> Let Us Have A Quiet Life Which Slowly Ramps Into Awesome Adventures
>  by cupcake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Train Arrived On Time and Without Fanfare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        It was a chilly but sunny morning at Ponyville station as the train pulled up, whistling. It was too early for most ponies to be out, and the platform was desolate until the conductor stepped off the train and a small team of ponies began to unload mail bags from the rear car. The train wouldn't be leaving for a few hours, so the conductor pulled out his pipe and leaned against the side of the train as he lit it. He watched as a pale violet unicorn with a thick, black mane and silver filigreed shoes stepped off the train and looked around, squinting against the sunlight. The young pony nodded once to the grizzled old conductor before heading to the back of the train to collect her stowed luggage. As she claimed her three large chests and hired a pony to carry them, the conductor looked up from his pipe to notice the pony's cutie mark, a set of nested circles and other shapes, and to feel an odd sense of disquiet as he reflected that he had never seen her in Ponyville before.
        Not every pony was asleep as the chest-bearing cart trundled through the center of Ponyville; bakers in particular must get up early every morning to prepare their goods for the day. Pinkie Pie’s left forelock twanged and she looked up over mixing cupcake batter to see a violet pony and a diminutive parade of luggage pass in front of her window. "A new pony! I wonder what they're doing?!" Pinkie dashed outside, hopping around in front of and beside the other pony, rubbing and bouncing against her. Fortunately the luggage was safe in the cart pulled by the hired pony, who received only a friendly wave and hug. "Hello there! I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you? What's your name? Have you been welcomed to Ponyville? Welcome to Ponyville! Are you staying long? How long are you staying? Where are you staying? Do you want to stay at my place? Are you allergic to cinnamon?" She took a sharp intake of breath after that long delivery.
        The unicorn absorbed the earth pony's friendly buffets and they continued walking as she responded gently and warmly, "Hello, Pinkie, my name is Aloise. I am actually moving to Ponyville this morning, for the foreseeable future. I will be staying in this house, let's see..." she searched in a small bag on the cart and pulled out a photo of a large house, taken straight on from the street as a realtor would have taken it. The house was a sprawling Victorian mansion, with wooden siding done in light gray, bay windows, turrets, and large wraparound porches. Scrawled in the bottom right corner was "221 Bridle Way, Ponyville."
        Pinkie's eyes grew wide with concern, "oh! You're going to live there!? Don't you know that place is haunted? For decades, nopony has lived there because they have been unable to sell the place! Nopony wants to live there! You’re not nopony, are you?"
        Far from being apprehensive, a twinkle of intrigue appeared in Aloise’s eye. "Haunted, why is it haunted?"
        Pinkie thought for a moment. "Actually, I don't know! But you should be careful, you never know what craaazy things might pop out at you, or what doors might mysteriously slam in the night! But don't you worry, I will bring some charms to protect you - charming pony friends I mean! And cupcakes! I will bring my friends to help you move in this evening when everypony is free!"
        "Ok, thanks Pinkie. So generous!" Aloise was starting to feel good about her move to Ponyville.
        "No problem. Gotta run now, my cupcakes are missing me!"
        Pinkie dashed off before Aloise could say anything in response, and by that time she and the hired pack pony had reached Bridle street and the gate to the mansion could be seen at the end of the block.


***




        The mansion looked exactly as pictured, which was fortunate as Aloise’s purchase had been faithfully blind. It was set on the top of a short slope no higher than a tall pony and behind an overgrown yard. Partially obscured by wrought iron and brick fencing and overgrown trees it did not dominate the block - but it did sit as an imposing presence. Aloise approached the gate and surveyed the house. The facade and unkempt front lawn presented a dilapidated look, but the realtor had assured her the structure was sound and, if the description was accurate, that exterior concealed a beautiful mansion with sweeping halls, elaborate staircases, many rooms, large kitchens, and behind the house a beautiful, expansive garden. She pushed the gate wide with her muzzle to allow the pack pony to roll the cart in and they proceeded together, no sound but the wind in the trees and the clatter of their hooves and the cart on the flagstones.
        The double stout oak doors were made of thick, solid oak that creaked as Aloise pushed them open, also freeing a layer of dust that had accumulated on the inside. Aloise took in her first view of the inside of the house. Through the dim morning light barely penetrating the dirty windows, a large circular foyer with two story ceilings presented a curved staircase to the front left, two wide rectangular archways directly forward and on the right side of the room, and closed doors to the left. A complex crystal chandelier hung overhead, covered in cobwebs. Scattered about were various soft white forms - furniture indistinguishable under sheets. The floor was tiled in a complex pattern which couldn't be appreciated through the layer of dirt. Aloise was enthralled.
        She addressed the pack pony, "please leave my luggage here, thank you." The pack pony unloaded her trunks and Aloise wordlessly tipped him and turned back to her house. Not saying anything, he glanced around nervously before quickly taking his leave, not hiding the fact that he was running for the gate as fast as he could.
        Aloise had felt tired after her long journey, but left alone in the house she was suddenly filled with energy and curiosity and, leaving her trunks in the entryway, set off to indulge that curiosity in the old home she had newly claimed.
        She discovered the open archways lead to two grand rooms which could be separated by sliding pocket doors, a rounded room facing the front of the house and the other oblong and in the back. French doors interspersed with unornamented supporting columns constituted the rectangular room’s outer wall, offering a view over a long, narrow deck to take in the garden beyond. The garden was overgrown and breathtaking in the late morning light. No flowers were in bloom as Spring had not really begun, but the numerous verdant plants spilled over the pathways and burst out in every direction. The streams of light catching moisture and pollen made the air itself seem thick with life. Aloise moved to the rest of the first floor to discover a more modest sized dining room for everyday use, the kitchen, what must have been a sitting room, and a room of shrouded shelves, a library of considerable size. She pulled down plastic sheeting over the bookshelves to reveal them half full of books, most old, with worn bindings. Moving to the second floor, she found seven rooms of varying sizes and two baths. The round part of the library on the first floor continued into a study on the second floor and included a staircase to a third floor, the top of the turret. All together not a huge mansion, but definitely a nice size.
        The decor was mostly wood with hints of tile and iron, warm and comfortable but not overly heavy. Every room was well lit, with tall windows and high ceilings. The plan was simple, but with extra hints and details to suggest grandeur without ostentation such as the rounded walls, the turret above the library, the carved balustrade, complex moldings, and the beautiful windows. Her exhaustion resurfacing yet still exhilirated, Aloise sat on one of her trunks to reflect. The house sat quiet and heavy in the dim light, she could hear the sound of birds outside. Unable to contain herself, after a brief rest she lept up and rushed off to fetch water and soap to clean the windows, letting the light in to bring the house back to life!


