Chapter 4
The Ghost Gateway
"Why don't you watch where you're going?!" The temperamental person screeched in my face before dropping me. As the creature moved away I could see that it was a gryphon. A female by the sound of the voice.
I rubbed my ringing ears. "Sorry." I was glad that all she'd done was yell at me and not tried to rip me apart with her talons and beak. Sure I was dead, but that wouldn't have been pleasant, and considering how my ears felt, it seemed that it was still possible for me to feel pain.
Autumn came over to help me up while Giggles bounded over to the gryphon. "Hi! I haven't seen you around here before! What's your name?"
"Germaine." She answered sounding irritated.
"Nice to meet you Germaine! I'm Giggles and this is Autumn and Meadowlark!"
"Yeah that's great now if you don't mind I'd like to go back to my nap." Germaine rolled her eyes.
"Wait... I thought we don't need to sleep anymore." I said in confusion. After all we'd traveled all day and night without having to once stop for rest, and I still didn't feel tired at all.
"We can sleep and even dream if we want to." Autumn told me.
"I was dreaming of hunting." Germaine gave herself a shake.
Autumn looked nauseated at that and even Giggles looked a bit green at the thought of eating another living creature. I didn't see what the big deal was though. It isn't their fault that they are mainly carnivorous. They can eat other things of course, but they need to have meat as a main part of their diet.
"Can you hunt for real in the afterlife?" I asked curiously.
"Only non sentient creatures unless I want to end up in Tartarus." Germaine shrugged, though she looked a little impressed that I wasn't put off by her eating habits.
"Wait a second!" Giggles rubbed her head with her right hoof. "How can you eat them if they're already dead?"
"As soon as I finish eating them whatever is left disappears and the animal pops into existence again." Germaine answered casually.
Autumn blinked at that. "I didn't know that. It sounds... strange."
Germaine suddenly took a hard look at me. "What are you doing here anyway? With that halo floating over your head shouldn't you be in Heaven somewhere?"
I sighed and told Germaine my story. By the time I was finished she was rolling around on the ground in laughter. "You... ended up... here... because... of... paperwork?!"
It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Yeah yeah laugh it up." I was starting to get a little irritated myself, and I wanted to get moving. I noticed that the others were starting to fidget too.
"Can we get going already?!" Giggles suddenly burst out.
I blinked at her. "Whoa, you're usually so mellow. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, sorry. It's just this place." Giggles pointed at a sign stuck in the ground that I had missed until now.
The Inland of Impatience.
"So being here makes us feel impatient I take it." I raised an eyebrow and Giggles nodded vigorously. "Weird. Okay I guess we might as well get going then."
We left the still laughing Germaine behind and went on our way. I think the others were relieved to be free of the meat eater.
We made good time because since we all felt impatient we soon moved from a walk to a trot, and from a trot to an all out gallop. It wasn't until I saw a large strange tree that I slid to a stop. There seemed to be a glowing door on it, and there was a sign over it.
Ghost Gateway.
"What's this?" I asked the others curiously.
"It's a portal of sorts." Autumn told me. "It lets you go back down into the living world as a ghost so you can see what's going on there if you wish."
"That would be even better than Looking Glass Lake." I said thoughtfully.
"Are you thinking of going through?" Giggles asked me.
"Maybe. It'd be a break from constantly feeling impatient anyway. That's starting to drive me crazy." I said crossly.
"Me too. I could use a break." Giggles nodded.
"Well I suppose it couldn't hurt, but are you sure?" Autumn asked hesitantly.
"What's the worst that could happen?" I asked as I reached out a hoof and pulled open the door. "How does this work? Like Looking Glass Lake did?"
"That's right." Autumn nodded.
"Equestria, Ponyville, my house." I stepped through the creepy looking glowing space and when I stepped out it was from the side of one of the walls of my house that was still standing. The others came out too after a moment.
"We'll need to come back here to get back through, so remember where to go." Autumn told us and we nodded.
Ponyville seemed almost deserted as we walked around. Why was everything so quiet at this time of day? It wasn't until we reached the cemetery that we saw that was where everyone seemed to be. It took me a few moments to realize that they were holding a funeral. MY funeral. Wow, that was fast. I'd only died what, yesterday? I looked around. There sure were a lot of ponies here! That was a surprise! Pinkie Pie was currently making a speech.
"Meadowlark was sad sometimes. She was lonely, I think, but she wasn't sure how to make friends, so I became her friend. After we became friends and I introduced her to my other friends I saw her smile and laugh more often. She was a really great pony and a really great friend. She didn't like to go out much, but she always welcomed me into her home and we'd have fun together. Sometimes she even helped me plan some parties, though she didn't always come to them. But when she did, we all had fun. SHE was fun. I'll miss her, a lot." Pinkie sniffled and sat down.
"Sometimes she came by and helped me with my animals, or she'd bring me an animal she found that needed help. She'd also pet sit. She was good with animals. She was so... kind." Fluttershy said in her soft voice.
"She loved to read and we'd talk about books and sometimes she'd help me organize the library. She even donated books to the library a few times. She was so helpful and smart." Twilight told everyone.
"She always cheered when she saw my tricks. She was a great fan." Rainbow Dash smiled sadly.
"She helped babysit the girls when they needed someone to look after them when the rest of us were busy. She was great with kids. She was a real nice mare." Applejack sighed.
"She loved my outfits." Rarity said wistfully. "She liked to wear them and her telling other ponies where she got them helped increase my business. She was such a supportive dear."
"She was a fun babysitter." Apple Bloom said. All of the crusaders had tears rolling down their faces. I hated seeing them so sad!
"She'd give us candy sometimes." Scootaloo sniffled as she wiped at her eyes.
"She always had great ideas for us." Sweetie Belle was barely able to choke out.
I stood there and watched in amazement as pony after pony came up to talk about me. Some of them I couldn't even remember their names, but all of them remembered me.
"She gave me a spare train ticket she had when I needed one but couldn't afford to buy one."
"She bought me food when I was hungry but I'd run out of money."
"She told me she noticed signs of bipolar disorder in me and told me I needed to go to a doctor so I did. My life is so much better now because of her!"
"I was so depressed I wanted to kill myself. She convinced me that it would be a horrible mistake and told me I needed to get help. She saved my life!"
As pony after pony praised me and talked about things I'd done for them and I listened in shock, I suddenly felt a hoof on my shoulder. It was Autumn's, and when I turned to look at her and Giggles both of them smiled at me with watery eyes.
"And you thought that you didn't do anything good and that you didn't deserve to go to Heaven." Autumn shook her head.
"You helped so many ponies Meadowlark! So many! Some of those ponies look like they came all the way from Canterlot!" Giggles told me.
"I did live in Canterlot for a few years at one time." I nodded.
"You are loved, and you are missed." Autumn said softly.
"Yeah..." I turned to look back at the funeral, feeling a glow of sudden warmth in my chest. "I guess so."
"Autumn look! She's smiling! I think that's the first real smile I've seen from her!" I heard Giggles say in a hushed voice.
"Indeed." Autumn agreed.
I was more than just smiling, I was grinning so hard that if I'd still been alive, I think I would have strained something.