foal was birthed, a beautiful pegasus filly.....
Her eyes were like her foolish unicorn mother's, purple, well, more like violet.
Her mane was like a mix of the dark blue, the purple, and the pink, a pretty violet hue.
Her coat, the purple had been split in half, to red and blue, and the red part went through, mixed with the yellow, and produced a vibrant orange.
It was Scootaloo, Scootaloo was her biological daughter!
Unfortunately, Aurora accidentally kept it going, showing Seasonal putting Scootaloo in a basket, then leaving her on the porch of the orphanage, the mother's tail stained with blood, leaking from her nethers due to the extremely-recently birthed foal.
How the gentle, soft mare managed to walk coherently, much less supporting a wicker-basket, was beyond Crepuscularity, but the scene cut off there, and the truth was clear.
"Would you look at that, our last run in this job and it's the most heartwarming," Passion said with a giggle.
Sparkle felt that she was being hugged from the side, hugged by her daughter, not just adopted, but her real, biological daughter, and she hugged her little offspring back.
"D'aaaaaaawwwwwwww," the trio of ghosts sounded simultaneously at the sight, before a bright white light encased all three of them.
Several pulses and sickly ripping sounds were heard, and when the magic dismissed itself in an explosion of red and white energies, in front of the large group stood three, very much living, ponies.
Rainbow Dash, a speedy weather pony who knew the value of both loyalty and the ending thereof.
Pinkie Pie, a bright party pony who knew the importance of when to enjoy life for what it is, and when you needed to take a step back and look at the past or the future.
Applejack, a strong farmer who knew the value of being honest with your abilities, and your limits, and knowing when the think ahead.
"Wow, that was, I... I feel warm, is that what blood-flow feels like? I had forgotten." Rainbow Dash said, looking down at her fleshy forelegs.
"Whee! The air is so tasty, and the smell, oh I missed being able to smell!" Pinkie jumped up and down, smiling and giggling at the revitalization of her senses.
"Um, girls, we' gonna need, uh, what's the word? Oh yeah, we' gonna need new jobs, y'know, since we ain't ghosts no more," Applejack broke the mood.
The three mares looked at each other, then to Crepuscularity, who looked at Thunderlane, the Cake couple, and the Apple family.
"Hey, you three," she said to the pegasus, the wife, and the grandmother, who all perked up at being addressed, "I think I know some ponies who can help you after all," the unicorn said with a grin.
~Some time later~
It was late, and all but the three former-ghosts and employing-ponies had departed.
"So, is this okay with you all?" the business mare asked, looking at the three pairs.
"Yeah, if what Dash here says, about being as good as five weather ponies combined, then the weather team can clear the snow clouds away no problem!" the dark stallion was excited to get to know the rough'n'tough cyan mare.
"Yes, and Pinkie here says that she was once a baker as well, so I think things will word out fine," Cup Cake answered, trying to keep the pink mare from constantly bouncing.
"Eeyup, it turns out that Applejack here, being Acorn Seeds' mother, is actually mah granny. It's kinda funny since, because she's still so young, I could'a been her granny, I mean, mah name is Granny Smith fer cryin' out loud, but what was I sayin'?" the elderly green mare put a hoof to her chin in thought.
"We'll be fine, since we all came back to life in the same state we were in right before we got turned into ghosts, I'm still plenty strong enough to do farm work," Applejack assured, adjusting her Stetson and giving a smile.
One by one, the three pairs set off home, leaving only Crepuscularity and Scootaloo in the library/house/mahogany tree.
"So, mom, is it time for bed, or?...." the little filly trailed off, looking up at her mother with a cute face.
"I'm afraid so, I need to keep my sleep schedule somewhat regulated. Don't worry, tomorrow we'll get all bundled up nice and warm and go play in the snow, how's that sound?" the older mare replied.
"Sounds good," Scootaloo said, jumping up into the air and getting into a hover.
"Hey, look at that, you're flying," Sparkle congratulated.
Scootaloo perked up and look at the floor, which was still farther away than normal, and getting farther away.
With the little pegasus' success at flying, the ghost's reappearance and revival, and the worst chapter of her life, all behind her, Crepuscularity put her daughter to bed, and climbed into her own bed.
She could feel her wife's caring hooves wrapping around her as her body relaxed, realizing that she was still wearing the dearly-departed's pajamas, but did not want to take them off.
This time, she felt truly loved, loved by many ponies, even her wife from beyond the grave, and then, then she did something that she hadn't done in a long time.
She smiled, really and truly a full smile, finally everything was better, it was all good.
Yes, everything was just fine.