***




        By two o'clock Aloise had managed to clean almost all of the windows, the hundreds of square feet of glass that surrounded the house on all sides, a feat not too hard with the use of her magic. Fortunately ladders are not needed when a unicorn is on the job! She had left the wall of glass that made up the side of the grand room facing the garden for last so she could explore the furniture left in the upstairs rooms as she went through them cleaning each window. The house was underfurnished, but there were some interesting pieces laying about. Still daytime, the house was bright and cheery even if still dusty. While in the midst of magically rewetting her sponge, she heard a loud THUMP come from upstairs. Had some furniture fallen that she had disturbed earlier? She ignored it and continued with the windows. However, at her final wipe of the last window, she heard a loud scraping noise from somewhere else in the house, unmistakable. She paused for a second to listen more carefully. THUMP! She was so startled she magically sent her sponge through the window, smashing the brittle old glass onto the deck. Someone was upstairs! There must be! A little afraid, she went through the foyer and up the stairs, carefully watching ahead of her the whole time, pointing her horn ahead and ready to magick anyone who appeared.
        "Who is there?"
        There was no response.
        "I know you're there!"
        There was a terrible noise, like metal warping and screeching, so loud the echo down the hallway was audible.
        Aloise was starting to have second thoughts about having bought a haunted house. She had internally laughed it off earlier, and never believed in ghosts, but in her current state of mind she might believe anything, particularly because that anything was happening. Minutes passed with no further noise, so she advanced to the top of the stairs and began down the hallway to the left. She magically lifted herself off of the ground and floated gently forward so as to make no noise, yet her horn’s effulgence could have betrayed her.
        All the doors in the hallway were open, as she had left them, except for one. The last door on the left which led to a large room on the second floor above the library, and the turret. Positioning herself outside the door, she prepared herself mentally and her magic violently blew the door in, but no amount of preparation could have prepared her for what came out.
        A white pegasus with jet black hair burst forward, rushing straight at Aloise! Having too little time to make a rational response her instincts kicked in and she merely closed her eyes and bowed her head between her forelegs to ward off the incoming blow - a blow which did not come. She felt a cool breeze pass by her but nothing more than that, and belatedly opened her eyes. Seeing nopony in front of her, she turned around.
        Her eyes met with the glowing red disks of the pegasus behind her. With more time to examine it, she noticed that while the dark hair was dark beyond any notion of color, seeming to absorb all light from around it, the white body was so pale it was transparent, light coming from the windows in the room behind it seeming to shine partially through the pony. Its cutie mark was a black bat. Neither moved until it opened its mouth as if to speak.
        "RrraaaachreeeeeeEEEECH!"
        The sound was deafening and frightening and the ghost pegasus' eyes turned darker red, glowing like embers and penetrating into Aloise's soul. She was frozen in place.
        "Ahem. A-hem!" The pegasus coughed a bit and cleared its throat. "Sorry about that, I guess I had something stuck in my throat!"
        Aloise was flabbergasted and couldn't respond.
        "Hello? Heeellooo? Ground control to Major Tom, can you hear me?"
        Aloise recovered herself and managed a weak reply. "Um... hi."
        "Hello."
        "Yes, hello. Nice to meet you, my name is Aloise."
        "Hi Aloise, my name is," the pegasus became confused. "Actually, I am not sure. That’s disconcerting. Wait, ah, now it is coming back to me. My name is Ennuye!" She looked proud of herself for remembering.
        "Hello, Ennuye. So, what are you doing in that room over there? I heard some terrible noises earlier."
        "Oh, well... actually, I don't know. Actually, I think I have amnesia. Did I hit my head? Do I know you? I feel like, this is my home, I know that at least, and this is my bedroom over there, where I was! Or maybe... I actually live somewhere else, and this was just where I go in the summer. It seems like it is always summer here. And...” she screwed up her forehead, “that is all I got?"
        Totally recovered from her fear, Aloise had empathy for the pegasus’ predicament. "You don't know me. I just moved in here today. The house has been vacant for thirty years until I arrived today, or so I was told."
        Now it was Ennuye's turn to be flabbergasted, "thirty years? That's ridiculous, I live here, with my friends, and I just hit my head or something so I don't remember."
        "Perhaps you should take a look at your body."
        Ennuye looked downward at herself, at her ghostly translucent body floating in the air despite her wings not flapping, and both ponies together began to believe she might be a real ghost.
        Ennuye said, "is this a trick? I see you are a unicorn; are you making me float?"
        Aloise looked into Ennuye's eyes, "I am serious. I arrived in this house today, after it being vacant for thirty years, and was downstairs cleaning thirty years of dust and grime off of the windows when you started making a terrible racket."
        "Yes, I had a feeling, of slowly coming to life, after a long time."
        "Ok. Well, perhaps we have a lot of things to sort out, but this house is plenty big enough for both of us, so lets stay here together until you remember, ok?"
        "OK!"
        Something about the two ponies drew them together, making them feel as close as long time friends after this brief encounter.
        Aloise picked her head up. "Well, I, for one, am hungry after cleaning all morning so how about we go to the garden for a late lunch! There is nothing in the kitchen, but I brought some bread and cucumbers and a bottle of zinfindel and we can eat it out in the garden!"
        "Let's go!"
        And the two new friends tromped off down the stairs together.


***




        "So then I said, that's not a goat, that's my mother!"
        Ennuye burst out laughing, "haha, that's the funniest joke I've heard in a long time!"
        "Yeah, thirty years even!"
        "Ha ha... yeah!"
        Ennuye had accepted her ghost-hood with ease, and Aloise had taken it just as easily. The two sat on the porch overlooking the garden as the sun crept lower in the sky, both a little buzzed (it turns out ghosts can still drink). However, their reverie and repartee was interrupted by a rustling along the periphery of the garden. They both turned to look.
        An orange fleeced earth pony with straw colored hair and freckles, wearing a straw hat, came out of the bushes. Her mane was disheveled and she was a little dirty, almost as if she had been living in the forest for a while. Her cutie mark was an empty straw basket. "Ah, well hey there everypony. What are y'all doing?"
        Aloise called out, "just having a drink on the porch."
        Ennuye was less wary, "yeah, come and join us!"
        The orange pony seemed hesitant. "Well, I don't want to be a bother or nothin'."
        Aloise picked up on Ennuye's excitement, "don't be silly, we would love to have you here. I will get another chair for you." She levitated  a third heavy wooden dinner table chair outside, as well as another glass. She opened a second bottle of wine and poured some for everypony.
        The orange pony took her seat, noticing for the first time that Ennuye was translucent. "Are you... a ghost?" She squinted her eyes to be sure she was seeing things correctly.
        Ennuye laughed, "yep. I'm a ghost... boo! My name is Ennuye, and this is Aloise, and we both live here. Me for a bit longer than her, who just arrived today!"
        The orange pony looked a little crestfallen. "Well, mah name's Applelack. So, y'all live here now?"
The other two ponies gave their affirmation.
        "Well, ya see, it's just that I `ave been living in this `ere garden, because it was vacant, but if y'all live here now I ought ta leave."
        Aloise was intrigued. "You've been living in this garden? Whatsoever for?"
        Applelack responded matter-of-factly, "you see my cutie mark? Well, I am actually a daughter of the Apple family, and usually all of us grow up and get apple cutie marks and start raisin' apples. However, my basket is empty. You see, I am allergic to apples."
        Ennuye looked shocked, "allergic to apples!? An apple farmer!? Allergic to apples!?"
        "Well, its not so bad. I am actually quite good at growing most things, I have been keeping up this here garden for a few years now, as I have lived in it. So even though my family has shunned me, I can still find a little happiness in this world. But, now that you're all here, and owning this house, I’ll just be on my way. There's gotta be other gardens for ponies such as myself."
        It took Aloise no time to consider, "Don't be silly, Applelack, why don't you live in the house with us? It's plenty big, and bound to get lonely if we don't have a few other ponies living in it."
        Applelack brightened instantly. "In the house? Wow, great! I don't have any money, but I can tend the gardens for you! It's what I like to do anyway."
        Applelack considered for a moment, "how did you get to buy such a big house, anyway, Aloise? What do you do?"
        "See my cutie mark? These shapes inside the circle have to do with quadrature of the circle - a symbol of the alchemist. I am an alchemist! I was living near Manehattan and discovered a new way to make train engines that don't run on steam, and sold my idea to all the big railroad tycoons. I always wanted to live in a big victorian mansion, so when I finally had the money I picked this big house - and so far I am very glad I did!"
        Applelack looked like she wasn't sure she should be impressed or not. "Alchemy, eh?"
        Aloise's eyes brightened, "oh, I forgot to say. The big round room on the second floor on the right I want for my laboratory. The oddly shaped room on the left of the second floor is Ennuye's. You can take any other room for your bedroom. Not much furniture yet, but we'll deal with that later."
        Applelack turned to Ennuye, "and how about you? How did you become a ghost?"
        Ennuye considered for a moment, but apparently the memories still eluded her. "Well, I'll let you know once I find out!"
        The three ponies sat silent for a moment.
        Aloise raised her glass. "to exciting changes and new lives!"
        "Cheers!"
        The three new friends leaned back on their chairs and took in the garden underneath the setting sun.


***


The three ponies sat in near total darkness, listening to crickets and frogs and watching fireflies. Applelack looked around, “hey, don’t y’all have lights or somethin?”
        “Nope, just moved in so the electricity isn’t turned on. Also, that might take a week since I need an inspector to come and check the old wiring first,” said Aloise, nonchalantly.
        “Don’t look at me, what do I care about the darkness, I’m a ghost!” quipped Ennuye.
        “Uh-huh.” Applelack sat quietly for a moment. “But, I mean, I was kinda lookin forward to sleeping in a real bed for once...”
        Aloise again, “there are no beds either. Just frames.”
        “Ok. Well, I’m kind of gettin tired, so if y’all don’t mind I’m going to go lay in those bushes over there.”
        “Night, dear!” called out Aloise.
        “Goodnight,” said Ennuye.

> In Which the Mane Six Are All In Attendance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        As nopony had slept in the house that night, they were awoken at 5:30 AM when the sky began to become light, before Celestia had fully set the sun in motion across the sky. Aloise shuddered in the near freezing early spring morning air, and shook dew off of her coat as she stood and stretched. “Ooh! I slept so well last night!” she exclaimed. Her voice didn’t stir Ennuye, who continued to slumber peacefully. She looked around to find Applelack, but could not see her in the bushes where she went last night. She ate a piece of cucumber and shot the swill left on the bottom of the glass to break her fast, and heard the clop of hooves approaching on the center garden path. It was Applelack.
        “Good mornin’, everypony! Look what I found while weeding in the back flower garden,” Applelack tried to say, but the words didn’t come out exactly as she was carrying a giant toad in her mouth.
“Croak,” said the toad.
Applelack set the toad on the ground, “I’m thinkin we need a water feature here in the front, and this guy will be the perfect addition!”
“Sounds delightful,” replied Aloise.
        The sound of their conversation woke up Ennuye. “Whaaa? You guys are up? What time is it?” she muttered.
        Aloise glanced down at Ennuye, “well, I am going to spend the day cleaning these thirty year old cobwebs out of the house, so its not dirty when the furniture are delivered this evening.” She stepped across the deck and opened the nearest of the French doors, stepping through, then suddenly,
        “SURPRISE!!” Confetti and ponies of all colors came from every direction. Aloise was taken aback but quickly recovered, recognizing the pink pony she had met the other day. Within thirty seconds the quiet morning was turned into a raucous party. Dance music started playing.
        Pushing a cup of punch into Aloise’s hand, Pinkie was all smiles, “took you long enough, silly! We’ve been waiting here all afternoon and evening and night for you to come back inside so we could surprise you!”
        Aloise looked around, noticing some of the other ponies haggard appearance, but Pinkie was full of energy. “Wow, this really is a nice surprise. Thank you all for coming!”
        Pinkie seemed somehow even happier than before, “my pleasure! Let me introduce you to my f-f-f-f--”
        She couldn’t finish her sentence as she was struck by the sight of Ennuye entering the hall, still half asleep and rubbing her eyes.
        Ennuye looked around, slightly dazed, “what’s going on here?”
        A white pony with purple mane and diamond cutie mark turned, noticing Pinkie’s disquiet, and screamed, “A GHOST!”
        Ponies tripped over each other trying to escape, and as Ennuye further entered the room they spilled in every direction like soap from a bathtub full of cats.
        “No, no, calm down everypony!” yelled Aloise.
        Everypony halted in place. “You mean she’s not a ghost?” asked Pinkie.
        Aloise started to calmly explain, “well, she is a ghost, but -”
        The ponies continued to panic, whatever Aloise said being lost in the din and confusion.
        Applelack entered the room, looking concerned. “What’s the trouble here?” she started to ask, but was interrupted when she bumped heads with another pony trying to get out the same door. The two ponies were near twins, the only difference being their cutie marks: apples versus basket. The two ponies faced each other, glaring. “Oh, it’s you, Applejack” said Applelack.
        Applejack responded, “You may be my cousin, but ah told you ten years ago what would happen if we ever crossed paths again, and I don’t break my promises.”
        “I remember well, the only reliable parts of your character - your blockheaded stubbornness and your honesty.”
        Twin straw hats went flying in the ensuing fight, the bucking and wresting more resembling hog tying than fisticuffs.
        Aloise surveyed the scene: Ennuye huddled in the corner, unable to cope with the noise and disarray while a few brave ponies thrust uselessly with sticks through her incorporeal body, Applelack in heated battle, and her house taking its own share, crashes and screams coming from every direction. Well, if this was how she was going to be welcomed to Ponyville, two could play that game.
        A blue glow started at the tip of Aloise’s horn and spread to her whole body. Her eyes glowed so brightly that Pinkie, who was still looking at her, had to turn away. Aloise floated up into the air as thick clouds gathered around her body. The whole room turned dark as a breeze picked up into gale force winds, whipping ponies around the room like rag dolls. Only Ennuye was unaffected. Ponies near the exit were sucked up into the vortex, which turned into a sort of liquid lightning, arcing between the ponies trapped inside. She laughed uncontrollably, “ahaha hahaha!”
        A feeble ray of light shot into the vortex from under the archway at the far end of the room. It built up in strength and diameter, its purple beam mixing with the blue lightning in the vortex. Suddenly, the vortex was gone and the ponies in midair fell to the floor, spread around the room. Confetti rained down on everyone. Aloise too dropped to the floor, the glow extinguished. Silence all around.
        “What is going on here?” cried a voice from the far archway, where the beam of light came from. It was a violet colored pony with dark purple mane with pink stripes, and twinkling stars for cutie marks.
        Pinkie Pie was the first to recover. “Party time!!” She smashed the button on the boombox to start the dance music and recovered the punch bowl onto a nearby table, miraculously still half full. Ponies stood up and brushed themselves off, and began to dance! Soon the party was in full swing.

***

        Aloise went over to Applelack and Ennuye to make sure they were all right, and Pinkie appeared in front of them.
        “Hey you three, I’ll introduce you to all my friends!” She gestured wildly towards the far door, where some ponies were standing. The four ponies walked together.
        “These are my favorite ponies in the whole world, Twilight,” she pointed at the violet unicorn who had diffused the tornado sporting an indignant look on her face, “Rarity,” a stylish white unicorn with purple mane obviously nervous being near the ghost, “Applejack,” Applelack’s seeming twin gently inspecting her red chafe marks and bruises, her lip bleeding, “Rainbow Dash,” a blue pegasus with a vibrant rainbow mane and a glare which meant she was ready to fight whoever had caused so much trouble to her friends, “and Fluttershy,” a shy yellow pegasus, the only one of the group who looked pleased to be meeting new ponies.
        Pinkie turned towards the three ponies whose names had not been mentioned, “and here are my new friends! Aloise, and, um, what are your names?”
        Ennuye was mostly recovered from her harassment, and responded first, “I’m Ennuye!”
        Applelack followed firmly, “and ah’m Applelack.”
        Rainbow Dash looked between the two orange earth ponies, “Applejack and Apple..lack? Are you two related?”
        The two Apples responded in unison, faces cast down as if they were ashamed, “yes.”
        After this brief exchange, the nine ponies stood in a circle facing each other, noone sure of what to say. Fluttershy broke the silence with her soft and warm sounding voice, “welcome to Ponyville, you three. I’m glad you’re here.”
        “Actually, I’m the only one new here,” said Aloise, “these two have been around for ten and thirty years,” she continued, gesturing.
        Pinkie’s wore a surprised look. “But I’m friends with everyone in Ponyville. So if you’ve been in Ponyville for decades, that means we must be old friends! I love meeting old friends! We have so much to catch up on!”
        “I’m not sure that’s how that works, Pinkie,” said Rainbow Dash, but Pinkie ignored her and wandered off with Applelack towards the punch bowl, asking Applelack how her family was and how she was doing, just like old friends would. Rainbow Dash pushed the visibly nervous Rarity towards Ennuye, ostensibly chiding Rarity for being scared but to everyone this was an obvious front to hide her own insecurities. Twilight approached Aloise.
        “So, Aloise, was it? I’m Twilight, as Pinkie already said.”
        “Hello, Twilight.”
        “Where did you study magic? That was a pretty powerful spell.”
        “My teacher was Farriaday,” Aloise began. Twilight gave a nod of recognition, what pony hadn’t read Farriaday? Aloise continued, “but I feel mostly self taught by how much I actually met with him. We mostly correspond by letter. So you have your own studies in magic?”
        “Oh yes, and my teacher is the same as yours in that we mostly only talk through letters, only I feel very close to her since I send her letters every day. And sometimes she sends me letters too.”
        “...right.” Aloise’s left eyebrow raised.
        “It’s Princess Celestia!”
        “Celestia? Seriously? That is interesting. What is she like in person?” The left eyebrow went even higher.
        “She is super nice, and kind, and smart, and wise, and beautiful... pretty much the greatest” Twilight gushed, thinking back on her life, raised by Celestia at magical boarding school instead of at home with her parents.
        The eyebrow entered the stratosphere. “Interesting.”

        Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Applelack and Pinkie were bonding over both spiked punch and growing up feeling different and apart from the their families.
        “Ah’m not even sure if I want ta go home,” Applelack was stating, able to be blunt after years of coming to terms with the Apple family’s rejection.
        “That’s so sad! You know what would cure that? A party! Oh, we’re at a party!”
        “Heh, yeah, it does distract a bit. Not sure if a party cures all my problems, though.”
        With the combination of alcohol and sober thoughts, Pinkie herself opened, with a rarely heard personal reflection, “yes... my family is so silly too. I just want them to be happy, to enjoy their lives, and they make it so difficult sometimes. It’s almost as if they choose to be depressed, as if they enjoy that more than just... enjoying things! I love to see them at holidays, and would never abandon them, but my life with my friends here in Ponyville is much better.”
        Not understanding this confession was almost out of character for the pink pony, and feeling sympathetic seeing the pony’s normally bright pink poof hanging dejectedly straight down, Applelack just nodded and put her hoof on Pinkie’s.
        After a moment more reflection, Pinkie’s face brightened into a grin. “Haha, yes, my friends here in Ponyville, at a party!! Come on, Applelack, let’s dance!” He hair poofed outward so suddenly it bumped the table, spilling a few glasses of punch, but neither pony paid any heed. She pulled the momentarily startled but unresisting Applelack onto the dance floor.

        “So, how did you become a ghost? Was it... gruesome?” Rarity seemed almost afraid of her answer, but it was because of the potential disturbing details and not because she was talking to a ghost, having quickly warmed up to Ennuye’s easygoing manner.
        “I bet it was something cool, like you were an international gem smuggler and at the last moment you were betrayed and now you remain here to guard a massive chest full of treasure!” Rainbow Dash suggested, recalling a recent adventure of Daring Do.
        “Well,” began Ennuye, “I actually don’t know.” She was unperturbed by this fact. “I don’t really remember anything except some vague feelings of being almost asleep, or resting, for a long time, until Aloise arrived and it kind of woke me up.”
        Sleeping being uncharacteristic of cool adventures, Rainbow Dash was already onto the next topic, “so do you have any cool powers?”
        “I’ve only been a ghost for a few days, so maybe there are more, but mostly I just float around and pass through things unless I really concentrate.”
        “That. Is. Awesome!” Rainbow Dash’s wings fluttered in excitement. “Hey how fast can you fly?”
        “I don’t know.”
        “Let’s find out! Race you to the Town Hall and back!” Rainbow Dash took off for the front door.
        After a brief hesitation and a nod goodbye to Rarity, Ennuye headed straight through the wall in the direction of Ponyville town center.

***

Aloise was still talking to Twilight an hour later when a brown earth pony holding a clipboard tapped her on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, miss, I was told this is your house? Please sign here for the delivery.”
Aloise’s eyes widened, “oh no! I forgot about the furniture delivery and the house isn’t clean enough to move it in!”
“Don’t worry,” said Twilight, “this is a housewarming party, isn’t it? I think my friends could lend you a hand there.” Twilight magically stopped the boombox from where she was standing and ponies looked around confused. “Listen up, everypony,” she commanded their attention by being the only pony talking, “this whole house needs to be cleaned up in the next twenty minutes. Divide up into groups. Group A on floor detail. Group B on walls and ceilings and fixtures. Group C divide up by room and do anything special that room needs!”
Used to Twilight’s self-appointed authority, fifty ponies quickly divided into ranks and files and split up throughout the whole house. Twilight having gone to supervise, Aloise and the delivery pony were the lone sturdy rocks amidst the chaotic flow of ponies.
“Actually, miss, I’m from Ponyville Hardware.”
“Oh! Well, that is actually extremely convenient. Why is my life always so convenient?” Aloise signed the form and opened boxes of rags, cleaning supplies, buckets, mops, furniture polish, and floor polish. “Actually, this would have been more convenient yesterday, perhaps, instead of cleaning the windows with bath soap and squares from a perfectly good sheet.” The delivery pony listened to this obvious monologue in silence, wanting to get out of there after already searching the house for twenty minutes trying to find someone to sign, and making his exit quickly before the monologue got longer. The supplies were quickly distributed and, when a pony found cans of old paint in the shed to match the current room colors, paint was distributed and all the rooms received a fresh coat.
Aloise tried to help, but it was over so fast and the party back under way that she couldn’t even begin. After bringing an entire case of wine from the cellar and breaking open the crate in the main hall, she stepped away from the noise of the party to give herself a second tour. The house was amazing. No longer the dim and dark cavern that she had first arrived to, it was warm and alive. It still had its Victorian charm, but now the woods were heavy and rich instead of dusty and the accents stood out and accentuated the architecture instead of merely holding extra thick layers of dirt. Maybe it was the paint fumes getting to her, but Aloise was becoming extremely fond of Ponyville in that moment.
The furniture arrived in due time and were arranged, along with Aloise’s trunks, in the appropriate rooms. Everything cleared out of the foyer, the mosaic was revealed to be a complex collage of hundreds of multicolored animals of all types, about one in ten were ponies but each uniquely designed, placed in concentric circles with an arrangement of lilac flowers taking up the center.
As the sky grew dim it was realized that the electricity was still not on. Candles were set up in the main hall, pizza was ordered, replacement batteries were found for the boombox, and after a brief break everypony seemed to need, the party continued with twice the ferocity. It even spilled onto the back porch as all the French doors were opened to clear out the smell of paint.
Aloise surveyed the room. She had met every pony at least once but couldn’t remember most of their names, but she remembered the ponies nearby at that moment: Pinkie and Pinkie’s five best friends, and her two new housemates. The nine of them formed a large circle and danced in the candlelight, a warm breeze bringing in heady smells from the garden and portending the true onset of Spring.


P.S. Unable to fully control her new body, Ennuye lost the race hardcore.


> Applelack Gets Sick
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a calm night and the temperature was mild, but it was completely dark. The air, replete with nighttime scents, shifted restlessly beneath a sky covered with tall clouds signifying imminent warm spring rain, fat drops that would run over the already moist earth. The atmosphere felt electric, the land and sky compressed like a spring just on the verge of bursting forth, but for now the rain held back. With Luna on her monthly break, there was no moon to shine upon Aloise as she was working in her laboratory late. Beakers arrayed in a disorganized fashion hosted liquids, some bubbling and others calm, as pumps pumped and she consulted a dog eared reference volume.
Starting to feel hungry, she descended the narrow back stairway and into the kitchen, hearing no noise nor seeing any lights from her friends’ bedrooms as she passed. Walking the well-known path in the darkness between the bottom of the stairs and the refrigerator, she opened the door and took out a bad habit of hers, a block of cheese she had whittled down with her nightly visits. Turning around, something caught her eye, poorly lit from the refrigerator. Startled and apprehensive, she magically flipped the light switch to clearly illuminate the kitchen, discovering Applelack standing in the middle of the room, staring into space.
“Applelack! What are you doing, standing here in the dark?”
Applelack seemed to shake from a reverie before responding, “Oh, Ah, Ah’m not sure, exactly.”
“And you look so pale!”
“Well, don’t you worry yourself about me, I feel fine. I’ll just be getting back to bed.”
“All right then...” Aloise ate cheese and bread and tried to go back to work, but too distracted she decided to go to sleep instead.

***

        On a morning later that week, as nopony was up before eleven, Aloise and Ennuye decided to make French toast. Ennuye tried to help at first but it was clear she wasn’t sure what to do and also hadn’t mastered her ability to control her incorporeality, leading to spilled milk, and so Aloise took it upon herself and her magic horn to prepare it. This left Ennuye free to make conversation, specifically to make conversation about the absent third friend.
        “Have you seen Applelack recently?” Ennuye began, “that pony is acting so weird lately.”
        Aloise responded indifferently, “well, ponies are ponies; she can do what she wants.” She thought a moment, “well, I have been seeing less of her lately.”
        “Ponies might be ponies, but I saw her running through the garden last night, at like three AM!”
        “Since you were awake at three too, how can you call that weird?”
        “Also, I’m pretty sure she has been eating animals out of the garden. I found some mangled carcasses as I was taking a stroll the other day, and I think I saw her holding one in her mouth last night.”
        Aloise conceded, “ok, that is a little strange. Especially since I thought she was a vegetarian, like most other ponies.”
        Ennuye continued, “also, have you seen how pale she has been?”
        “Yes, I asked her about that, if she was sick, and she said she was fine.”
        The French toast being done, they munched on it together in good humor.

***

        Later that day, Aloise went to the center of town to the lab supply store to purchase some reagents. As her order was being filled by the stock pony, the owner, Alfalfa Aesar, stood near the counter. After the awkwardness of standing so near each other not saying anything, trying not to meet Aloise’s eyes, became too much for the poor shop keep, he tried conversation.
        “Have you heard the rumors going around about those fainting ponies?”
        Aloise tried to appear interested, “fainting ponies? I didn’t hear about that.”
        “I’m surprised! They are mostly around your side of town. Twilight and Pinkie and that bunch of friends have been ‘investigating’ it even, but I think they mostly just get in people’s way.”
        “Uh-huh. And what exactly is this fainting about?”
        “Well, some ponies have been found in the morning, a few a week, weak and pale. They’ve been taking them to the hospital and they get better within a few days, but have no memory of how they got that way! It’s just not right. I’m afraid to walk around at night anymore.”
        “Huh... interesting.”
        Alfalfa was turned off of the conversation because it seemed like Aloise wasn’t interested, so they stood there silent for a few minutes before the order was complete. However, the truth was that Aloise was deeply interested but too deep in her own thoughts to respond. She was worried about Applelack, that she might have this same sickness, and was hoping it wasn’t a magical disease, which are often much harder to cure.

***

        Aloise arrived home from Alfalfa Aesar’s and instantly sought out Applelack and Ennuye. Applelack was nowhere to be found, but Ennuye was easily found lounging in the library, not reading a book and just staring into space. Aloise convinced Ennuye that they should probably get Applelack to the hospital and conscripted her to aid in the search. However, Applelack was nowhere to be found. Eventually the two of them got bored and decided to have dinner. The menu was lasagna.
        Halfway through dinner, as Ennuye was trying to simultaneously scarf down a piece of garlic bread and expound on the merits of Batpony over Superpony, Applelack came to the dining room from the yard.
        “Applelack!” The two seated ponies cried together.
        “Where have you been?” continued Ennuye. “I was actually starting to worry about you, since it has been so long.”
        Applelack smiled. “Evenin’ y’all. I’ve just been around, you know.”
        Aloise was concerned at first, but noticing that Applelack was looking much healthier, with a good color to her and sharp eyes, she relaxed. “Lasagna?” she asked.
        Applelack sat down and joined them and the conversation became animated, the three friends bantering as if they had known each other for years and not just months. However, Aloise noticed that Applelack hardly touched her food, merely stirring it around the plate for effect. Ennuye noticed that when Applelack smiled, her incisors seemed a little longer than usual, but maybe they had always been that way.
A few days proceeded normally, with Applelack being around the house or in the garden, so her two friends relaxed their vigilance and began to forget about the whole strange week before that. Then Applelack disappeared again for a day and a half.

***

        Ennuye and Aloise stood in the kitchen in the early afternoon making sandwiches. “You know what would go really well with this? Tomatoes,” said Aloise.
“Gross,” said Ennuye.
“Don’t worry,” said Aloise, laughing, “I stocked the cellar extremely well for just this occasion.”
She trotted off to the basement stairs, smiling happily and thinking about tomatoes. Reaching the bottom of the steps, she turned into the cellar and flicked on the lamp with her horn.
“Holy horses of the apocalypse!” she exclaimed, startled by a pale white pony standing in the center of the cellar. She looked closer. “Applelack? Is that you?”
The phantasmagoric pony stared back, breathing heavily and baring its long, sharp teeth.
Ennuye came trotting down the stairs, “what are you doing down here, making all that noise?” she asked. “Did the tomato monster get you?”
“Come here, Ennuye. I found Applelack and she is in terrible shape. We need to get her to the hospital right away!” Aloise began to move towards Applelack and, seeing the earth pony not react strongly, got behind her and began to push. “Come one, up the stairs!”
Ennuye moved forward to help, but was having trouble giving any aid as she frequently would slip right through the other white pony when she lost her concentration and became incorporeal.
Applelack moved a few steps at first, but nearing the stairs she began to struggle. Seeming to come out of a reverie, Applelack threw Aloise to the side and snapped out at Ennuye, fortunately her fangs passing harmlessly through her. “Ya’ll ain’t gonna get me!” Applelack growled, her voice strangely deep and menacing, “for this’ll be yer last hour!” The deranged filly dashed towards Aloise’s prone form with sinister intent.
Spurred to action, Aloise’s horn started to glow as she sent forth a blue beam of light. Applelack began to levitate off the ground, momentarily surprised, but then her eyes narrowed and the hues of Applelack’s coat faded as a black aura seeped into existence about her. She gently sank back down to the ground, no matter how much Aloise increased the strength of her beam. Black shadows like vines filled the basement and the terrible stench of decay filled the room.
Aloise steeled herself for the coming battle. Summoning a lithe sword and a pouch of tinctures from elsewhere in the house, she met Applelack’s first attack and repelled it. As steel clashed with fang and claw, Ennuye mentally steeled herself and joined the fray. Seeing an opening, she rushed at Applelack and tried to tackle her to the ground. The full force of Ennuye’s rush was barely noticed by its target, but the momentary distraction gave Aloise enough time to break a vial, releasing its contents on the ground underneath Applelack. Magical red flames encircled her and Ennuye but quickly died out, having no effect. “Drat,” sighed Aloise, resigning herself to a longer battle, “she appears to have some sort of magical protection about her.”
Applelack turned towards Aloise, gathering up the clouds of darkness into whips with snake-like heads, sending them one after the other to attack. Fortunately Aloise was nimble, dodging left and right and rolling out of the way of each strike, but she had no time to formulate an attack of her own.
Ignored, Ennuye was able to think of a plan. She drifted through the ceiling and presently returned by the stairs carrying a bunch of bottles. “Here are more potions! But which one should I use?” she called out to Aloise. Her yelling out attracted the attention of Applelack, who turned towards her with an evil look in her eye. As the black tendrils snaked towards her, Ennuye gulped and dropped everything she was carrying, forgetting to be corporeal. Bottles and tubes fell to the ground, cracking as they hit the stone floor. Colors ran together and flowed over the irregular stones, the magical chemicals not reacting right away but soon they began to fizzle and pop. Then chaos erupted. Bright glowing balls flew every direction, melting small holes into everything they touched; creeping vines spread spontaneously over the floor, smoke rose into the air and formed itself into the shape of dragons and bears, and the sound of a thousand horses whinnying filled the air along with the smell of baking cake. Amidst the confusion, Aloise was able to telekinetically force Applelack up the stairs.
        In the clear, bright kitchen, the ponies faced off once more, two against one, but the battle was short as a feint from Aloise’s sword provided the opening for Ennuye to buck Applelack through the nearest window and onto the porch. Rather than continue the fight, Applelack lay on the ground, writhing and screaming, tendrils of smoke rising from her body.
        “Don’t be such a baby,” Aloise chastised, “it’s just the doctor’s office!”
        “Yeah,” Ennuye chimed in, “and at the end they give you candy!” Her eyes grew wide, “woah. I felt like I was about to remember something about my life, but I guess not.”
        Aloise and Ennuye loaded the squirming Applelack into a cart and started down the road.

***

After signing in, waiting in the doctor’s office was boring and longer than expected. Upon entering the building, Applelack seemed to calm down and her body was no longer smoking, but she lay in a heap, twitching periodically. Aloise and Ennuye had propped her up in a chair in the crowded room, next to a young colt holding a bandage to his arm.
        “Why is it so crowded today?” Aloise asked nopony in particular, taking the one empty seat, beside Applelack.
        Suddenly a yelp sounded from the other side of Applelack, and an indignant young voice, “ow! That pony bit me!”
        “Oh dear.” Aloise led Applelack away, across the room, apologizing repeatedly. She ignored the further protests from the colt.
        “Hey, but she BIT me!”
        Fortunately, before the colt’s mother could get involved Nurse Redheart called from the doorway, “Applelack?”
        Relieved, Aloise and Ennuye quickly ushered Applelack into the examination room where the doctor was waiting.
        “Hello, I’m Doctor Princess. What seems to be the problem?”
        “Doctor Princess?” Ennuye asked, “are you a princess? But you are only a pegasus.”
        “Nope, its just a name.”
        “Well,” Aloise began, “as you can see, our friend here is in this state and we don’t know what to do.” She gestured to the twitching and crispy Applelack.
        Doctor Princess’ eyes lit up, “fortunately, you came to the right doctor! I know just what this is. I have a lot of experience in it from my residency, let me just do a quick test.” She pulled an empty syringe out of a nearby cabinet and tried to take a blood sample, but nothing came out. “Yup, I’m certain now. It’s a case of vamponyism.”
        “Vamponyism!?” Aloise exclaimed. “I guess that does explain a few things...”
        “Don’t worry, the treatment is simple. Just a pill once a day for a few months should clear that right up.”
        Ennuye looked confused, “how does one contract vamponyism anyway?”
        “There are a few different ways. Has she been sleeping near any cursed graves?”
        Ennuye and Aloise shared a look, both thinking the same thing.
        Doctor Princess continued, “she won’t want to take the first pill, so I have it in injection form.” She opened her lab coat quickly and tried to surreptitiously pull a syringe out from a brace of them and close it before anyone could see, but Aloise and Ennuye both caught a glimpse of wooden stakes, various pieces of silver, and a gun as well. “There you go. Your friend Applelack will start to return to normal within a few hours and just make sure she keeps taking the pills until the supply runs out.” The doctor wrote a prescription for two months and sent them home.

***

        On the way back to the mansion, Aloise trundling the cart along carrying the dazed Applelack, she and Ennuye discussed the possibility of Ennuye’s cursed grave causing the vamponyism.
        “But since you’re a ghost, your grave has to be cursed in some way, right?”
        “I’m not sure if that’s how curses work. Actually, I have no idea how curses work. I thought ghosts didn’t exist until I became one!”
        “Also, since you hung around the mansion for thirty years, your grave should be somewhere nearby.”
        “I’m not sure about that either.”
        “Will you ponies quit hollerin’? I feel exhausted and ah would like to get some sleep!” Aloise and Ennuye turned towards the cart, glad to see Applelack awake.
        “Oh, Applelack!” Ennuye glomped her, still laying on the cart.
        “I’m so glad you’re back!” said Aloise. “You were a vampony!”
        “Ah know. I remember everything,” said Applelack, “and after I get some sleep there will be some apologies that have to be made. Also, I don’t think I will ever forget the taste of chipmunk blood. Or pony blood, for that matter. Did you know they taste quite different?”
        “Uh... no, I didn’t know that.” Aloise responded, but Applelack had passed out in the cart due to exhaustion.
        The three ponies continued down the dirt road.

* * *

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that chipmunk blood and pony blood taste very different.

Also, Luna forgot to raise the moon again a few nights ago. It’s not like she has anything else to do, so why can’t she just get it right for once?

your faithful teacher,
Alicorn Mega Princess Twilight Sparkle who was time traveling and hiding in a nearby bush.

p.s. No sign of what caused the Aponyocalypse yet, but I will keep looking.

> Ectoplasmic Fantasmic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        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.”